A-D
Animation – moving images created by displaying a series of images using frames
Aesthetic – overall look and feel; visual appearance; “vibe”
Aspect ratio – width and height of a rectangle expressed as a ratio; example: the aspect ratio for widescreen video is 19:9 or 1920×1080 pixels; the aspect ratio for Letter paper is 8.5×11
Audience – specific people you intend to communicate with; examples: parents, new students, staff, adjunct faculty, tenured faculty, executives, international students
Body Copy – main text that people will read on a design; paragraphs, sentences or other text that are the main content in any publication
Bleed – portion of the artwork that extends beyond the printable area; this extra artwork is trimmed off in professional printing to prevent a slim white edge on the paper
Brand Identity – visual version of a brand, made up of logos, typefaces, color palettes, slogans, tone of voice, website, packaging and other marketing material
Branding – process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme
CMYK – (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black); the color model used for anything that gets printed; also called process color or four-color process
Collateral – any designed materials (digital or printed) associated with a particular project or initiative
Comp – rough draft to plan or used to demonstrate how a design will look; also known as a “mockup”; example: a mockup of a t-shirt design is a photo of a blank t-shirt with the design superimposed on it
Content – copy, images, graphics, video, et cetera; everything to be included on a piece
Copy – all text for a piece; editorial text supplied for incorporation into a design; a synonym for “text”
Crop Marks – specific marks (they look like crosshairs) that indicate to a printer where the paper should be trimmed; required for professional printing but not in-house printing
Creative Brief – document used to determine the nature of the work requested; serves as record of the request and contains all details
Deliverable –final version of the graphic; the file users receive and can work with; examples: PNG, JPEG, GIF, Word doc, PDF
DPI/ PPI – dots per inch or pixels per inch; PPI is used to describe the resolution of a digital image and DPI is used to describe the amount of ink dots per inch in a printed image; example: printed images must be 300 dpi, images for a website are 72 or 96 dpi
Draft – design intended for review or approval before work continues or before it is finalized and prepared for production
F-I
Final and Approved – everyone who needs to have input has closely reviewed and is comfortable with the information presented in the design (No additions or changes can be made after final approval!)
FPO (For Preview Only) – placeholder items that are for preview only, not to be printed; usually indicated in an obnoxious color like bright cyan or magenta
GIF –image file that can support transparency and can be animated to give the impression of movement or action
Glossy Finish – a shiny coating on paper; not recommended if people need to write on it
Graphics – umbrella term for any designed item in print or digital format; used interchangeably with “image,” “design,” “project,” or “piece”; a graphic is a kind of image, but an “image” typically refers to something photographed
Graphic Design – visual communication using text and graphics to represent an idea or concept; a term for all activities relating to visual design, including web design, logo design, et cetera
Headline – large text illustrating the opening statement used in a layout
Hex or Hex Code – six-digit code used to represent a color and prefixed with a hash mark (aka pound sign); #00000 is the hex code for black
Icon – character or symbol representing an idea without using words; usually simple and easy to see at small and large sizes
In-House – items we produce at UTA; example: printing 11×17 flyers from our office printer
J-M
JPEG – standard image file type that cannot support transparency
Logo – visual identifier for an organization that contains text and images; example: The UTA logo that has both the “UTA” and the words “The University of Texas at Arlington
Logomark – logo that does not contain the brand name itself—usually a shape or character used to visually represent the company; example: the UTA “A”
Logotype – brand name styled as a logo without graphics; also known as a “wordmark”; example: the words “The University of Texas at Arlington” written out in our official brand font without graphics
Layout – noun: the arrangement of elements (words and images) on a graphic; verb: the act of arranging elements in a graphic
Lorem Ipsum – nonsense text used for placement or preview only in the absence of final copy; also known as “placeholder text”; get Lorem Ipsum here
Low-Resolution – low-quality scan or image that is pixelated and should not be used
Matte Finish – non-glossy finish on paper; best if you want to write on it
Mockup – rough draft to plan or used to demonstrate how a design will look; also known as a “comp”; example: a mockup of a t-shirt design is a photo of a blank t-shirt with the design superimposed on it
N-Q
Negative Space – area of a design that doesn’t contain images or words; clear space users need to be able to interpret the text and images; used interchangeably with “white space”
Orphan – first line of a paragraph appearing on its own at the bottom on a page with the remaining part of the paragraph appearing on the next page; something to be avoided at all costs in typesetting
Padding – negative or white space between elements in a layout or on a webpage; example: we add padding to the left or right of a graphic, so text does not butt up right against it
PDF (Portable Document Format) – file type created by Adobe Acrobat; used as a type of digital “printing”; advantage is it “locks down” fonts and graphics so they cannot be accidentally moved (as with items in a Word document)
PNG – image file type that supports transparency (also known as an alpha channel)
Placeholder text – nonsense text used for placement or preview only in the absence of final copy; also known as “lorem ipsum”; get Lorem Ipsum here
Point Size – distance from the top of the highest ascender to the bottom of the lowest descender is the point size of any given typeface; example: 14 pt Helvetica; 12pt Times New Roman
Proof – final design intended for a detailed review before it goes to production; the last opportunity to spot flaws or make any corrections (Make sure many sets of eyes have reviewed the proof!)
R-U
Raster –noun: graphic based on pixels that cannot be scaled to any size and will pixelate when enlarged; verb: raster images will lose quality and become blurry if enlarged; example: JPEG, PNG, GIF
Rasterize – graphic is “rasterized” when it has been transformed from vector image (based on math that can be scaled to any size) to a flattened image based on pixels such as a JPEG or PNG (based on pixels that cannot be scaled to any size and will pixelate when enlarged)
Resolution – quality of an image expressed in pixels; also called “res”
Reversed – inversion of tonal values or colors in an image; example: when a logo is “reversed,” all color values are turned to white (and it is supplied as a transparent PNG)
RGB (Red, Green, Blue) – color model used to project color on a computer monitor, TV, or projector; color space used for all video and digital designs (or anything that is not printed)
Satin or Semi-Gloss Finish – finish between matte and glossy; slightly shiny and can be written on
Size – dimensions of a graphic; may be expressed in inches or pixels
Storyboard – sketch to plan what a video or animation will contain
Stock photos – licensed images that designers use for projects (when organizing an photoshoot to create images is not possible)
Style guide – important document that presents the standards for the branding of an organization; used to ensure uniformity
Subheadline– second line of text to support a headline (the opening statement in a layout)
Template – standard layout used to make items that look similar with each repeated use
Text Wrap – wrapping text around the edges of a graphic
Thumbnail – reduced-size version of the original graphic usually created so someone can click on it and access the full-size version of the graphic
Typeface – particular design of type or how text looks; this is often used interchangeably with “font,” but a font is a particular size and weight of the typeface; Examples: Helvetica, Georgia
Typesetting – process of laying out large amounts of text (e.g., a book, a magazine, etc.) and making sure it’s legible and readable
Typography – art of arranging type—which includes letters, numbers, and symbols—so that it is pleasing to the eye; includes not only the font but how it is arranged on the page
UV Coating or Finish – glossy coating applied to paper that makes it more resistant to fading; recommended for outdoor projects
V-Z
Vector – image based on math that can be scaled or enlarged to any size without a reduction in quality; example: SVG, AI, EPS
Watermark – translucent element added to an image to show ownership, indicate a draft status; should be removed before finalizing or printing
Widow – single line of a paragraph at the bottom of a page or column; something to be avoided at all costs in typesetting
White Space – area of a design that doesn’t contain images or words; clear space users need to be able to interpret the text and images; used interchangeably with “negative space”
Wordmark – brand name styled as a logo without graphics; also known as a “logotype”; example: the words “The University of Texas at Arlington” written out in our official brand font without graphics
Zip (Zone Information Protocol) – compressing files to a smaller size so they can be sent online