Logo Design Glossary

Adobe Acrobat Viewer:
Application to create and view PDF files (Potable Document Files).
Aliasing:
This term is commonly applied to spatial aliasing, which manifests as visible pixelation - a blocky or jagged effect - especially with near horizontal or near vertical lines of high contrast. 
Anti-aliasing:
The blending of pixel colors on the perimeter of hard-edged shapes, like type, to smooth undesirable edges (jaggies).
Alpha channel:
A special 8-bit grayscale channel that is used for saving a selection in graphics programs. 
Alley:
the space between columns within a page. Not to be confused with the gutter, which is the combination of the inside margins of two adjacent pages.
Ascender:
in type, the parts of lowercase characters that rise above the x-height of the font, e.g. b, d, f, h, k, I, and t.
Banner:
The title of a periodical (newspaper/magazine etc), which appears on the cover and on the first page. It contains the name of the publication and serial information, date, volume, number.
Baseline:
In type, the imaginary horizontal line upon which the main body of the letters sits. Rounded letters actually dip just below the baseline to give optical balance. 
Bit-mapped (mode):
The paint graphics mode which describes an image made of pixels where the pixel is either on (black) or off (white).
Black (font):
A font that has more weight than the bold version of the same typeface.
Bleed:
An element that extends to the edge of the page. To print a bleed, the publication is printed on oversized paper which is then trimmed down to actual required size.
Block quote:
A long quotation. Four or more lines, within body text, that is set apart in order to visably distinguish the author's words from the words that the author is quoting. 
Body type:
ROMAN-NORMAL-PLAIN or BOOK type used for long passages of text, such a stories in a newsletter, magazine, or chapters in a book. Usually sized from 9 point to 14 point.
Byline:
In newsletter or magazine layout. A credit line for the author of an article. 
Callout:
An explanation label for an illustration, often drawn with a leader line pointing to a part of the illustration. 
Camera-ready copy:
Final publication material that is ready to be made into a negative for a printing plate. May be a digital file or actual print and images on a board.
Cap height:
In type it is distance from the baseline to the top of the capital letters.
Caption:
An identification (title) for an illustration. Usually a brief phrase. The caption should also compliment the other content.
Character:
Any letter, number, punctuation, symbol or space
Clip art:
Ready-made artwork sold or distributed for clipping and pasting into publications. Available in hard-copy books, and in electronic form, as files on a CD or disk.
Color separation:
The process of creating separate negatives and plates for each color of ink (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) that will be used in the illustration or publication.
Color spacing:
The addition of spaces to congested areas of words or word spacing to achieve a more pleasing appearance after the line has been normally set.
Column gutter:
This is the space between columns of type.
Comprehensive layout (comp):
A blueprint of the publication, showing exactly how the type will be set and positioned and the treatment, sizing and placement of any illustrations on the page. 
Condensed font:
A font in which the set-widths of the characters is narrower than in the standard typeface. (Not the inter-character space. That is accomplished through tracking). 
Continuous tone:
Artwork that contains gradients of gray, as opposed to black-and-white line art. Photographs and some drawings, like charcoal or watercolor, require treatment as continuous-tone art.
Copy:
Generally refers to text, typewritten pages, word-processing files, typeset galleys or pages. Although sometimes refers to all source materials (text and graphics) used in a publication. 
Copyfitting:
The fitting of a variable amount of copy within a specific and set amount of space.
Counter:
In type it is an enclosed area within a letter, in uppercase, lowercase, and numerical letterforms.
Crop marks:
On mechanical, horizontal and vertical lines that indicate the edge of the printed material.
Cropping:
For artwork, cutting out the extraneous parts of an image and usually associated with a photograph.
Cutlines:
Explanatory text, usually full sentences that provide information about drawings and illustrations. Cutlines are sometimes called captions or legends. (Not to be confused with title-captions which are headings for the illustration or key-legends, which are part of the artwork). 
Descender:
In type it is the part of the letterform that dips below the baseline; usually refers to lowercase letters and some punctuation, but some typefaces do have uppercase letters with descenders as well.
Dingbat typeface:
A typeface made up of non-alphabetic marker characters such as arrows, asterisks, encircled numbers or even icons. 
Discretionary hyphen:
A hyphen that only occurs if the word appears at the end of a line, not if the word appears in the middle of a line.
Display type:
Large and/or decorative type used for headlines and as graphic pieces in displays . The most common sizes are 14, 18, 24, 30, 36, 48, 60, and 72 point.
Dither:
For digital halftones the creation of a flat bitmap by simply running dots off or on. All dots are the same size there are simply more of them in dark areas and fewer of them in light areas - as opposed to the deep bitmaps used in gray-scale images.
DPI (dots per inch):
This is the unit of measurement used to describe the resolution of a printed output. The most common desktop laser printers output at 300 dpi. Medium-resolution printers output at 600 dpi. Image setters output at 1270-2540 dpi.
Duotone:
A halftone image printed with two colors, one is dark and the other is light. The same photograph is halftoned twice. Using the same screen at two different angles and combining the two improves the detail and contrast.
Egyptian type:
This was originally from 1815 onwards. Bold face with heavy slabs or square serifs.
Em space:
A space as wide as the point size of the types. This measurement is relative. In a 12-point type an em space is 12 points wide but in 24-point type an em space is 24 points wide.
En space:
A space half as wide as the type is high (half that of an em space).
Expanded (font):
A font in which the fixed widths of the characters are wider than in the standard typeface. Not the intercharacter space as that is accomplished through letterspacing. This is referring to the characters themselves).
Extended type:
These are typefaces that are wide horizontally. HELLENIC, LATIN WIDE, EGYPTIAN EXPANDED, MICROGRAMMA EXTENDED, plus many others.
Facing pages:
In a double-sided document it is the two pages that appear as a spread when the publication is opened up.
Feather:
To insert small quantities of additional leading between lines, paragraphs and before and after headings in order to equalize the baselines of the columns on a page.
Folio:
A page number. This is often set with running headers or footers.
Font:
A set of characters in a typeface at a specific point size and in a specific style. "12-point Times Bold" is a font. The typeface Times at 12-point size and in the bold style. Hence "12-point Times Italic" and "10-point Times Bold" are actually separate fonts.
Galleys:
In traditional publishing it is the type set in long columns and not laid out on a page. In desktop publishing, galleys can be printed out using a page-assembly program (like "Adobe In Design" for instance) for proofreading and copyfitting purposes.
Greeked text:
In page-assembly programs it is the text that appears as gray bars approximating the lines of type rather than actual characters themselves. This speeds up the amount of time it takes to draw the images on the screen.
Gray-scale image:
A deep bitmap that records with each dot its gray-scale level. The impression of greenness is a function of the size of the dot. A group of large dots looks darker and a group of small dots looks lighter.
Gutter:
In double-sided documents it is the combination of the inside margins of facing pages. The gutter should be wide enough to accommodate any binding if required.
Halftone:
In traditional publishing it is a continuous-tone image photographed through a screen in order to create small dots of varying sizes that can be reproduced on a printing press. Digital halftones are produced by sampling a continuous-tone image and assigning different quantities of dots and which simulate different sized dots for the same effect.
Halftone screen:
In traditional publishing it is the screen through which a continuous-tone image is photographed and is measured in lines per inch. Although digital halftones are not actually photographed through a screen the term is still used to describe the size of the dots. The larger the dots are (fewer lines per inch), the more grainy the image appears. Special screens can be used to create special effects.
Hang indent alignment:
This is type set so that the first line is flush left and subsequent lines are indented on the page.
Hard hyphen:
A non breaking hyphen that is used when the two parts of the hyphenated word should not be separated. As opposed to a soft (or normal) hyphen on which the word-wrapping function of a program will "break" a line.
Hard return:
A return created by the Return or Enter key. This is opposed to a word-wrap or soft return, which will adjust according to the character count and the column width.
Head:
A line or lines of copytype set in a larger face than that of the body copy.
Hyphenation zone:
For ragged-right text an arbitrary zone about 1/5 to 1/10 of the length of the line. If a long word is not hyphenated and leaves a gap within that zone then the discretionary hyphens are used to fill the line.
Image area:
This is the area on a page within which copytype is positioned and is determined by the margins.
Italic:
Any slanted or right leaning letter designed to accompany or be compatible with a companion roman typeface.
Kern:
To squeeze together characters for a better looking fit of strokes and white space. In display type the characters usually need to be kerned because the white space between characters at a large sizes is much more noticeable.
Kicker:
A brief phrase or sentence lead-in to a story or chapter. It is usually set smaller than the headline or chapter title but larger than normal text type.
Knockout:
A printing term meaning that when one color is to be printed immediately adjacent to another color. They are actually printed with a slight overlap.
Landscape (orientation):
A page or layout board that is wider than it is tall.
Lap register:
This is used with knockouts. Images of different colors are slightly overlapped to avoid the appearance of a white line in between the two inks.
Leader:
This is a line of dots or dashes to lead the eye across the page to separated copy.
Leading (pronounced "led-ding"):
The space in between lines of type. It is traditionally measured baseline-to-baseline in points. Text type is generally set with one or two points of leading eg. 10-point type with 2 points of leading. This is described as 10/12 read ten on twelve.
Letterforms:
In type it is the shapes of the characters.
Ligature:
In type it is the characters that are bound to each other, such as oe and ae. In professional typefaces the lowercase f is also often set as a ligature in combination with other characters such as fi and fl.
Light (font):
This is a font that is lighter than the roman (normal, plain or book) version of the typeface.
Line art:
Black-and-white artwork (drawings and illustration) with no gray areas. Pen-and-ink drawings are line art and most graphic images produced with DTP programs can be treated as line art. For printing purposes, positive halftones can be handled as line art too.
Logotype:
This is a symbol, mark or identifying name.
Logogram:
As above
Logotipo:
Italian spelling as above
Majuscule:
An industry term for capital letter.
Miniscule:
An industry term for lowercase letter.
Masthead:
Credit box headed by the publication name that lists sponsors, editors, writers, designers, illustrators, photographers and others, along with the publication office address, subscription and advertising information, etc.
Measure (noun):
In type it is the length of a line, even if the line is not filled with characters (such as a centered or partial line), designated in picas. When the text is set in columns the line length is called "columnmeasure".
Mezzotint:
For a halftone it is a screen that produces connected and dusty-looking dots.
Moiré patterns (pronounced "mo-ray"):
These are irregular plaid-like patterns that occur when a bit-mapped image is reduced, enlarged, displayed or printed at a resolution different from the resolution of the original work.
Monospaced type:
A typewriter typeface in which the amount of horizontal space taken up by each of the characters is the same.
Negative space:
In design it is the space where the figure isn't. In artwork it is usually the background. In a publication it is the parts of the page not occupied by type or graphics.
Nested stories:
In newsletter or magazine layout the stories run in multiple columns at different column depths.
Objected-oriented (mode):
This is the "draw graphics mode". A set of algorithms describe graphic form in abstract geometrical terms as object primitives. The most fundamental shapes from which all other shapes are made ie. lines, curves and solid or patterned areas.
Oblique type:
Right slanted characters. Sans-serif typefaces often have oblique rather than true italics which are a separate font.
Offset printing:
This is for high-volume reproduction. It utilizes three rotating drums a plate cylinder a blanket cylinder and an impression cylinder. The printing plate is wrapped around the plate cylinder then inked and dampened. The plate image is transferred or offset onto the blanket cylinder. Paper passes in between the blanket cylinder and the impression cylinder and the image is transferred onto the paper.
Orphan:
In a page layout it is the first line of a paragraph separated from the rest of the paragraph by a column or page break. Headings without enough type under them may be regarded as orphans. There should be as much type below the heading as the height of the heading itself which includes any white space.
Pasteup:
This is the process of preparing mechanicals. In traditional publishing, positioning and pasting type and graphics on a board. In desktop publishing it is page-assembly software that enables the user to do electronic pasteup.
Pica:
A measurement used in type for column widths and other space specifications in a page layout. There are 12 points to a pica and approx 6 picas to an inch.
Pixel (picture element):
The smallest unit that a device can address. It most often refers to display monitors. A pixel being the smallest spot of phosphor that can be lit up on the monitor. 
PMS (Pantone Matching System):
A standard color-matching system used by printers and graphic designers for inks, papers and other materials. A PMS color is a standard color defined by percentage mixtures of different primary inks and can be replicated by almost all print shops.
Point:
This is a measurement used in type for type size, leading and other space specifications in a page layout. There are 12 points to a pica and approx 70 points to an inch. 
Posterization:
For a halftone the reduction of the number of gray scales to create a high-contrast image. 
Printer font:
High resolution bitmaps or font outline masters used for the actual laying down of the characters on the printed page. This is as opposed to the display on the screen.
Process color separation:
in commercial printing it is used for reproduction of color photographs. The various hues are created by superimposition of halftone dots of the process colors Cyan (a greeny blue), Magenta (a purplish red), Yellow and black. 
Proportionally spaced type:
A typeface in which the set width (horizontal space) of characters is variable. This depends on the shape of the character itself and the characters surrounding it.
Pull quote:
A brief phrase from the body text that is enlarged and set off from the rest of the text with rules a box and/or a screen. It is from a part of the text set previously and is set in the middle of a paragraph to add emphasis and interest to the subject.
Punctuation block:
In right-justified or right-aligned text it is several consecutive lines that end with punctuation and make the right hand margin look uneven.
Ragged right alignment:
This is type set so that the extra white space in a line is set at the right side thus giving the text a ragged margin. It is usually set with flush left.
Recto:
In a double-sided document the page that appears on the right side of the spread and is an even-numbered page.
Resolution:
This refers to the crispness of detail or fineness of grain in an image. Screen resolution is measured in dots by lines (for example 640 x 350). Printer resolution is measured in dpi (for example 300 dpi).
Reverse:
white or light-colored type or images on a dark background.
Right-justified alignment:
This is type set so that the text runs even on the right hand margin as well as on the left hand margin. The extra white space is distributed between words and sometimes between the characters on the line.
Rivers:
These are spaces between words that create irregular lines of white space in body type. It particularly occurs when the lines of type have been set with excessive word spacing.
Roman type:
Book weight, regular or in desktop publishing systems it is called plain or normal type. Most often used for the body type in a text-intensive publication.
Rough:
A refined thumbnail sketch for a publication design that is done at actual size with more detail. Roughs are often used for a first client review.
Rule (ruling line):
A geometric line that can be used as a graphic enhancement in page assembly. The term is used to distinguish ruling lines from a line of type.
Run-around:
This is type that is set to fit the contour of an illustration, photo, ornament or an initial.
Run-in heading:
A heading that is set on the same line as the text and that is usually in bold or italic type.
Running heads/feet:
Titles that are often accompanied by page numbers and set at the top/bottom of text pages of a multipaged publication.
Sans-serif typeface:
A typeface that has no serifs ie. Helvetica or Swiss. The stroke weight is usually uniform and the stress oblique but there are exceptions. 
Scaling:
This is reduction or enlargement of artwork which can be proportional or disproportional. In desktop publishing the term optimal scaling of bitmaps refers to the reduction or enlargement that will avoid or reduce moiré patterns.
Screen font:
Low screen resolution bitmaps of type characters that show the positioning and size of characters on the screen. As opposed to a printer font which may be high resolution bitmaps or font outline masters.
Screen (tint):
In graphic art it is a uniform dotted fill pattern described in percentage (eg. 50 percent screen). 
Script:
Connected and flowing letters resembling hand writing with a pen or quill. Either slanted or upright. Sometimes even with a left-hand slant.
Serif:
In a typeface it is a counterstroke on letterforms projecting from the ends of the main strokes. eg. Times or Dutch is a serifed typeface. Some typefaces have no serifs. These typefaces are called sans-serif. 
Set width:
In type it is the horizontal width of characters. Typefaces vary in the average horizontal set width of each character (eg. Times has a narrow set width) and set widths of individual characters vary in typeset copy depending on the shape of the character and the surrounding characters. 
Sidebar:
In newsletter or magazine layout a related story or block of information that is set apart from the main body text and usually boxed and/or screened.
Small caps:
This refers to capital letters set at the x-height of the font.
Solarization:
A photographic image in which both blacks and whites appear to be black and midtones approach white.
Solid:
This is lines of type with no space between the lines (unleaded).
Spot color separation:
For offset printing the separation of solid premixed ink colors (eg. green, brown, light olive, etc.) used when the areas to be colored are not adjacent. Spot color separations can be indicated on the tissue cover of the mechanical or can be made with overlays.
Spread:
In a double-sided document the combination of two facing pages which are designed as a unit. It is also the adjacent inside panels of a brochure when opened.
Standing elements:
In page design the elements that repeat exactly from page to page but not only in terms of style but also in terms of page position and the content. The most commonly used standing elements are page headers or footers with automatic page numbering.
Standoff:
It is the amount of space between a block of text and a graphic or in between two blocks of text that wrap.
Stress:
In a typeface the axis around which the strokes are drawn: oblique (negative or positive) or vertical. Not to be confused with the angle of the strokes themselves (eg, italics are made with slanted strokes but may not have oblique stress).
Stroke weight:
in a typeface it is the amount of contrast between thick and thin strokes. Different typefaces have distinguishing stroke-weight characteristics.
Style sheet:
In a DTP program the style sheets contain the typographic specifications to be associated with tagged text. They can be used to set up titles, headings and the attributes of blocks of text such as lists, tables and text associated with illustrations. The use of style sheets is a quick and efficient way to insure that all comparable elements are consistent.
Subhead:
Is a secondary phrase usually following a headline. Display line or lines of lesser size and importance than the main headline or headlines.
Subscript:
This is a character slightly smaller than the rest of the font that is set below the baseline. It is used in chemical equations and as base denotation in math and sometimes as the denominator of fractions.
Superscript:
A character that is slightly smaller than the rest of the font and set above the baseline. Used for footnote markers and sometimes it is used as the numerator of fractions.
Tabloid-sized page:
A page that measures 11" x 17" and most often used in portrait orientation for newspapers. Not to be confused with an 11" x 17" spread, which is made up of two letter-sized pages.
Tags:
For style sheets it is delimited sets of characters embedded in the text or internally coded. Tags apply to paragraphs (text terminated with a hard return .This includes titles and headings) and indicates the function of paragraphs. The actual type specification depends on the style sheet that is associated with the tag.
Template:
In page design it is a file with an associated style sheet and all standing and serial elements in place on a master or base page. Used for publication following the same design. 
Text wrap:
This is the spatial relationship between blocks of text and graphics or between two blocks of text. A text wrap may be rectangular, irregular or arbitrary.
Thumbnails:
These are miniature pictures sketched as first design ideas like thinking on paper or on the screen.
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format):
This is for digital gray-scale halftones and is a device-independent graphics file format. TIFF files can be used on IBM/compatible or Macintosh computers and may be output to PostScript printers.
Tiling (tile):
Refers to printing a page layout in sections with overlapping edges so that the individual pieces can be pasted together.
Tombstoning:
In multicolumn publications when two or more headings are in the same horizontal position on the page. 
Track:
In type to reduce space uniformly between all the characters in a line. As opposed to kerning which is the variable reduction of space between the specific characters.
Type alignment:
The distribution of white space in a line of type where the characters at their normal set width do not fill the complete line length exactly. Type can be aligned left, right, centered or right justified.
Typeface:
This is the set of characters created by a type designer including uppercase and lowercase alphabetical characters, numbers, punctuation and other special characters. A single typeface contains many fonts at different sizes and styles.
Type families:
This is a group of typefaces of the same base design but with different weights and proportions.
U&lc:
An industry abbreviation for upper and lowercase.
Unit:
In type it is the divisions of the em space used for fine-tuning the letterspacing of text type. Different typesetting systems and DTP software use different unit divisions: 8, 16, 32, and 64 are common. One unit is a thin space or a hair space.
Weight:
This denotes the thickness of a letter stroke, light, extra-light, regular, medium, demi-bold, bold, extra bold and ultra bold. 
White space:
In designing publications it is the areas where there is no text or graphics it is essentially the negative space of the page design.
Widow:
In a page layout it is the short last lines of paragraphs that are usually unacceptable when separated from the rest of the paragraph by a column break and always unacceptable when separated by a page break.
Word wrap:
In a word processor or text editor it is the automatic dropping of characters to the next line when the right hand margin is reached.
WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get):
This is an interactive mode of computer processing in which there is a actual screen representation of the printed output. WYSIWYG is never completely accurate because of the difference in resolution between display screens and printers.
Verso:
In a double-sided document it is the page that appears on the left side of the spread. An odd-numbered page.
X-height:
This is the height of the lowercase s. Sometimes referred to as body height. More generally the height of the lowercase letters.