Graphic Design, Printing, and Branding Terms You Need to Know
Industry Terms You Should Know
Graphic design, printing, and branding all work in tandem to aid and define your company. Before diving into complicated graphic design and printing projects for your business, you should understand the terms used in the industry and how they affect you and your projects.
Graphic Design Terms
Logo
The business logo is an integral part of any company and tells customers what you do at a glance. Your logo should use positive and negative space, color, and symbolism to its advantage in order to get your corporate message and mission across visually.
Palette
A palette is a series of colors that work well with one another when used together. This can be analogous, colors close to each other on the color wheel like red and orange, or contrast with each other, such as red and green. Your color palette should evoke a certain emotion by utilizing color harmony and psychology.
Scale and Resolution
The scale of an image is how large it is, often by pixels or inches. The resolution relates to the number of pixels in your image; larger resolution means more pixels and generally equates to a more defined, crisp image than low resolution. High resolution images scale down easier, but low-resolution images are difficult to scale up.
Branding Terms
Brand
Your company’s brand is the collection of company imagery, logos, words and copy, name, and all other elements that give your business a unique presence. Your brand is what your company is, what it does, and what it stands for.
Branding and Brand Identity
Branding and brand identity is the way in which you manipulate the perception of your business by customers and potential partners. This is done by defining your brand. Focus on what you want your customers to think of you and your company and use your graphic design to lead them there.
Mission
This is an internal company statement that defines what your business is and what it aims to do. This also encompasses your market and planned markets, corporate philosophy, and who your primary customers are.
Brand Manual
A brand manual is a collection of documents containing your brand guidelines and mission statement, as well as information and locations of digital and physical assets used to define your brand. This should give your team an outline of design decisions that they can use to align your corporate identity no matter what project they’re working on.
Printing Terms
Bind and Bindery
Binding joins a number of loose pages together with glue, staples, thread, or other methods, often with a cover. Bindery includes creating a bind as well as folding, collating, and trimming the pages and cover of each project.
Bleed
Bleed is a margin for printing that encompasses all edges of the page. An image that bleeds passes normal margins and reaches the edges of the paper after trimming. This can be used to create unique edge-to-edge graphic design.
Format
Format encompasses the size and shape of digital and printed material. It also includes an arrangement of visual elements, margins, white space, shapes, and organization of elements and material on the page. This can be used for interesting visual effects in printing and even on webpages.
