Jargon Buster

Print terminology can be confusing and intimidating when you don’t understand it. If you can’t find the term you’re looking for, please call us on 023 9233 4900 and we’ll be pleased to help.

Lamination

A thin film coating which is applied to the paper or board to give a more glossy or matt appearance.

Landscape

Describes the orientation of a page for normal viewing where the shorter side runs from top to bottom. 

Layout file

The file created by computer application software which contains all the imported element,s and where all the design and layout of a document are performed.

Line copy

Copy which can be reproduced without using halftones.

Lithographic printing

A printing process based on the principle of the natural aversion of water to grease. The areas to be printed receive and transfer ink to the paper, the non-printing areas are treated with water to repel the ink.

Loose leaf

A method of binding which allows the insertion and removal of pages for continuous updating.

LPI

Lines per inch - refers to the quality of a halftone screen. it is important to distinguish it from dpi which refers to the resolution of a device or image. commonly lpi is used at exactly half of the dpi of the device or image, i.e. 300dpi would equal 150lpi.