Logo Pearl is proud to present a complete Logo Design glossary to its valued visitors. This will improve your understanding of various terminologies that are frequently used in the graphic design industry.

 

A

Achromatic – Colors that have no or less chromatic content, including grey, black and other near neutrals.

Adobe Acrobat Reader – An application used for reading PDF file.

Adobe Illustrator – An application used by graphic designers. It is widely famous for its impressive vector graphics editing feature. ".AI" is the default file format generated by illustrator.

Adobe Photoshop – It's a graphic design software widely-known for its high-caliber image re-touching features and other visual effects. ".PSD" is the default file format of Photoshop.

Aliasing – An alias image is usually known for its jagged or brick like effect. Whereas, Aliasing is a process that makes these jagged edges smoother by setting the image pixels close to the intermediary color.

Alley – It is a term usually used in "typography". Basically it signifies the space between two columns within a page.

Alpha Channel – It is an 8-bit gray-scale channel most commonly used for saving selections. It is also used to create and save image-masks that allow you to alter any parts of an image.

Animation – it is a process of manipulating electronic images by using special animation-tools to produce moving images.

Animated GIF – It is a file that contains two or more images that run in a sequence, producing animation effects.

Anti-Aliasing – It is a process that improves the jagged like edges of an image and makes it relatively smoother by merging the pixel colors.

Artwork – A creative or visual art used for graphic reproduction.

Ascender – In typography, any part of a lower case character increases higher than the x-heights.

Aspect Ratio – The width and height ratio of an image.

 

B

Background – A surface where the main visual art is created and displayed.

Banner – It is a popular advertising tool used in online marketing. Different sizes and shapes of images with the company’s message and call-to-action in it are placed on web pages. Visitors click on these banners and redirected to money-site. It is also an effective tool for increasing brand awareness.

Baseline – In Typography it is a horizontal line where the base of the letters sits.

Bevel – Applying a beveling effect on an image means giving the image a bold or 3-d appearance using colors and a thick shadow.

Bezier Line / Bezier Curve – It is an arched line created in segments by adding nodes and using the Bezier tool.

Bitmap Image – A digital image saved as specific patterns of dots – normally referred to as pixels – where each pixel is either on white or black.

Bleed – It is a part on the sides of a document that extends beyond the desired printing area.

Blending Mode – it is a mode that determines how colors or images are blended with a second layer to form different varieties visual effects.

Blind Embossing – Embossing an image without any ink, so that it can be raised but without the use of any color.

BMP – Stand for, Bit map format (.bmp)

Boldface – A typeface that has a weighty black stroke that makes it stand out from the rest.

 

C

Cast Shadow – A method of adding shadow on an object. The shadow can be used from different angles, thus giving the image a 3-D touch.

Caps – An abbreviation used for Capital letters.

Cap Height – It indicates the distance between the baseline and apex of a capital letter.

Caption – A naming method used to give a title to an illustration – usually a short phrase.

Centered – A text or image aligned at the center of a page, i.e., both right and left margins are equal in distance.

Clip-art – It is a piece of artwork usually sold or usually distributed with software for publication. It is available both in hard-copy and digital form.

CMYK – Stands for Cyan – Magenta – Yellow – Black. It is a color palette used widely in printing designing.

Color Separation – It is a process that starts with separating an artwork into different color files, i.e., in print media its colors will be separated in Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and black where as in digital media the colors are separated in Red, Green and Blue.

Condensed Font – It is a typeface that has a narrower wide than other standard typeface.

Corporate Identity / Logo – It is a consistent emblem that is associated with a company or organization, reflecting their personality, attitude and objectives.

Cropping – it is a tool used in graphic design applications to cut the unwanted part of an artwork or image.

 

D

Descender – Any component of the lower case letter that expands below the baseline (x-height).

DHTML – It stands for Dynamic Hypertext Mark-up Language, used for creating interactive and animated websites.

Dingbat Typeface – It is a typeface created from different types of non-alphabetic symbols or characters such as icons, enclosed numbers, arrows, etc.

Display Type – Large or attractive fonts and other visual components used in presentation.

Dithering – A process that spreads different colored dots in an image making it appear as though there are different colors used in the image than it actually does.

DPI – It stands for dots per inch. It describes the resolution of a digital printer, which can be ranged from 300 dpi to 2540 dpi.

Drop Shadow – It is a visual effect that consists of shadows used either around an image or text or below them, thus illuminating the object and giving it a 3-D effect.

Duotone – It is a technique of blending 2 colors, where one color is dark and other is light. This technique gives a more affluent tone to the images as compared to monotone ones.

 

E

Egyptian Typeface – It is a bold typeface with slab or square serifs.

Emboss – Giving a dimensional effect to an image or raising it, thus making it appear as though the image has projected out of the surface or background.

Expanded Fonts – These are fonts that have characters with wider fixed-widths than standard fonts.

Export – It is a process through which a file can be saved in a format that can be opened or read in other programs

EPS – Encapsulated PostScript File Format. It is a vector format, highly recommended for high resolution printing.

Extended Typeface – These are some particular typefaces that are horizontally wide such as LATIN WIDE, HELLENIC, etc.

 

F

Facing Pages – In publication, these are the two adjacent pages, facing each other, intended to be read as separate pages.

Flash – It is a program that enables the designer to add animation or movement in images.

Feather Effect – It is a visual effect that adds a blurry effect around the edges of an edge, hence giving it a smooth appearance.

Filters – In graphic design software, it is a tool that is used to give an image different visual effect such as blurring, sharpening, etc.

Folio – It is the page number given to or set with the running header and footer.

Font – A complete set of characters with a specific size and style. This includes alphabets (a-z) and special characters.

 

G

GIF – Stands for Graphic Interchange Format. This format is generally small in size, supporting only simple animations and transparent images. It displays up to 256 colors, thus low resolution images. This image format is widely used on websites.

Glow – In graphic design software, this tool is used to add a soft or bright highlighting effect on images or text.

Gradient – It is gradual change of different colors. Using different combination of colors, this tool gives the image a feel of depth. Many metallic visual effects are the results of gradient tool.

Grey-scale Image – It represents the intensity information of an image. Pixels in these images vary from weakest intensity (black) to a stronger intensity (white).

GUI – Stands for Graphic User Interface. Such interface enables users to use icons, visuals or images instead of a text.

 

H

Halftone – In conventional printing, it is a continuous-tone image snapped through a screen so as to produce small dots of different sizes that can be reproduced on a printing press. In digital designing, a halftone is produced by sampling a continuous-tone image that gives it different quantities of dots with varied sizes for the same effect.

Head – It is a line in the opening of body content with larger font size and bold typeface than the rest of the content.

Hexadecimal – It is a method of describing or specifying different web colors. It is a combination of numbers and alphabets, including 0-9 and A-F.

Hue – The main property of a color that describes it as blue, green, red, yellow, etc.

 

I

Icon – A pictorial image that indicates the utility functions. For instance “My Computer” icon on a Window's desktop that takes the user to my computer window.

Image Map – One image containing more than one hyperlink. These links are given to specific images that redirect the customer to specific destinations.

Interlace – A technique that is used to be implemented on web pages to retrieve an image in different phases, starting from a rough version gradually displaying to a more refined one.

Interstitial – An interstitial is a webpage – often used for advertising purpose – that is displayed either after or before a webpage that the user intends to access.

Italic – Fonts that are slightly tilted to the right.

 

J

JPEG – Stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. It is a file format use to store images that use more colors than a GIF image. The file size of a JPEG image is usually smaller.

 

K

Knockout – A term used in print media, indicating a color printed adjacent to the other color but slightly overlapped.

 

L

Landscape – The orientation of a page or document in a width wise mode, where the width of the page is more than the height.

Lap register – A technique used to avoid white lines between to images of a different color.

Layers – In digital designing, images are altered at different layers. This way the appearance of the original image can be changed without actually altering its original pixels.

Layer Style – In digital designing, layers have a collection of different styles that can be implemented on a layer without affecting the original one.

Line Art – A black and white image drawn against a plain background without any gray areas. Line art images usually consist of distinct curved or straight lines. A pen and ink illustration is also a line art.

Logo Type – An emblem, symbol or mark that acts as a trademark of a company.

Low-resolution Image – It is a lower quality image – but adequate – mostly used for viewing on digital devices such as computers. These images are ideal for online use, particular on websites, where images must load quickly on the viewers' screen.

LPI – Stands for Lines Per Inch. It is a type of printing resolution measurement for devices that use halftone screen.

 

M

Majuscule – This term is used to imply capital letters.

Mezzotint – For making a simulated halftone, it is a screen that creates dusty and connected dots.

Miniscule – This term is used to imply lowercase letters.

Moiré Patterns – It refers to an unwanted criss-cross or checkered pattern that happens when a bit-map image is enlarged, condensed or displayed in a resolution which is different from the original resolution.

Monospaced Type – It is a typeface of a typewriter where the horizontal space between each character is same.

Mouse Over – It is used to imply the movements of a mouse pointer when hover over any icon, URL or image.

 

N

Negative Space – In design, it refers to the space around the image or object which is unoccupied by any painted element.

Neon Glow – It is a type of glow that gives a neon lightning effect to an image or object.

 

O

Objected-Oriented (Mode) – It is a "Draw Graphic Mode" having a set algorithms that defines the form of a graphics in abstract geometrical terms.

Oblique Type – It refers to those characters that are slanted to the right.

Opacity – In design, it refers to the level translucency or transparency of an image.

Outline – In design, it refers to the outer edges of an image or text.

 

P

Pantone Matching System – In short, PMS, it is a standard system that is used for blending colors or matching them.

Pica – It is a printing industry unit that denotes the measurement of a type such as column width of a layout.

Pixel (Picture Element) – It refers to the small dots that make up an image, particularly on a CRT (monitor) screen.

PNG – Stands for Portable Network Graphics format. In this format the image is displayed without jagged edges while retaining a relatively small file size.

Point – It is a unit that measures the size of a standard type.

Posterization – Intentional constriction of a gradation to fewer tones to give the image a special effect.

PPI – Stands for Pixels Per Inch. It is used to measure the pixels or resolution of a display, particularly monitors, scanners and printers.

Printer Fonts – As the name suggests, it refers to the fonts that are used by printers.

Process Color – It signifies the process of blending or matching 4 different colors namely Cyan, Magenta, Black and Yellow to reconstruct thousands of other colors.

Primary Colors – It denotes those colors that are produced from red, green and blue.

 

Q

 

R

Raster Graphics – It is a method that produces an image as a collection of small and independent dots or pixels, usually arrange in set rows and columns.

Resolution – It signifies the measurement of pixels to express the fineness of an image's quality.

Reverse – In design it is a method where white or light-colored images or texts are displayed usually on a dark background.

RGB – It is a color mode that stands for Red, Green and Blue.

Rich Media – It refers to internet advertising through the use of some advance technology including java applets, flash, streaming ads, etc.

Rough – It is a polished sketch of a publication designed for client's review.

Royalty-free Images – This term is used for images that are sold for a standard price but can be used at multiple instances by the purchaser.

Run-around – In text, it is a type that is used to fit the outline of an image, etc.

 

S

Sans-Serif – Meaning "Little or Without Feet", it is a common style of typeface that include Avant-Garde, Aerial, etc.

Saturation – Refers to an image's color intensity. If the saturation is high the image may appear as bright and if it is low the image may appear as neutral or dull.

Serif – It is a common type of font.

Solarization – It refers to the over exposure of an image that leads to its photographic reversal.

Spot Color – These are the solid colors that are not recreated by the CMYK values.

Swatch – It refers to the collection of sample colors.

 

T

Tagline – Tagline is a branding slogan for any product or service, especially used to persuade readers for further advertising and marketing purposes.

Template – A special preformatted design that can be easily customized or modified as per the users requirements.

Text wrap – A characteristic supported by word processors in order to use graphics and images along with the text.

Thumbnail – Presentation of a page or image in miniature or small size. It can also be changed into larger view after further clicking.

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) – It is a file format used for digital gray-scale halftones. It can be used on Macintosh or IBM/compatible computers and may be an output to PostScript printers.

Tiling (tile) – It is the process of printing a page layout in different sections with overlapping edges by which the pieces can be joined together.

Track – It is used is typography in order to minimize space evenly between all the characters in a line. Unlike kerning, that is used to reduce variable space between particular characters.

Type alignment – The division of white space in a single line of type where the characters are arranged in their standard set width without filling the entire line length. Type can be aligned either right justified, left, centered or right.

Typeface – It is a typing style designed for the printing of numbers, alphabets, special characters and punctuations.

Type families – A set of typefaces having the same basic design but different proportions and weights.

 

U

U&lc; – Abbreviation of an industrial term used for upper and lowercase.

Uppercase – Normally used at the start of a sentence, they are the capital version of a type font such as A, B, C, etc.

Unit – It is the division of the em space which is used for fine-tunning the letterspace of the text type. Various DTP softwares and typesetting systems use different units. 8, 16, 32 & 64 are most common units.

 

V

Vector graphic – A graphic format that follows shapes and lines called paths. Vector graphic is resolution independent and can be zoomed in or zoomed out along without distorting the edges. It is mostly used for line art and logo designing.

Vector Information – A path made out of directional handles and points.

Vignetting – They are image corners that are relatively darker than the image center because of a lens.

 

W

Weight – It is the thickness of a letter stroke, extra-light, light, medium, regular, bold, demi-bold, ultra bold and extra bold.

Word wrap – Word wrap is the dropping of characters automatically to the next line when reached to the right hand margin in a text editor or word processor.

WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) – An interactive mode of computer processing by which a preview of printed output can be seen easily.

Watermark – It is an impression imprinted on a design or paper showing a company's logo or a name of the object.

 

X

X-height – Refers to a lowercase letters height. Also known as body height.

 

Y

 

Z