Graphic Arts Terms A

Absorbency - A paper or other porous material’s ability to soak up the liquids or vapors (e.g., moisture) with which it comes into contact. A paper’s absorbency is a primary factor in drying time.

Accents - Small marks over, under or through a letterform indicating pronunciation or stress.

Active White Space - White space that separates and organizes design elements.

Additive Primaries – Red, green and blue projected light, which combine to form other colors. A mix of all three of these primaries produces white.

Anchor points - The point that determines where a segment starts or ends along a path. They are invisible unless any segment of the path that they create is selected. A single point appears as an x. Anchor points which are curves have direction lines and points associated with them.

Airbrush - A graphic art method in which ink or paint is applied with compressed air or gas in order to achieve a light, subtle, uniform application.

Anilox Roll - Mechanically or laser-engraved steel and chrome-coated metering roll used in flexographic presses to meter a controlled film of ink from the contacting elastomer covered fountain roller to the printing plates which print the web.

Anti-Alias - The rendering of hard edges so they blend smoothly into the background. A technique for merging object-oriented art with bitmaps.

Apple Talk Network - A combination of devices, cables and software that operates according to the protocols (rules) developed by Apple Computer. A communications environment in which many different kinds of computers, peripherals and software can work together.

Arc - (typography) Any curved stroke that is not a bowl.

Arm - (typography) The horizontal or diagonal stroke starting from the stem.

Artifact - A visible defect in an image.

Artwork - Any original work or artifact, including drawings and text, created by an artist.

Ascender - (typography) The part of the letter that rises above the body of the letter b, d, f, h., k, l, and t.

ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A standard format in which files may be saved. Often used in translating text files.