Glossary
Prepress Technician Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential prepress technician terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key prepress technician vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in prepress technician training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Bleed
- Image past the trim.
- CMYK
- Cyan, magenta, yellow, black.
- Imposition
- Arranging pages on sheets.
- Makeready
- Setup before a run.
- PDF/X
- Print-ready PDF standard.
- Plate
- Image carrier for press.
- Preflight
- Checking files before print.
- Proof
- Test print for approval.
- Registration
- Alignment of colors.
- Resolution
- Image detail.
- Spoilage
- Wasted sheets.
- Spot color
- Premixed ink.
- Substrate
- Material printed on.
- Trapping
- Overlap to hide gaps.
- Trim
- Final cut size.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Prepress Technician practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Prepress Technician training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.