Your Packages and Your Wallpaper May Have This...

Printing | Alpha Index to Full Glossary:.  # | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | XYZ

With gravure printing an image is etched on the surface of a metal plate or cylinder so that the image you want to print is in the recesses or depressions not the raised part of the plate (unlike relief printing where the image is raised). The recesses are filled with ink and the raised (non-printing) portions of the plate or cylinder are wiped or scraped free of ink leaving the ink only in the recesses.

The paper or other material is pressed against the inked plate or cylinder and the image is transferred to the paper.

Like engraving, gravure is a form of intaglio printing. It can produce fine, detailed images and can be used for short or long run printing. It can be used for CMYK printing with each color of ink applied with its own plate or cylinder with drying steps in between.

Also Known As: rotogravure

Examples: Like flexography, gravure printing is often used for high-volume printing of packaging, wallpaper, and giftwrap using fast-drying inks.

Although less common, gravure printing may also be used for printing magazines, greeting cards, and high-volume advertising pieces.

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Put the Accent on Your Words With Diacriticals

An accent mark is a mark or addition to some characters to denote a specific pronounciation.

Accent marks or diacriticals are rare in English but are a common occurrence in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and other languages. Some of the more commonly seen accent marks include acute, cedilla, circumflex, grave, tilde, and umlaut or diaeresis*. Many "Americanized" foreign words may be found written with or without their accent marks, such as cafe, naive, or facade (caf?, na?ve, fa?ade).

* See page 2 for clarification on umlaut vs. diaeresis for differences that are not reflected in the accompanying chart and graphics.

Examples of Diacriticals

? Acute
? Cedilla
? Circumflex
? Grave
? Tilde
? Umlaut/Diaeresis

Keystrokes for Mac and PC
When using a standard English keyboard and fonts it is necessary to use special characters or keystroke combinations in order to apply accent marks. The basic keystroke combinations are:

Mac Option plus a key or key combination ? Opt+e, a for ?Windows ALT plus a numeric code ? ALT+0225 for ?HTML Ampersand plus character code followed by a semi-colon ? ? for ?

I've put together a simple table of diacriticals showing the Mac, Windows, and HTML codes for the six common accent marks encountered in English text. This table also appears at the end of this page.

Designing with Diacriticals
These rules apply especially to US designers and others designing in English for a predominantly English-speaking audience.

Italicize foreign words or phrases. Include the accent mark when your text includes foreign words, proper names, or common English words that are normally accented.Be consistent. If you start out using accents, continue to do so throughout the document.Pay attention to the available special characters in the digital typefaces you choose. Not all fonts contain these characters.You may want to use a larger typesize for body text or experiment with different faces to find a font where the accent marks don't appear to merge into the accented letters or show up as little "smudges."

More About Accent Marks and Languages

French Language
"It is essential to put accents in their proper places - an incorrect or missing accent is a spelling mistake just as an incorrect or missing letter would be. The only exception to this is capital letters, which are often left unaccented." ? Learn how to pronounce accented characters and all about reading, writing, and speaking French.

Spanish Language
"Typing accented characters using either a Microsoft Windows-based or Macintosh computer isn't all that difficult. But it isn't intuitive." ? Includes step-by-step instructions on how to add accented characters under Windows or on a Mac as well as lessons in learning Spanish.

German Language
This special character chart for German describes which accented characters are most common in that language and how to type them. Also see German Language Dictionaries to find a dictionary online to translate between English and German plus other resources for reading, writing, and speaking German including "Wir chatten... ?ber Deutsch und auf deutsch!" (German Chat).

Italian Language
Use this chart to find the accented characters most often used in Italian and how to type them.

CharacterMacWindowsHTMLCharacterMacWindowsHTMLAcute [resum?]Umlaut [na?ve]?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?Opt + e, A
Opt + e, a
Opt + e, E
Opt + e, e
Opt + e, I
Opt + e, i
Opt + e, O
Opt + e, o
Opt + e, U
Opt + e, u
Opt + e, Y
Opt + e, yALT + 0193
ALT + 0225
ALT + 0201
ALT + 0233
ALT + 0205
ALT + 0237
ALT + 0211
ALT + 0243
ALT + 0218
ALT + 0250
ALT + 0221
ALT + 0253Á
á
É
é
Í
í
Ó
ó
Ú
ú
Ý
ý?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?Opt + u, A
Opt + u, a
Opt + u, E
Opt + u, e
Opt + u, I
Opt + u, i
Opt + u, O
Opt + u, o
Opt + u, U
Opt + u, u
Opt + u, Y
Opt + u, yALT + 0196
ALT + 0228
ALT + 0203
ALT + 0235
ALT + 0207
ALT + 0239
ALT + 0214
ALT + 0246
ALT + 0220
ALT + 0252
ALT + 0159
ALT + 0255Ä
ä
Ë
ë
Ï
ï
Ö
ö
Ü
ü
Ÿ
ÿGrave [voil?]Circumflex [ch?teau]?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?Opt + `, A
Opt + `, a
Opt + `, E
Opt + `, e
Opt + `, I
Opt + `, i
Opt + `, O
Opt + `, o
Opt + `, U
Opt + `, uALT + 0192
ALT + 0224
ALT + 0200
ALT + 0232
ALT + 0204
ALT + 0236
ALT + 0210
ALT + 0242
ALT + 0217
ALT + 0249À
à
È
è
Ì
ì
Ò
ò
Ù
ù?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?Opt + i, A
Opt + i, a
Opt + i, E
Opt + i, e
Opt + i, I
Opt + i, i
Opt + i, O
Opt + i, o
Opt + i, U
Opt + i, uALT + 0194
ALT + 0226
ALT + 0202
ALT + 0234
ALT + 0206
ALT + 0238
ALT + 0212
ALT + 0244
ALT + 0219
ALT + 0251Â
â
Ê
ê
Î
î
Ô
ô
Û
ûTilde [ma?ana]Cedilla [fa?ade]?
?
?
?
?
?Opt + n, A
Opt + n, a
Opt + n, N
Opt + n, n
Opt + n, O
Opt + n, oALT + 0195
ALT + 0227
ALT + 0209
ALT + 0241
ALT + 0213
ALT + 0245Ã
ã
Ñ
ñ
Õ
õ?
?Opt + Shft, C
Opt + cALT + 0199
ALT + 0231Ç
ç

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4 Parts of a Greeting Card

Make a Greeting Card.  ? J. Bear

A greeting card is generally a simple document — a piece of folded paper with text or images on the front and a message inside. Although there are variations, greeting cards generally follow a typical layout. Folded on the side or the top, there's a front, an inside spread (usually only half is used), and a back.

Front
The cover or front of the card may be a photo, text only, or a combination of text and images. The front of the card is what initially grabs attention and sets the tone (funny, serious, romantic, playful) for the card.Inside Message
Some greeting cards are blank inside. You write your own message. Others may proclaim Happy Birthday, Season's Greetings, or some other appropriate message. There may be a fun or serious poem, quotation, or Bible verse, or the punchline for a joke that began on the front of the card. The inside of the card may repeat graphics from the front of the card or have additional images.

The inside message of a greeting card typically appears on the right hand side of the open side-fold card with the left side (reverse of the cover) blank. On a top-fold card, the inside message is typically found on the bottom panel (reverse of the back side or page).

Some greeting cards made with computer software are printed on letter-size paper that is then folded to create a quarter-fold card so that all printing is on one side of the unfolded sheet of paper.

Additional Inside Panels. Rather than the common folded card with a front cover and message inside, some greeting cards may incorporate multiple panels folded like a tri-fold brochure. They may have accordian folds or gatefolds to accommodate more text and images.Additional Inside Pages.Some greeting cards can be like small booklets to present an extended message or tell a story. Back
On commerically-produced greeting cards, the back of the card is where you'll find the name of the greeting card company, logo, copyright notice, and contact information. When making your own greeting cards you might want to include your name and date or a personal stamp or logo. It could also be left blank.Optional Parts of a Greeting Card
Flaps/Windows. Greeting cards of any size may have diecut windows without or without flaps that conceal/reveal portions of the inside of the card.Pop-Ups/Tabs. Some greeting cards might have pop-up elements or tabs that the recipient pulls to reveal a message or cause parts of the card to move.Embellishments. Greeting cards created by hand or on the computer may be embellished with ribbon, charms, glitter, or other items that aren't part of the paper card.Sound. Many greeting cards today incorporate sound. A mechanism built in to the card causes it to play music or speak when the card is opened.

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Working on Retainer

If you're looking for a way to smooth out the ups and downs of a freelance income, approach some of your clients about working on retainer. There are benefits on both sides beyond just the money.

Do you now or have you ever worked on retainer as a designer? Was it a good experience for you? Share your thoughts on the pros and cons of this type of working relationship in the comments, below.

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What to Say in Your Greeting Cards

Whether it's for Mother's Day or some other occasion, when you make your own greeting cards you may be focused on the the images and fonts but you'll need some words to go with those fonts. About.com Rubber Stamping Guide Kate Pullen has rounded up sentiments for greeting cards of all kinds.

You might want to use some of these fonts for your Mother's Day words. ?If you're making invitations for a wedding, set these Wedding sentiments in one of these?traditional Wedding fonts.

More: Cards & Invitations

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Logo Design

You don't have to know how to draw to create some seemingly complex illustrations. The logo designs and graphics shown here use only lines, circles, squares, triangles, and text.

Who needs clip art? A circle, a triangle, a square (the highlight), and a curvy line make a nice balloon. Repeat it a few times, changing the color and add a triangle bow. You could vary it even more by using an elongated ellipse for one or more of the balloons.

A checkerboard of squares is a versatile pattern. It could be a tile floor, a racing flag, or, as seen in the illustration, a tablecloth. Can you pick out the shapes used for the different eating utensils?
A simple shape (triangle) does more than just sit there. Can you tell what they represent in the above black and white logo design?

The SpiroBendo logo design in the illustration is nothing more than a rectangle, some circles, and some very thick lines with round ends (filled rectangles with rounded corners could work too) that combine to look like a spiral notebook.
Letters with a tail are fun. The tail on this Q (the circle) is a curvy line that does triple duty. It underscores the name, is the tail on the Q, and its curves suggest water — an obvious tie-in with the surf supply company.

Take the stack of circles from the Using Shapes illustration and turn 'em purple, add a "leaf" (distorted polygon shape), squiggly line, and some text for a nice logo. No art lessons needed.
Basic Building Blocks Lines Shapes Combine Lines & Shapes View the original article here

Using Numbers in Desktop Publishing

Numbers don't necessarily follow the same rules as your ordinary ABCs when it comes to creating attractive text. Improve your numbers:

Typesetting Numbers explores Old Style, Lining, Proportional, and Tabular Figures and when and how to use each style.How to Create Your Own Inline, Diagonal Fractions for those times when your font doesn't divide the way you want.Currency and Numbers in Windows Character Map shows you how to find special numbers, fractions, and related symbols in your fonts.Create Better Lists of Numbers With Tabs shows how to line up columns of numbers more neatly.Leading Zero reveals how "nothing" (zero) adds up in typesetting numbers.Phone Numbers: Dots or Dashes dials up a variety of ways that designers and others typeset phone numbers.

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