Color Label Press University "Glossary of Terms" Part Thirteen, Course One

I've used the hashtag of #followprintmigration for sometime now.  I don't have any facts or statements, I just know what I see.  Last weekend the wife and I spent a few days in Wildwood, NJ for a much needed getaway.  The main purpose of the trip was to attend the North America Sea Glass festival. 

Many artists from the east coast were to there to display and sell their creations.  So what did I notice?  Branding, branding and more branding from the artists with their creations.  I noticed three artists that completed your purchase with a brown craft bag and on each bag was a colorful branding label.

While at another booth I noticed that each of the plastic bags that contained assorted sea glass was adorned with a color label.  For the two day event I can only guess at the number of labels that were used for that one show.

While traveling home we stopped at Smithville, which is a re-creation of historic buildings that are now a combination of shops and boutiques that attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year.

My favorite shop is the one that sells all different types of nut spreads. I was tempted to get the sunflower spread but opted for the cashew instead.  Every single jar of spread had a color label, on some of the larger jars there were two or more.  Let's see, open every day all year, tens of thousands of visitors, well that adds up to a crap load of color labels for the one store.

Yes there is a reduction of print happening in the office. But if I was a dealer principal in the business of putting ink or toner on paper don't I owe to myself to expand my services?  The market is huge for digital label presses and there are more opportunities for net new clients than you can shake a stick at.  Think about this the next time you make a purchase and take a look at all of the ink and toner!

Label Press University

At the top of each blog you'll see .  Clicking that link which is at the top of each blog will then bring you the collection of blogs for Color Label Press University.  It's pretty neat, you'll see all of the blogs that we've posted for an easier read and simple way to toggle from blog to blog.

Color Label Presses can be used as seeding devices in larger Print4Pay opportunities, or help that dealer or rep get a conversation going with an account where they have never had any traction with MFP's or IT services.  In addition, the competition is ripe for takeover.   Let us not forget about the GP!

The market for full color digital labels in huge and the potential to make some serious commissions is enormous.  BTW, isn't that why we're in this crazy business? 

Layout   The drawing or sketch of a proposed design.
Legging   The stringing out of a pressure sensitive adhesive which frequently occurs following die-cutting when the matrix or waste
skeleton is being stripped.
Letterpress  Printing process which employs a relief or raised inked image which comes into direct contact with the material being printed. Hard relief plates and oil base inks are used.
Leuco   Dyes Used in the manufacture of some grades of IR, direct thermal papers.
Lexan    General Electric Company's trademark for polycarbonate film.
Lifting    Defect where label exhibits some degree of lifting from the applied surface.
Light Pen   A hand-held scanning wand which is used as a contact bar code reader.
Line and Screen  Any reproduction of line and single or multiple screenwork not utilizing the combination of the three primary colors. Any number of colors can be utilized.
Line Width Reduction    Degree of gain allowed for when making up bar code films.
Lithographic Paper    A paper coated on at least one side, suitably prepared for lithographic printing.
Logo    The abbreviation of trade jargon for logotype. Name, symbol or mark to identify a company (trademark).
Loss of Tack    The adhesive loses its adhesion properties; does not grab as well as it should.
Luminescent Pigments   Special pigments available to produce striking effects in the dark. Basically there are two types; one is activated by ultraviolet
radiation, producing very strong luminescence. The second is known as phosphorescent pigments, it does not require any separate source of radiation.
M    Abbreviation for a quantity of 1,000.
Machine Direction    The direction of any material parallel to its forward movement on the press.
Magenta    A subtractive primary color which relfects blue and red light and absorbs green light.
Magnetic Cylinder   A cylinder used in die-cutting that is magnetized to accept and hold in place flexible steel dies. Also used for metal-backed printing plates.
Magnetic Dies   A thin, flexible, steel 'foil' bearing the actual die-cutting blades that is held on to a base cylinder magnetically. Quite common in EDP label production where identical repeats are frequently used.
Make and Hold  Material that has been manufactured and is being helf for customer release.
Makeready   On printing presses, all operations prior to running; such as mounting plates, adjusting the in-feed, edge guide, putting ink in
the fountain, adjusting the impression, setting up the die-cutting, color matching, etc. All preparatory operations preceding production.
Marking Order    Any order which cannot be filled from stock and is to be made according to purchaser's specifications; custom order.
Mandrel   A shaft upon which cylinders, or other devices, are mounted or affixed. Also unwind or rewind shaft on to which rolls of
materials (or labels) are mounted.
Manila    Describes the color of paper manufactured from rope stocks.
Masking    Covering part of a surface to protect it from exposing, etching, etc.
Master Roll    A full width roll that has finished the primary manufacturing process and is usually untrimmed and unslit.
Material    Usually refers to unconverted stock, pressure sensitive or not.
Material Splice   An area where tape has been used to attach two rolls of material together to form one continuous web.
Matrix (Waste Skeleton)    The face material and adhesive surrounding a self-adhesive label usually removed after die-cutting.
Matte Finish    A low-floss or no-gloss finish. A UV-curable clear coat may also be used to produce a matte or textured finish.
Mechanical    Term for a camera-ready pasteup of artwork including type, photos, line art, etc.; all on one piece of artboard.
Membrane Switch   Self-contained sealed film lamination printed with conductive inks that form trace paths for electrical currents. Primarily
composed of pressure sensitive polycarbonate and/or polyester films designed to replace traditional glass-type switches.
Memory   The property of a material that attempts to return it to its original configuration after being distorted.
Metal Foil   Thin, flexible layer of metal, such as aluminum, used as face materials. Thinner gauges are often laminated to paper for strength.
Metalized Film    A plastic or resinous film that has been coated on one side with a very thin layer of metal.
Metalized Paper    A label substrate consisting of a lacquered C1S paper on which a very thin film of aluminum has been deposited.
Metalizing   Applying a thin coating of metal to a non-metallic surface. May be done by chemical desposition or by exposing the surface to varporized metal in a vacuum chamber.
Meyer Rod   A method of coating utilizing a wire wrapped stainless steel rod which meters specific amounts of coating as it is applied to a
substrate.
Mezzotint    An irregular, random dot halftone.
MICR    Magnetic Ink Character Recognition. The process of machine reading characters by means of magnetic sensing.
Micrometer    A mechanical device for measuring thickness (usually in thousands of an inch).
Micron A    unit of measure. One-millionth of a meter or about .00004" (25 microns = 0.001").

-=Good Selling=-