Agricultural byproduct - Agricultural byproducts are fibrous byproducts of agriculture, such as cereal straws and corn stalks, which have previously been treated as a waste stream. These materials are routinely burned or flooded from fields, wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds of a valuable resource and damaging the environment. Using agricultural byproducts means turning a waste stream into a resource and New Leaf is actively researching the ability to use them.

Bleed - Printing that goes to the edge of the sheet after trimming.  To cut the job to it's actual size the processor has to make sure the job gets printed with 1/8 of inch bleed, some jobs require more than this.  For example a business card that is 3.5''x2'', the file size with bleed would be 3.625''x2.15''.

Bond paper - Strong durable paper grade used for letterheads and business forms.

Crop - To cut off parts of a picture or image.

Coating - The mixture of clay materials that are applied to paper to improve the smoothness of the paper's surface and improve ink holdout during the printing process. An example would be UV coating. UV coating adds a gloss finish to the product and also improves the vibrancy of the printed colors. Spot-UV can be applied to selected portions of the piece, while keeping the rest a matte finish. ? 

Deinking - The deinking process removes applied inks, finishes, glues, and other contaminants from wastepaper in order to extract the cellulose fiber. Typically this requires extensive processing through a variety of pulping, screening, cleaning, washing, and/or floatation equipment.
 
Deinked pre-consumer waste - This paper has been printed but not used by consumers, such as waste from printers and unsold magazines and publications. It is processed like post- consumer waste and is deinked for reuse.

Die - Device for cutting, scoring, stamping, embossing and debossing.

 

Die Cut - To cut irregular shapes in paper or paperboard using a die.

 

Digital Printing - The process of transferring an image stored on a computer to a printable material. Wide-format inkjet printing is most commonly known as digital printing.

Dots Per Inch (dpi) - A measurement of resolution of input, output and display devices. 300 dpi means that when printed, each square inch of your image will contain 90,000 pixels (dots), the higher the dpi (the more pixels per inch) the more crisp the printed image will be. Our electronic (digital files) have to have a resolution of at least 300 dpi. Anything less than that is considered as low resolution and may appear blurry when printed.

Elemental chlorine free - Elemental chlorine fee applies to paper processed without elemental chlorine but with a chlorine derivative such as chlorine dioxide. Although less harmful than using chlorine, it is still considerably worse than totally chlorine free.

Emboss - Pressing an image into paper so that it will create a raised relief.

Forest Stewardship Council - Recently, some United States commercial forests have undergone a sustainable harvest certification process overseen by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a non-profit organization set up to encourage the use of sustainable practices in forestry worldwide.

Foil - A metallic or pigmented coating on plastic sheets or rolls used in foil stamping and foil embossing.

Foil emboss - Foil stamping and embossing an image on paper with a die.

Foil stamping - Using a die to place a metallic or pigmented image on paper.

4-color-process - The process of combining four basic colors to create a printed color picture.

Gloss Finish - A coating on paper that provides a higher reflection of light, which results in a shiny appearance. Gloss coatings reduce ink absorption, which allows excellent contrast and color definition.

High resolution banner - This print is between 720 and 1200 dpi (dots per inch).  This type of banner is necessary if your audience will be closer than 4 feet.   If they look closely at the image it will look clean and they will not see any dots that they would see in a medium resolution print.

How is recycled paper made - Recycled paper, either pre or post-consumer materials needs to be washed and is often deinked prior to being pulped. The pulp goes through a bleaching process to make it whiter. There are many bleaching processes; New Leaf Paper chooses a processed chlorine free process. Once the pulp is bleached, it enters a series of phases including the following: the paper forming section; the press section where water is removed by pressing the wet paper between rolls and felts; and the drying section where the moisture content is reduced to the desired level; and the calendering section where the paper is compacted and smoothed progressively as it travels down a stack of steel rolls. Once completed the paper is stored in either rolls or cut into sheets.

Laminate - To cover with film; to bond or glue one surface to another.

Matte finish - A coated paper finish that is flat, not shiny like a gloss, but still keeps much of the ink from being absorbed by the paper and produces an excellent image.

Medium resolution banner - This print is between 360 and 720 dpi (dots per inch).  This type of banner is suggested if your audience will be farther than 4 feet away.  If they are closer they will be able to see the dots that make up the image.  The medium resolution banner is cheaper than the high resolution banner.

Non-wood or tree-free fiber - Non-wood or tree-free fiber refers to fiber that comes from sources other than trees, such as agricultural byproducts, kenaf, and hemp. These fiber sources are commonly used in other parts of the world, and can be cultivated here to help reduce pressure on forest lands.

Offset Printing - The transfer of an inked image from a plate to a blanket cylinder, which in turn transfers the image to the printing material as it passes between the blanket and the impression cylinder and pressure is applied. Also referred to as offset lithography.

Pixel - The smallest unit of a digitized image created by a digital device, such as a computer, camera, or scanner. Pixel is short for picture element. The more pixels per inch the better the resolution. On computer monitors, the display is divided into rows and columns containing thousands or millions of pixels. Each pixel is composed of three dots representing the three color channels of red, green, and blue light that are necessary for creating a color image on computer monitors and television screens. Because of their small size, the pixels appear to merge, simulating a continuous tone image, but when magnified they appear to be tiny square blocks of light.

Post-consumer waste - This is paper that has already been used and returned through a recycling program, thereby diverting it from a landfill or incinerator. It is usually deinked and then processed to make new paper. Office paper waste makes up the majority of post-consumer waste content that is used to make recycled copy and printing papers.

Point - For paper, a unit of thickness equaling 1/1000 inch; for typesetting, a unit of height equaling 1/72 inch.

Processed chlorine free - Processed chlorine free refers to recycled paper in which the recycled content is unbleached or bleached without chlorine or chlorine derivatives. Dioxins and other toxins and pollutants created by chlorine and its derivatives are often referred to as chlorinated organic compounds. The dioxins have been associated with adverse affects on the immune and reproductive systems of human as well as those of fish and wildlife species. New Leaf 's papers are processed chlorine free.

Pre-consumer waste - Pre-consumer materials are those that have not met their intended end-use by a consumer and include allowable waste left over from manufacturing, converting, and printing processes. Examples: mill-converting scraps, pre-consumer deinking material, pulp substitutes. Magazines and newspapers that were never bought also are termed pre-consumer.

Process colors - CMYK-The primary colors used in 4-color printing - Cyan (process blue), Magenta (process red), Yellow (process yellow), K(process black)

Recycled paper - Recycled paper can have several meanings, but the most consistent definition is derived from our federal government's guidelines. Almost all state and local government and business procurement specifications now reference the Environmental Protection Agency's guidelines on recycled paper. The EPA guidelines require a minimum of 30% post-consumer content for uncoated printing and writing paper, and a minimum of 10% post-consumer content for coated papers. Other forms of paper, such as newsprint, corrugated packaging, tissue, and others, also require post-consumer content. The EPA doesn't consider mill broke, the unprinted trimming and converting scrap from paper mills themselves, recycled content.

Resolution - The measurement of output quality expressed in pixels (dots) per inch on a computer monitor or dots per inch on printed media. For example, a monitor displaying a resolution of 800 by 600 refers to a screen capable of displaying 800 pixels in each of 600 lines, which translates into a total of 480,000 pixels displayed on the screen. When referring to printed media, a 300 dpi (dots per inch) printer for example, is capable of outputting 300 dots in a one-inch line, which means that it has the ability of printing 90,000 distinct dots per square inch (300 x 300).

Static Cling - A printable material that adheres to a substrate, usually glass,  by static electricity -- no adhesive is necessary. A common example would be the tax disc holder in a car window.

Substrate - Any surface on which printing is done.

Sustainably harvested virgin fiber - No matter how well we recycle, the paper industry will always require some virgin fiber. Both trees and non-wood fibers can be cultivated as sustainable sources of virgin fiber, reducing the need to destroy old growth forests for paper. Additionally, the per-acre fiber yield from some non-wood virgin fibers appears to be higher than that from tree farms.

Totally chlorine free - Totally chlorine free applies to virgin fiber papers that are unbleached or processed with a sequence that includes no chlorine or chlorine derivatives.

Turnaround Time - The accumulated time between receipt of an order and completion of the finished product.

UV coating - A liquid coating applied to the printed piece, which is then bonded and cured with ultraviolet light. This coating is used to provide protection to the printed image, and adds a gloss finish to the product that improves the vibrancy of the printed colors.

Varnish - A clear liquid applied to printed surfaces for looks and protection.

Virgin fiber - Virgin fiber is fiber that has never been used before in the manufacture of paper or other products.

Wide Format Printing - A specialist ink-jet printer with the capacity to print up to 2m wide and up to 50m long. Wide format printers generally use solvent or eco-solvent inks to provide a very durable and weather resistant image.