Table Of ContentGRAPHIC DESIGN, ENGLISH
TRANSLATED
LE LANGAGE FRAN!;AIS
DU GRAPHISME
GRAFIK DESIGN DEUTSCH
OBERSETZT
IL LINGUAGGIO ITALIANO
DELLA GRAFICA
EL LENGUAJE DEL ESPANOL
DISENO GRAFICO
© 2010, 2011 by Rockport Publishers, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission
of the copyright owners. All images in this book have been reproduced with the knowledge and prior
consent of the artists concerned, and no responsibility is accepted by producer, publisher, or printer
for any infringement of copyright or otherwise, arising from the contents of this publication. Every
effort has been made to ensure that credits accurately comply with information supplied. We apologize
for any inaccuracies that may have occurred and will resolve inaccurate or missing information in a
subsequent reprinting of the book.
First published in the United States of America by
Rockport Publishers, a member of
Quayside Publishing Group
100 Cummings Center
Suite 406-L
Beverly, Massachusetts 01915-6101
Telephone: (978) 282-9590
Fax: (978) 283-2742
www.rockpub.com
Digital edition: 978-1-61673-880-8
Softcover edition: 978-1-59253-595-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wolf, Peter J.
Graphic design, translated : a visual directory of terms for global design / Peter J. Wolf.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59253-595-8
ISBN-10: 1-59253-595-X
1. Graphic arts-Dictionaries-Polyglot. 2. Printing-Dictionaries-Polyglot. 3. Dictionaries,
Polyglot. I. Title. II. Title: Visual dictionary of terms for global design.
NC997.W652010
741 .603-dc22
2009039499
ISBN-13: 978-1-59253-595-8
ISBN-10: 1-59253-595-X
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Design: Traffic Design Consultants
Cover Design: Traffic Design Consultants
Book Layout: Megan Jones Design
Printed in China
5
A~.~nowledgments
It is some kind of injustice that most books-certainly
one of this size-are attributed to an individual; such
projects are necessarily collaborative.
And I am deeply indebted to the team of The crew at Lux Coffee bar were, whether
talented people responsible for this book's they knew it or not, also an integral part of the
conception, design, and production. (Sadly, I team. In addition to keeping my caffeine and
will never meet most of them, this being one glucose levels sufficiently elevated, they pro
of those twenty-first century, Internet-enabled vided an environment conducive to working
teams referred to in the introduction.) be it email correspondence, face-to-face
meetings, or the writing itself.
Thanks, first of all, to the many contributing
artists, designers, photographers, printers, Thanks also to Laurel, for her generous
educators, archivists, and collectors, without recommendation, which set me off on a
whom such a project would be simply impos great adventure. And to Emily, for trusting
sible. More than once, some kind soul (often me-a "recovering engineer"-with such an
somebody I've never met) diverted his or undertaking. And to Donna, for her experi
her attention from far more pressing matters ence, skills, and, most of all, patience. And
to send me images, fill out forms, answer finally to Kate, for her unwavering faith and
questions, etc. I look forward to working with constant encouragement, and for showing
these people again in the future (perhaps me that it's okay-not always, maybe, but
though it's a remarkably old-fashioned sometimes-to leap without looking.
notion-even meeting in person one day).
-Peter J. Wolf
6
Table of Contents
-----------_.--------.-.-------.--.-_.--._-_.-._.------------------._- -------------_.----_.-----._-------_.--------------------._.---------- -._------------------------------------------------._-----------._----
Introduction 8 CLIP ART 30
How To Use This Book 14 CMYK 30 FACING PAGES 44
Pronunciation Guide 15 COATED PAPER 30 FIGURE-GROUND 45
Languages Table of Contents 16 COLLAGE 31 FLUSH-LEFT/FLUSH-RIGHT 45
English Terms 17 COLOR 31 FOCAL POINT 45
COLOR CORRECTION 31 FOIL STAMPING 46
COLOR-MATCHING SYSTEM 32 FONT 46
ACCORDION FOLD 18 COLOR MODEL 32 FOR POSITION ONLY (FPO) 46
ALIASING, ANTI-ALIASING 18 COLOR PALETTE 32 FORM-COUNTERFORM 46
ALIGNMENT 18 COLOR SPACE 32 FOUR-COLOR PROCESS 47
ALL CAPS 19 COLOR WHEEL 33 FRONT MATTER 47
ANALOGOUS COLORS 19 COLUMN 33 FUTURISM 47
ANIMATION 19 COMPLEMENTARY COLORS 33
APOSTROPHE 20 COMPOSITE 34
AQUEOUS COATING 20 COMPOSITION 34 GALLEY PROOF 47
ART DECO 20 CONDENSED TYPE 34 GRADIENT 48
ART NOUVEAU 21 CONSTRUCTIVISM 35 GRAYSCALE 48
ARTS AND CRAFTS 21 CONTRAST 35 GREEKING 48
ASCENDER 21 COPYFITTING 35 GRID 49
ASYMMETRY 22 COUNTER 36 GUTTER 50
CROP 36
CUBISM 36
BACK MATTER 22 H&J 50
BALANCE 22 HALFTONE 50
BARREL FOLD 22 DADA 37 HANGING PUNCTUATION 51
BASELINE 23 DE STIJL 37 HEADING 51
BAUHAUS 23 DE BOSS 37 HEADLINE 51
BEZIER CURVE 23 DESCENDER 37 HIERARCHY 52
BINDING 24 DIE CUT 38 HUE 53
BITMAP 24 DINGBATS 38 HYPHEN 53
BLACKLETTER 24 DISPLAY TYPE 38 HYPHENATION 53
BLEED 25 DITHER 39
BODY COPY 25 DROP CAPITAUCAP 39
BOLD/BOLDFACE 25 DUOTONE 39 ICON 53
BORDER 26 IDENTITY 54
BRANDING 26 IMPOSITION 54
BRIGHTNESS 26 EGYPTIAN 40 INDENT 54
BULLET 27 ELLIPSIS 40 INITIAL CAPITAUCAP 55
EM 40 INTERACTION DESIGN 56
EM DASH 41 ITALIC 56
CALIPER 27 EM SPACE 41
CALLIGRAPHY 27 EMBOSS 41
CALLOUT 27 EN 42 JUSTIFIED TYPEITEXT 56
CAP HEIGHT 28 EN DASH 42
CAPTION 28 EN SPACE 42
CASE BINDING 28 END MATTER 43 KERNING 57
CENTERED TYPEITEXT 29 EXPERT SET 43 KISS DIE CUT 57
CHANNELS 30 EYE FLOW 43
CHROMA 30
7
_.---------._.---.------.---._-_.--.--------.------------------------- .------.-----------------------------------------------_.------------- ------------------------_.--_.----._----------------------------------
PATH 70 SUBHEAD 86
LASER CUT 57 PERFECT BINDING 71 SUBSCRIPT 86
LAYER 58 PHOTOMONTAGE 71 SUPERSCRIPT 87
LAYOUT 58 PICA 71 SURREALISM 87
LEADING 58 PICTOGRAM 72 SWASH CHARACTERS 87
LEGIBILITY 59 PIXEL 72 SYMBOL 88
LETTER SPACING 59 POINT/POINT SIZE 72 SYMMETRY 88
LETTERFORM 59 POSITIVE SPACE 73
LETTERPRESS 60 POSTERIZATION 73
LIGATURE 61 POST-MODERNISM 73 TERTIARY COLORS 88
LINE 61 PRIMARY COLORS 74 TEXT WRAPPING 89
LINE BREAK 61 PROCESS COLORS 74 TEXTURE 89
LINE LENGTH 62 PROOF 74 THUMBNAIL 89
LINING NUMERALS/FIGURES 62 PROPORTIONAL 74 TINT 90
LITHOGRAPHY 62 PULL QUOTE 75 TRACKING 90
LOGO 63 TRAPPING 90
LOREM IPSUM 63 TRITONE 90
QUOTATION MARKS 76 TYPE 91
TYPE CLASSIFICATION 92
MAKE READY 63 TYPE FAMILY 92
MARGIN 63 RAG 76 TYPEFACE 92
MASTER PAGE 64 RASTER GRAPHICS 76 TYPESETTING 93
MEAN LINE 64 READABILITY 76 TYPOGRAPHY 93
MEASURE 64 REAM 77
METAPHOR 65 RECTONERSO 77
MODERNISM 66 REGISTRATION 77 ULTRAVIOLET COATING 93
MOIRE 66 RESOLUTION 78
MONOCHROMATIC 66 REVERSE/REVERSE OUT 78
MONOSPACED 67 RGB 78 VALUE 93
MONTAGE 67 RHYTHM 79 VARNISH 94
MULTIMEDIA 67 RIVERS 80 VECTOR GRAPHIC 95
ROMAN TYPE 80 VERSO 95
RULE 80 VICTORIAN 95
NEGATIVE SPACE 67 VISUAL ALIGNMENT 95
SADDLE-STITCH BINDING 81
OBLIQUE 68 SANS SERIF 81 WHITE SPACE 96
OFFSET LITHOGRAPHY 68 SATURATION 81 WIDOW 96
OLD-STYLE NUMERALS/FIGURES 68 SCALE 82
OPTICAL ALIGNMENT 68 SCREEN PRINTING 83
ORPHAN 69 SCRIPT TYPE 83 X-HEIGHT 96
OUTLINE TYPE 69 SECONDARY COLORS 83
OVERPRINTING 69 SERIF 84 French terms 97
SHEET SIZES 84 German terms 177
SIGNATURE 84 Italian terms 257
PACKAGING DESIGN 70 SMALL CAPITALS/CAPS 85 Spanish terms 337
PAGINATION 70 SPREAD 85 Index of terms 417
PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM (PMS) 70 STANDING CAPITAUCAP 85 About the Author 431
PAPER SIZES 70 STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY/IMAGES 86
8
Introduction
For centuries now, graphic design has been used to
celebrate national identities. Aspects of a country's
values and self-image (as well as its design sensibility)
are displayed daily in its currency, postage stamps, and
all manner of official documents and communications.
Such examples are intended largely for Bauhaus and the International Typographic
domestic consumption, however. For Style spread far beyond their origins in
"branding" a nation globally, visual com Western Europe, with an unprecedented
munication efforts are focused outward reach across the globe.
and few opportunities compare to the
Olympic Games. Their sophisticated International borders are defined not just
identity systems become forever associ by geographical and physical barriers,
ated not just with a particular time, but however, but also by culture and language.
also a particular place. Otl Aicher's highly It was precisely these barriers that the
systematic approach to the graphics for Austrian philosopher Otto Neurath, along
the 1972 Games in Munich, to take just with his wife Marie Reidemeister and
one example, is considered by many to be illustrator Gerd Arntz, sought to overcome
quintessential German design, reflecting with their Isotype (International System of
the rich legacies of the Bauhaus and the Typographic Picture Education) system
Ulm School. More recently, the brand- of pictograms. First developed during the
ing of the 2008 Summer Games in China 1920s-the First World War having brought
presented a carefully crafted image of the international issues suddenly into sharp
country to the rest of the world, using the focus-the goal of Isotype was noth-
Games as a "global coming out party."1 ing less than "a world language without
words."2 The extensive Isotype system,
Yet the history of graphic design is one of with approximately 4,000 illustrations
transcending international borders, too. credited to Arntz alone, eventually spread
During the fifteenth century, following the throughout Europe to North America and
invention of the printing press, ideas about beyond-transcending cultural and lan
typography and illustration filtered quickly guage barriers, and paving the way for the
from Germany into the rest of Europe-just information graphics with which designers
in time for the Italian Renaissance, a and the general public are now so familiar.
period of great innovation in typeface and
book design. Nineteenth-century Victorian Today, of course, such transcendence
design, a response to the excesses of is easier than ever; international design
the Industrial Revolution, was adopted teams routinely collaborate using little
widely-especially by advertisers-across more than a fluid network of Web-cruising
Europe and America. And the twentieth laptops (often via increasingly ubiquitous
century saw the powerful influences of the wireless connections). And thanks to the
1 Quelch, John. "How Olympics Branding Is Shaping China," 2008. http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org
2 Meggs, Philip B. & Purvis, Alston W., Meggs' History of Graphic Design. Fourth ed. Hoboken, NJ:
John Wiley & Sons, 2006.
9
Examples of the ex tensive identity sys . h Olympics
• tho 1972 M""," " "".
. tem developed by OtlC Aolilecchtieorn foof rJ oe Miller; Photography: oe
