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Common Terms - D
Dandy Roll a wire mesh cylinder used to smooth the top of paper as it forms. Enhancing both surface smoothness and formation, the dandy roll may also carry a design, which will create a water- mark, identifying the sheet. see also laid finish, papermaking, watermark.
Debossing pressing letters or illustrations into a sheet of paper using a metal or plastic die to create a depressed (debossed) image. see also embossing.
Deckle Edge the feathery edge on a sheet of paper, created as the paper machine sprays a stream of water or a jet of air across the paper as it's being formed. Deckle edges can also be created after the paper is made, using a die. This method creates a less feathery, harder-edged deckle.
Deinking removing ink and other finishing materials, like coatings, sizings, and adhesives from printed paper. The complex de-inking process is what makes recycling paper difficult and ultimately adds to the cost of a recycled sheet of paper. To produce high-quality recycled or recycled content papers for printing and writing, the de-inking process needs to be thorough. The goal is to end up with reusable fiber that has few impurities, since impurities lower the quality of a recycled sheet and can sometimes damage equipment in the papermaking and printing process. Modern offset and flexographic ink, photocopier and laser printing "ink," ultraviolet and thermography coatings, and adhesives make it increasingly difficult to de-ink paper. de-inking process see also bleaching, flotation, pulping wood, recycled paper.
Densitometer an instrument used throughout a print run to measure the optical density of ink on paper.
Density the weight of a sheet of paper as compared to its bulk. For example, a paper that weighs more than another paper but is thinner has a higher density. Compacting the fibers creates a dense paper. see also bulk, weight.
Desktop Publishing A process for creating camera ready and plate ready artwork on a personal computer.
Die-cutting using a formed, meta-edged die to precision cut , or to cut shapes into a piece of paper. If a printing project requires a custom-made die, the total cost of the job will increase.
Digital Imaging The process of creating a digital output of an illustration, photographic image, computer file or other computer generated materials. Output media can be film, paper, transparencies, vinyl and other materials.
Digital Photography The process of recording images using a digital camera or a conventional camera with a digital adapter, it records on a disk or on microchip which can then be downloaded directly to a computer in tiff, pict or eps format.
Digital Printing A type of printing which uses digital imaging process that transfers the image directly onto plain paper immediately, without traditional offset rollers and plates.
Dimensional Stability a measure of paper's tendency to stretch or shrink, especially when affected by changes in moisture content from humidity, the printing process, or even the passage of time. Paper that maintains its original dimensions has a high degree of dimensional stability. see also grain, relative humidity, resilience, runnability.
Dispersion see de-inking.
Dot Compensation adjusting the size of the dots in halftones or four-color images to allow for dot gain and to ensure that the color and detail of the image print as intended. see also dot gain, four-color process, halftone, ink holdout, screen.
Dot Gain A printing term which describes wet ink coming in contact with paper and spreading as it is transfers. As the halftone dots are applied to the paper, the wet ink spreads, causing the dots to increase in size and halftones to appear darker. Paper weight, type of paper (coated or uncoated), press type (especially web presses), effect the amount of dot gain in a given printed piece. You may compensate for dot gain by calculating the dot gain before a print job and lessen the density of the images to be printed before you output film. See also dot compensation, four-color process, halftone.
DPI (dot per inch) the number of dots that fit horizontally and vertically into a one- inch measure. Generally, the more dots per inch, the more detail is captured, and the sharper the resulting image. see also halftone, lines per inch, screen.
Dry End the drying section of the papermaking machine, after the press section, at which point most water has been removed from the paper. As paper moves through the dry end, the drying process is completed and the paper reel is wound. see also drying, felt, papermaking, wet end.
Dry Trap a layer of wet ink being applied over a previous layer of dry ink in a separate run of the printing press. Dry trapping usually produces sharper images than wet trapping because subsequent layers of ink aren't diluted by prior wet or damp layers. Dry trap- ping is also more expensive because the paper travels through the press more than once. see also trapping, wet trap.
Drying the step in the papermaking process that brings the moisture content of paper to approximately 5%. This is done by moving the web of paper around a series of heated iron drums in the dry end of the paper machine. see also dry end, papermaking.
Dryography waterless offset lithography. This printing process is able to use extremely fine line screens to produce high resolution printing. see also offset, waterless printing.
Dull Coated a coated paper finish that falls between glossy and matte. see also coated paper, gloss, matte coated.
Dummy an unprinted mock-up of a book, brochure, or "to-be-printed" piece. A dummy is made of the same paper stocks that will be used in the finished piece, and serves as a reference for the client, designer, printer, mailing, house, or distributor. The printer, paper, merchant, or paper consultant generally provides the dummy at the request of the designer. see also comp, paper consultant.
Duotone a two-color halftone of the same images created with two screens, two plates, and two colors. Most halftones are one-color halftones, printed with black ink on white paper. By blending the black of the tiny ink dots and the white of the paper, the human eye sees shades of gray. Duotones are made by printing an image with two colors, generally black and a second color. The full range of tones are printed black and the middle range of tones are printed in the second color. The result is a striking image with more richness and depth that a one-color halftone. The image can be further enhanced by printing a tritone or a quadratone; these are also reproductions of black and white images, perhaps with a touch of color. The cost of printing tritones or quadratones may be as high as or higher than four- color process printing. see also four-color process, halftone, quadratone, screen, tritone.
Dust tiny, free pieces of fiber, filler, and/or coating on paper. During printing, dust may adhere to the blanket and create imperfections by not allowing ink to reach the paper surface. see also hickey, jog.