Printers, graphic designers and promotional products vendors each have their own 
language. When working with them you need to understand terms and concepts of each. The Nonprofit Branding Blog includes a glossary to decode their jargon. See the tab at the top of this page?
Many years ago, while answering a question about matching her logo color on an imprinted mug, I asked a caller “Do you have the PMS.”
“Well, yes,” she replied in a frosty tone - “not that it’s any of your business!”
Quickly I explained that PMS is a printer’s term. It is the abbreviation for Pantone Matching System, the universal numeric color-matching tool. We did solve her logo problem that day – with a PMS number. Then Janice and I decided to add a Glossary of professional terms to our website & blog.
This post is about that glossary. Wonder what kind of material it contains? Following is a quick tease to show you. I pasted abbreviated examples of some definitions – each one truncated about half-way through. (This IS a tease, remember. We want you to check the Glossary yourself.)
Biowashed – to achieve a subtle used appearance, some shirts and caps are dyed normally and then put through a washing cycle with mild solvents and some rocks or similar items to….….….
Bonding – two fabrics can be permanently attached through heat-sealing to form a heavier bonded fabric with the surfaces of each fabric on alternate sides. This is a way to produce inexpensive, durable……
Butt Register – touching two colors in an imprint. While this is simple to achieve when printing on paper, it can be tricky when……..
Cloisonné – a great look for emblematic jewelry, authentic cloisonné requires different colors of finely ground glass to be hand applied to a piece of metal that has been prepared with…….
Collectible Premiums – some fundraising incentives have a large long-term value to those with a high affinity level. The most common use is a series of imprinted coffee mugs with graphics built around the organization’s mission and dated – one for each year. (Here’s a true story about how your core supporters can covet a rare memento of your organization: In our role as primary supplier to public broadcasting we produced 1,000 Carl Kasell Bobbleheads to celebrate the beloved NPR newscaster……
CMYK – printer-talk for the standard four colors that a printer will sequentially pass over a surface to build a full-color process imprint. Those colors are specific shades of….<snip>….
Color on Color – an imprinting technique that applies a logo in a shade that is slightly – but only slightly – different from the color of the surface to which it is applied. In embroidery, because of the difference in texture…….
Continuity Program – a fundamental technique which builds repeat contributions by offering premiums in….<snip>….
Graphic Standards – your organization’s requirements for reproducing its graphics and branding elements on all surfaces. Stated in printer-speak and designer-speak, the graphic standards specify such things as….<snip>….
Marketing Mix – the elements of a marketing program. Example: a marketing mix designed to support a fundraising campaign could include….<snip>….
Overrun – the better factories in the promotional products industry imprint a larger quantity than an order requires. In the post-production quality control process inspectors examine all products and….<snip>….
Pantone Matching System (PMS) – this is the scheme used to precisely match colors for printing. It features hundreds and hundreds of gradations of color, each with a numerical indicator – called a PMS number. Each PMS number translates into a recipe….<snip>….
Don’t forget – this Glossary will be here when you need it. (In future posts I will swipe a definition from the Glossary and stick it at the bottom just to remind readers that they have a treasure trove of decoded jargon available on this blog.)
Cotton, our basic fiber, is an international commodity. The combination of production volatility and ever increasing costs is causing a worldwide effort to find substitute. It appears that flax is emerging as the potential favorite – especially flax that has been softened by a process called RAiLAR. (That really is the correct spelling & upper/lower case for this process.) Flax is stronger than cotton, naturally shrink resistant and produces a more substantive thread. So, when looking for alternatives to cotton products, anticipate that you may soon be choosing flax products to carry your nonprofit brand.
