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AA: Author's Alterations are changes that occur once the job has been submitted for printing. They are made at the clients request and are additional charges to the job.

Acetate - Thin, flexible sheet of transparent plastic placed over originals or artwork, allowing the designer to write instructions or indicate a second color placement.  a transparent sheet placed over artwork allowing the artist to write instructions or indicate where second color is to be placed.

Acid-free Paper - A paper having no acidity and no residual acid-producing chemicals so it provide greater longevity. Also called alkaline paper, archival paper, neutral pH paper, permanent paper and thesis paper. Calcium carbonate is used as the filler and a synthetic material, compatible with the alkaline process, as a sizing agent. This process increases the longevity, bulk brightness, opacity and printing characteristics of the paper without added cost.

Acid Resist - An acid-proof protective coating applied to metal plates prior to etching.

Addendum - Additional material to the main body of a book, printed separately at the start or end of the text.

Additive Color - Color produced by light falling onto a surface like natural light, computer monitor, as compared to subtractive color. The additive primary colors are red, green and blue.

A4 Paper - ISO paper size 210 x 297mm used for Letterhead, generally used outside the U.S.

Against the Grain - At right angles to the grain direction of the paper being used, as compared to with the grain. Also called across the grain and cross grain. In folding, feeding paper at right angles to the grain direction.

Agent - Alternate term for Artist's representative.

Air - An amount of white space in a layout.

Airbrush - Pen-shaped mechanical tool that sprays a fine mist of ink or paint driven by compressed air. Used in illustration design and photographic retouching.

Align - To line up typeset or other graphic material as specified, using a base or vertical line as the reference point.

Alley - Space between columns of type on a page.

Alphabet (length or width) - the measurement of a complete set of lower case alphabet characters in a given type size expressed in points or picas.

Alteration - Any change made by the customer after copy or artwork has been given to the service bureau, separator or printer. The change could be in copy, specifications or both. Also called AA, author alteration and customer alteration. Change in copy or specifications made after production has begun.

Anodized Plate - An offset printing plate having a treated surface in order to reduce wear for extended use. an offset printing plate with a specially treated surface to reduce wear during printing.

Anti-offset Powder - Fine powder lightly sprayed over the printed surface of coated paper as sheets leave a press. Also called dust, offset powder, powder and spray powder.

Apex - the point of a character where two lines meet at the top, an example of this is the point on the letter A.

Apron - additional white space allowed in the margins of text and illustrations when forming a foldout.

Aqueous Coating - Coating in a water base and applied like ink by a printing press to protect and enhance the printing underneath.

Art - in graphic arts usage, all matter other than text material eg illustrations and photographs.

Artboard - Alternate term for Mechanical.

Artist's Representative - Person who handles marketing and other business matters for designers, illustrators, and photographers.

Art Paper - a smooth coated paper obtained by adding a coating of china clay compound on one or both sides of the paper.

Artwork - All original copy, including type, photos and illustrations, intended for printing. Also called art. Images, including type and photos, prepared for printing.

Ascender - any part of a lower case letter extending above the x-height. For example, the upper half of the vertical in the letters b or h.

ASCII - Acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a standard code used to help interface digital equipment.

Authors corrections - changes made to the copy by the author after typesetting but not including those made as a result of errors in keying in the copy.

A/W - an abbreviation for Artwork.