14 misunderstood terms used by inexperienced graphic designers

The graphic design industry is overflowing with terms. And sometimes the never-ending glossary is a killer at times. This has led to much confusion and it’s time to clear them up! The next time you use any of these words, you’ll know exactly what they actually mean.

FONT Variation of weights (bold, italic, and thin) of a typeface. Within a typeface style, there can be many fonts.	vs	TYPEFACE A style with a certain shape of letters. It’s a “family” of fonts. Arial is a typeface not a font.
TRACKING A technique in typography that lets you add or subtract the uniform space between groups of letters.	vs	KERNING To adjust the spacing between individual characters in a word. A helpful technique for layout designers.
GRADIENT A function that creates a gradual transition from one colour to another across a surface of a shape.	vs	GRADIENT MESH A tool that creates a mesh on a shape. Each editable point allows you to add colours, and do shading for a 3D effect.
BACKDROP It refers usually to a cloth or sheet hung at the back of an object. It is used in fine art and photography.	vs	BACKGROUND Anything that is “behind” something. A part of an image or design that appears the furthest.
EPS Encapsulated PostScript is a file format that saves flattened vector graphics, but does not support transparency.	vs	AI A file format that defines Adobe Illustrator Artwork. It contains unflattened content that can be edited.
TINT It is produced by adding white to a pure colour; thus increasing the lightness.	vs	TONE A greyed-down colour becomes a tine. When gray is added to colours, it reduces the chroma of a colour.
LETTERMARK A logo design with a distinct typography style based on letters such as initials or abbreviations.	vs	WORDMARK Unique typographic treatment is given to the text in corporate or brand logos.
HUE Purest form of colour – one that’s not a shade or a tint. These are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet.	vs	COLOUR An all-encompassing word referring to a hue, tint and tone. Any value of a hue refers to a colour.
DPI Number of dots per inch on a printed page. The more DPI, the better quality of the image.	vs	PPI Pixel per inch measures the pixel density of a digital image. Fewer pixels give a “pixelated” output.
WHITE SPACE Portion of an electronic or print page left unmarked. It can be in any colour not just white.	vs	NEGATIVE SPACE A deliberate attempt to leave space around or within shapes to create a meaningful visual illusion.
WIREFRAME A blueprint of your artwork involving brainstorming and sketching. It helps you structure design.	vs	PROTOTYPES Representation of design before finalizing solutions. A phase when you can interact with your creation to improve it.
BITMAP A.K.A raster graphics is an unresizable image made from a pixel grid. It is saved as a GIF, JPEG or PNG.	vs	VECTOR An editable design made from mathematical formulas. It can be saved as an AI, EPS, PDF, SVG file.
BLACK & WHITE Also written as B/W or B&W image, is made from pure black and white.	vs	GRAYSCALE An image or artwork with a range of values through white to black tints and shades.
CROPPING To remove outer parts of an image (that are unrequired) using a digital software, for emphasis.	vs	CROP MARKS Lines added on the corners of an image, artwork or canvas to help printers with cutting and framing.

Looking for professional graphic design services? At The Computer Guyz, our experienced staff know exactly what these terms mean and how to use them.