Design Partner

Design Glossary

Here we simply introduce design terminology!

This glossary explains terminology that is often used regarding productions that Design Partner handles.

A-Z

A

AISAS

A new process model created from changes in AIDMA, a process model for consumer purchases, due to the internet becoming more widespread. The term comes from the first letters in Attention, Interest, Search, Action, and Share.

AISCEAS

A process model for purchasing in the internet age, created from the AISAS purchasing process model becoming more detailed. The term comes from the first letters in Attention, Interest, Search, Comparison, Examination, Action, and Share.

AIDM

Represents the psychological changes that consumers go through until they purchase products and services. The term comes from the first letters in Attention, Interest, Desire, and Memory. It has gained penetration as a marketing process model before the internet age.

Adobe

A software marker established in California in the United States in 1982. They develop and sell software which have become de facto standards in design production, such as Illustrator and Photoshop. Their full name is Adobe Systems.

AR

An abbreviation of Augmented Reality. By overlapping real backgrounds with what is expressed on your smartphone screen, that expression can completely seem like an expression that is actually there.

B

B to B

An abbreviation of Business to Business. Means transactions between companies.
Examples include companies that manufacture parts for home appliance makers, and manufacturers that develop beverages to be sold at supermarkets and convenience stores. As they do not sell directly to individual customers, these are BtoB companies.

B to C

An abbreviation of Business to Customer. Means transactions between companies and consumers.
Examples include mail order services, supermarkets, and fast food restaurants aimed at individual customers. Because the transactions are directly with consumers, these are BtoC companies.

C

CI

An abbreviation of Corporate Identity. Refers to company strategies for sharing a company’s philosophy and features to society, and for creating a unified image of the company for both those in said company and outside of it.

CMYK

One color expression of printed materials that comes from the 4 colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. In contrast to RGB, which is a color expression on displays that uses light emissions, CMYK is a color expression method that uses the property of light absorption in ink.

CSR Activities

1. CSR is an abbreviation of Corporate Social Responsibility. Represents the societal responsibilities that companies have.
If society itself does not grow, and if a company does not have a good relationship with society, that company cannot hope for continuous growth.
Because of this, companies should not work only for their own benefit. They should conduct their activities while keeping in mind the positive impact they can have on society.
Many kinds of activities can fall under this. These activities can range from aspects directly related to business, such as providing safe products and services, fair transactions that do not violate laws, to activities that are not directly related to a company’s business, such as supporting volunteer activities, contributing to the societies of regional areas, donations, and business that considers preserving the environment.

2. CSR is an abbreviation of Corporate Social Responsibility. It means the societal responsibility that a company has.
So CSR activities represent actions that companies undertake in order to contribute to society, through both activities that are directly related their business, and activities that are not directly related.
Concrete examples include charging fees for plastic bags in order to preserve the environment, regional events, participating in and supporting volunteer activities, and fund-raising.

D

DDCP Proofreading (Simple Color Proofreading)

An abbreviation of Direct Digital Color Proof. Refers to proofreading that does not use the actual paper and printer that the manuscript will be printed on. Instead, this method uses printers and paper to be used with DDCP.
This method does not have high levels of reproduction of the manuscript. But the printing time is very short, so it can help with cost reduction, both in terms of time and money.
Depending on the content and purpose of the printed materials, it is used as a different process from proofreading on the actual machine.

DM

An abbreviation of Direct Mail. Refers to a sales promotion method that directly sends sales promotion materials, such as leaflets, pamphlets, and catalogs to companies or users.
In the modern day, e-mails can be considered a kind of DM.

dpi

A unit that refers to the density of dots in a 1 inch area. The density of dpi is proportionate to the image quality of a printed material. The higher the number value, the clearer the image quality will be.

DTP

DTP is an abbreviation of Desktop publishing. Refers to editing a manuscript, setting a layout, and producing a block copy that will be used to produce a printing block. This process is carried out using computer software on a desktop.

E

EC

An abbreviation of electronic commerce. Refers to online order services. Now these services are becoming more common and widespread, so you can see many EC sites that put a lot of effort both into their usability and their design.

F

Fix

Translated to English, this term has the meaning of “fixed” or “attached.” Used to express that a task has been finished.

G

GIF

A file format that is in a lossless compression format. Mainly used to create animations by taking several images and placing them into one .gif file.

H

HSV

A color space that expresses color with the 3 elements of hue, saturation value, and value.

I

IR

An abbreviation of Investor Relations. Refers to public relations activities aimed at investors.

J

JPEG

A compressed format for image data. Because it can express over 16.7 million colors, this format is suitable for handling photograph data.

L

Launch

Read as “launch.” Refers to announcements and releases of products and services. However, recently it is mainly used for website openings.

M

Map Fold

Just as the name states, this refers to folding methods when folding printed materials such as maps. After folding in the bellows, you can make fold of 2 or 3 in accordance with the size of the paper.

N

nombre

A term used in the printing industry. It refers to the display of page’s number.

O

OEM

An abbreviation of Original Equipment Manufacturing. Refers to taking over manufacturing of a product for another company’s brand, or the manufacturer itself.

OPP

An abbreviation of Oriented Polypropylene. Means Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene. This process takes polypropylene and makes it into a clear film, so it is utilized in DM outer bags and wrapping bags.

P

POP

Sales promotion materials for products and goods displayed in stores. There are various sizes and specifications depending on the product and installed space. However, they usually take the form of things similar to card that explain a product.

Q

QR Code

Refers to a 2D code that can insert e-mail addresses, building addresses, phone numbers, homepage addresses, and free messages.
QR codes are currently widespread, and can be seen in various printed materials.

R

RGB

A method of expressing color. Refers to expressions of various colors by mixing the three primary colors of light.

RIP

An abbreviation of Raster Image Processer. A system that converts data to raster images in order to print data created with DTP soft on an output device such as a printer.

S

SEO

An abbreviation of Search Engine Optimization. This term means optimizing your sites for search engines.
SEO is done to rank a website high in searches when launching and operating the site.

T

TCC

A nickname for TOKYO COPYWRITERS CLUB, consisting of that name’s first letters. TCC is an organization that gathers active copywriters and CM planners from all over Japan. They sponsor the TCC Awards, which commends superior advertisements annually since 1962. They also issue their “Copy Yearbook,” which writes about awarded works and superior works.

TIFF

An image compression format suitable for image data such as photographs. Because it has low image degradation, it can also be used for print data.

U

UI

An abbreviation for User Interface. Refers to all aspects that catch the user’s eye when they are using a service, and that they can touch with their hands.

V

VR

An abbreviation of Virtual Reality. Currently, you can enjoy experiences that feel like being inside the images projected using specialized glasses and goggles.
VR is still not that widespread. However, it is used as a PR method.