Institutional Identity

Identification system: standardized regulations for the signature, color, typography and other elements.

Identity: the cumulative effect of all visual elements, both planned and unplanned, that represent an institution and affect the perceptions of various audiences.

Logo: the stylized symbol; the symbol used for the institution (i.e., the interlocking UH).

Logotype: the name of the institution set in a specified typeface and style.

Seal: the official, copyrighted symbol of the institution used only in approved applications.

Signature: specified configurations of the logo and the logotype.

Printing and Production

Bleed: printing that extends to the edge of a sheet or page after trimming.

Blueline: prepress photographic proof made from stripped negatives where all colors show as blue images on white paper.

Camera-ready: mechanicals, photo-graphs and art fully prepared for reproduction according to the technical requirements of the printing process being used.

Copy: any written material to be used in a printed piece.

Mechanical: camera-ready assembly of type, graphics and other copy complete with instructions to the printer. A hard mechanical consists of paper and/or acetates, is made using paste-up techniques, and may also be called an art board, board or paste-up. A soft mechanical, also called an electronic mechanical, exists as a file of type and other images assembled using a computer.

Pantone®: a series of ink-matching guides for the graphic arts used for color specification and reproduction, also known as Pantone Matching System or PMS.

Press proofs: proof made on press using the plates, ink and paper specified for the job. Serves as a final checkpoint before the full run of the printing job begins.

Reverse: type, graphic or illustration reproduced by printing ink around its outline, allowing the underlying color or paper to show through and form the image. The image `reverses out' of the ink color.

Typography

Cap-height: height of the capital letters of a typeface. The logo and other proportions are defined in terms of the height of the U in the University of Houston logotype.

Flush (left or right): to set lines of type or align vertically along a (left or right) margin. See justify.

Font: a complete assortment of upper and lower case characters of one typeface.

Justify: flush both left and right. See flush.

Kerning: the technique of adjusting the spacing between two characters to bring them closer or separate them.

Point: 1) regarding type, a unit of measure equaling 1/12 pica and .013815 inch (.351 mm); 2) regarding paper, a unit of thickness equaling 1/1000 inch.

Ragged: characteristic of type not flush to a margin.

Sans-serif: without serifs.

Serif: short line crossing the ending strokes of most characters in some typefaces.