N

nailhead

A book binding style where the spine is thicker than the book body resulting in a profile resembling a nail.

negative

A photographic plate or film where the image's color, black and white, or continuous tone areas are reversed from the original (e.g., black is white, white is black).

newsprint

Paper created specifically for newspapers, it is composed of mechanical or groundwood pulp.

neutral

A color without hue (e.g., black or white or shades of gray).

neutral wedge

See gray scale.

non-image area

The areas of an image that are not printed. During the printing process, the non-image area does not receive ink.

non-process printing

Using an ink of the same color as the specified color, rather than achieving the specified color by overlapping process colors. See also: process colors.

nonrepro blue

A special blue color used to make notations on an image's non-printing white areas. This blue color and the white background are indistinguishable to photographic film, with the result being that these notations are not captured as an image by the film. In practice, a pen with nonrepro blue ink is used to show the location of crop marks, etc. on a paste-up board.

numbering

Sequentially printed numbers.