Development of Descriptive Terminology for Inkjet-printed Photographs and Fine Art Daniel Burge, Image Permanence Institute

THE MEDIA NAMING AND DESCRIPTIVE TERMS CHART Should it be called digital? Basic Media Descriptors Media The object itself is Name Colorant Ink Vehicle Coating Support not digital, but digital technology was used in its creation, as an electronic Aqueous Plain paper file and software within Solvent Fine art paper Dye Uncoated a computer directly UV-curable RC paper controlled the application Mixed Porous Inkjet Latex Baryta paper of ink to the paper surface. Pigment Polymer Wax Canvas Given the predominance (Unknown colorant) (Unknown coating) Other Other of inkjet as a digital (Unknown vehicle) (Unknown support) technology, using the term digital in the media name is also redundant, so In the new system, the single primary term “inkjet” is followed by a sequence of four standard qualifiers digital inkjet doesn’t make (colorant, vehicle, coating, and support). Example: Medium (“inkjet print”) and Extended Medium (“inkjet sense. In addition, there print: dye aqueous on porous-coated fine art paper”). are other digital output technologies, so calling an inkjet print simply a digital print does not effectively GLOSSARY name the object. Ink Terms Coating Terms Is it a print or a Aqueous Ink: an ink that uses water as the liquid Polymer-coated: a coating on the surface of photo? vehicle to carry the colorant inkjet paper made up of a water soluble polymer that swells and absorbs ink during Colorant: a substance (dye or pigment) that There has been some printing imparts the color to an ink or toner debate as to whether an Dye: an organic colorant soluble in the ink Porous-coated: a coating on the surface of inkjet inkjet print from a digital vehicle print media made up of mineral particles in camera file should be a polymer binder so that when applied ink called a photograph or a Ink Vehicle: the liquid component of ink that will be absorbed into the pores between the print. Since the inkjet paper carries the colorant to the paper surface particles is not light sensitive, inkjet during printing printing is technically not Uncoated: a paper that has no special coating photographic in nature. Latex Ink: an ink that uses a viscous vehicle that applied to the surface to receive inkjet inks The preferred term will coalesces and hardens under heat curing be print. If an image’s Mixed: a printer ink set that includes a pigment Support Terms original mode of capture black ink and dye cyan, magenta, and yellow was by camera, it can be inks Baryta paper: an inkjet paper manufactured included as supplemental information. Pigment: an organic or inorganic colorant to simulate fiber-based silver gelatin insoluble in the ink vehicle. photographic paper Solvent Ink: an ink that uses an organic solvent Canvas: a woven fabric, porous-coated inkjet as opposed to water as the vehicle to carry substrate intended to mimic the textural and the colorant visual qualities of painting canvas Photographic grain formed by light exposure, development, UV-curable Ink: an ink that uses a liquid polymer Fine art paper: a high quality paper for and conversion to dye as the vehicle to carry the colorant and that printmaking, watercolor, or other artwork hardens on exposure to ultra-violet energy Plain paper: a typical office or copier paper Wax Ink: an ink that uses a wax as the vehicle RC paper (also known as resin-coated paper): which when heated liquefies and can be a paper laminated on both sides with a Inkjet dots formed by the ejected from inkjet print nozzles polyethylene film to important rigidity and application of liquid ink to the resistance against water absorption surface of paper

The Image Permanence Institute, part of RIT’s College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, is a non-profit preservation research lab devoted to the development and deployment of sustainable practices for the preservation of images and cultural property. Visit www.dp3project.org to learn more about IPI’s digital print research, education, and outreach activities.