Graphic Design Terminology - C

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Cast Shadow

A cast shadow is similar to a drop shadow with added emphasis on perspective. Cast shadows can be rotated, stretched, and skewed to create a realistic 3D effect.

CMYK

Stands for the colors Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black. In print design, colors are defined as a percentage of each of these 4 colors. For example, the CMYK abbreviation for the color black would be 0-0-0-100. In contrast, display devices (i.e. computer monitors) typically define colors using RGB.

Color Cast

A color cast changes the hue (color) of a selected part of an image while keeping the saturation and brightness intact. Viewing an image with a color cast can be similar to viewing it through colored lenses on eyeglasses. A commonly known color cast (in graphic design) is a duotone.

Compression

A method of packing data in order to save disk storage space or download time. JPEGs are generally compressed graphics files. Compression is a technique to make a file or a data stream smaller for faster transmission or to take up less storage space.

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