Flatten

Meaning – The term ‘flatten’ means to bring under control. This term is used in a variety of contexts but the underlying meaning remains the same.

In an organization, when a situation or a project gets out of control, the manager has to jump in to flatten the situation. Similarly, if the organization is suffering huge losses, the top management takes the necessary steps to flatten the curve and bring a sense of normalcy back into the company.

In the context of graphic design, the term flatten refers to the process of bringing all levels of a multi-layered image down to one plane. High-end graphics programs provide a multi-layer file format, such as the Photoshop Document (PSD), which enables elements in each layer to be manipulated independently. Once the project is ready and needs to be saved as a simple JPEG file, the layers are flattened.

Example of usage“His design comprised of hundreds of individual layers, but he decided to group them and flatten them before saving the artwork onto his computer.”