Paste up is a printing and publishing technique in which text and images are assembled on a page and then glued or pasted to a backing sheet. This backing sheet is then usually attached to a larger sheet of paper or card.
Paste up is the process of physically assembling text and images on a page before sending it to a printer. In the days before computers, paste up was the standard method for creating print layouts. The paste up artist would arrange text and images on a page, then glue them down. Once the layout was complete, it would be photographed and the negative used to make printing plates.
Today, paste up is mostly used for creating mock-ups and prototypes, rather than final prints. With the advent of desktop publishing and digital printing, it’s now possible to create print-ready layouts without the need for paste up. However, paste up can still be a useful tool for getting a physical sense of how a layout will look and feel before it’s printed.
Paste up was commonly used in the printing and publishing industry before the advent of desktop publishing software, such as Adobe InDesign, which made it possible to lay out pages electronically.
Paste up is still used by some publishers, particularly those who produce books with many illustrations, such as children’s books. The advantage of paste up is that it allows for a high degree of control over the positioning of text and images on a page.
Paste up is a relatively time-consuming and labour-intensive process, and so it is generally more expensive than publishing electronically.
Paste up is an important part of the book publishing process, as it allows for the creation of a physical book that can be sent to printers and binders. This process allows for a more efficient and cost-effective way to create a book, as it eliminates the need for expensive printing plates.