National PASTE UP DAY

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Before the days of computers and blogging, newspapers, magazines, catalogs, and other printed materials were created with the help of what was called Paste Up Artists.  These professionals used the Paste Up method to arrange the pages of a publication. 

National Paste Up Day is a way to reflect and remember this form of creating layouts for print publication.

Designers of the past had to rely on a range of techniques to create the layouts for publications, photographs, and advertisements. Before the advent of modern editing software, artists employed the paste-up method, which was essentially a type of collage. In those days, there were no computers to help with the process. The paste-up artist carefully cut and arrange various sections of typographic elements to produce a legible and aesthetically pleasing design.

The paste-up artist would receive the elements in the form of several strips of paper. These strips were then attached to a board using wax adhesive. If any images were needed, a negative of the entire page was created. This negative was then used as a stamp on the newspaper when it was turned into a printing plate.

To create guidelines and margins on the negative, paste-up artists would use cyan-colored ink. This color would not appear on the film used to make the printing plates.

Since the 1990s, publishers have employed computer software to create layouts and print them out using specialized printers.

You can celebrate National Paste Up Day by:

• Create a paste-up collage: Kids can cut out pictures, words, and letters from old magazines or newspapers and arrange them on a poster board using glue or tape. This will give them a chance to experiment with different layouts and designs, just like paste-up artists of the past. Try this Collage Workbook.

• Design a newspaper page: Using a blank sheet of paper, kids can practice creating a newspaper page by cutting and pasting headlines, articles, and images.
• Halftone art: Kids can learn about halftone art, which was used to create images for printing plates in the past. They can try creating their own halftone art using pencils or markers to create different shades of gray.
• Make a printing plate: Kids can create their own printing plate by making a negative of a picture using black construction paper and clear tape. They can then transfer the image onto a piece of paper using an ink pad or stamp pad.
• Modern design software: Kids can explore modern design software and experiment with creating layouts and designs on a computer. This will give them a chance to compare the paste-up method of the past with the digital design methods used today.

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