A vibrant urban street scene showcasing colorful paste-up art on walls, with artists in action, natural lighting illuminating their creative process, centered composition

National Paste Up Day celebrates the historic method of creating publication layouts before the digital age. This technique involved physically arranging and adhering text and images onto boards to create print-ready pages for newspapers, magazines, and other publications.

Quick Facts

  • When is it: May 7th annually
  • Tagged as: Art & Design, Publishing History
  • What’s the hashtag: #NationalPasteUpDay
  • When was it founded: 1920s-1930s
  • Who founded it: Publishing industry (specific founder unknown)

History

Paste-up was the primary method of page layout from the early 20th century until the 1990s. Professional paste-up artists would meticulously cut and arrange typeset text, photos, and artwork using wax adhesive or rubber cement on white boards. These boards would then be photographed to create printing plates.

Timeline

  • Ancient Rome: Hand-carved announcements
  • 1440s: Gutenberg invents the printing press
  • 1920s: Paste-up technique becomes standardized
  • 1990s: Transition to digital desktop publishing

Dates by Next Year

YearDateDay
2025May 7Wednesday
2026May 7Thursday
2027May 7Friday
2028May 7Sunday
2029May 7Monday

Observed

The day is celebrated by artists, designers, and printing enthusiasts who appreciate the craftsmanship of traditional publishing methods.

Fun Facts About Paste-Up

  • Artists used non-photographic blue ink for guidelines
  • Adhesives were intentionally semi-permanent
  • Photos required special halftoning process
  • Cyan-colored guidelines wouldn’t appear in final prints

Quiz

  1. What color ink was used for guidelines?
  2. When did paste-up begin to decline?
  3. What replaced paste-up methods?
    -(Answers: 1. Cyan blue 2. 1990s 3. Desktop publishing software)

FAQs

Q: Is paste-up still used today?
A: Rarely, mostly for artistic purposes

Q: What software replaced paste-up?
A: QuarkXPress, PageMaker, and InDesign

Importance of Paste-Up Day

This day preserves the memory of an important transitional period in publishing history and honors the skilled artists who laid the foundation for modern digital design.

Related

  • Typography Day
  • Printing Press Day
  • Graphic Design Day
  • Publishing Industry Day
  • Digital Arts Day