National Paste Up Day 2023: Date, History, Facts, Activities

National Paste-Up Day is observed annually on May 7 by art and print enthusiasts nationwide. This day commemorates the century-old method for the layout and printing of newspapers and periodicals, which was the standard until the advent of computer software in the 1990s.

The Background of National Paste-Up Day

Before sophisticated editing software existed, designers had to devise a variety of methods for arranging publication pages, photographs, and advertisements. To accomplish this, artists utilised the paste-up technique, which is comparable to a collage. Due to the absence of computers, the paste-up artist would painstakingly cut and arrange different sections of typographic elements on a page to create a legible and aesthetically appealing design.

The paste-up artist would receive the elements on paper segments and adhere them to a board with wax adhesive. If any photographs needed to be attached, they were halftoned and the colours were inverted to produce the negative of the entire page. As a printing plate, this negative would serve as a type of stamp on the actual pages of the newspaper.

To construct the negative’s guidelines and margins, paste-up artists used cyan-colored ink, which was invisible to the film used to create the printing plates. If a newspaper already had a publication line, the artist would not have to paint those lines on, as the boards would be available. Since the 1990s, publishers have developed arrangements using computer software and printed them on specialised printers.

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Make paste-up art

Obviously, the best method to celebrate is to paste up art yourself! Grab your scissors, rummage through old newspapers and magazines, or print out some materials, and glue them onto a blank sheet of paper to create a gorgeous piece of art!

Explore an antique newspaper in a museum.

You can always check out the results of paste-up art in a museum that displays ancient newspapers. There may be things you have never seen before!

Give someone cutouts

If you have a large quantity of leftover cutouts from your paste-up artwork, give them away and ask someone to create a gorgeous piece for you! They will gladly comply!