A printing defect where multiple ink colors, plates, or finishing elements fail to line up correctly on the substrate. This causes blurred images, visible gaps between touching colors, or unwanted color overlaps. It typically results from paper stretch, loose plate clamps, or improper web tension on the press.
Heard on the job
The cyan plate is walking, causing severe misregistration on the right side of the sheet.
Also heard as
- out of register
Related terms
Register
The precise alignment of multiple printed layers or colors on a single sheet.
Color separation
The prepress process of dividing a full-color image into individual primary color channels for printing.
CMYK
The standard four-color printing process that combines cyan, magenta, yellow, and a key plate of black ink.