Photolettering is a manual or semi-automated typesetting method used primarily for display type and headlines before digital layout. A technician selects a glass or film font disk, positions each character over a strip of photographic paper, and exposes it with a burst of light. The paper is then processed in chemical baths to reveal crisp, high-contrast black text ready for paste-up.
Heard on the job
The headline looks a bit tracked out, so run it through the photolettering unit again with tighter spacing.
Also heard as
- phototypesetting