Reversing out is a layout technique where the subject matter is formed by the absence of ink within a solid block of printed color. Instead of printing black text on white paper, the press prints a solid black block and leaves the text area bare, exposing the white paper underneath. It requires excellent ink coverage and precise registration to prevent the unprinted fine lines from filling in.
Heard on the job
Let's reverse out the headline in the blue banner to make it pop against the dark background.
Insider tip
Thin serif fonts reversed out of rich black backgrounds often suffer from ink spread, which fills in the delicate letterforms and makes them unreadable.
Also heard as
- knock out
Do not mix it up with
- Overprint: Overprinting lays one ink directly on top of another, whereas reversing out removes the background ink entirely to let the paper show through.