indesign imposition
Typo Book
The term ‘imposition’ is a printing technique, whereby pages of a publication are placed in a certain
sequence ready for printing. Once these pages are printed, they are folded for binding and are in the
The individual pages of the publication are ‘impositioned’ or arranged on a large sheet called a ‘flat’, this is
then used to produce the plates used for printing.
The plate prints a single ‘form’ or impression from the flat. The other side of the sheet is printed back to
back in a process called ‘work and turn’ or ‘work and tumble’ (depending on the printing machine).
The sheet is then folded into a ‘signature’, and then bound along with other signatures. Once bound the
publication is trimmed.