Proofreading Markup

A great way for clients and designers to communicate is to use Markups.  The industry standard is to use the common Proofreader Markups that have always been used in publishing. It is kind of like a short hand to editing copy that will save time because a client or editor can just use a symbol instead of write things out.  As a designer I have found the symbols easier to read than a client’s long hand, which eliminates the need for me to make an extra call asking for clarification. So for those designers, clients and even print houses learning these symbols can be very important in making edits and moving a job along. 

Today we are going to look at these symbols and what they mean.  There are more commonly used symbols I find as a designer that deal with spacing and very simple text edits but we will look at all editing marks so you have a grasp on everything that you could use or encounter.

Delete would be used by circling a word and then adding this symbol to it.

Stet means let it stand.  So if you accidently marked through something you might draw a line to it from the margin and then write Stet so it is known to leave that word.  

Punctuation Marks would be put in the spot where you wish to add that punctuation.

 Period

 Comma

 Semicolon

 Colon

 Apostrophe

 Quotes (open or close)

 Question Mark

 Exclamation Mark

 Hyphen

 Parentheses

 Dash

Editing actual copy is pretty easy if there is a line though it goes away if there is a circle around words it means to change.

 To change type to Caps will have three underlines beneath the letter or word affected and the markup in the margin.

 Going from caps to Lower Case would show a circle round the letters or words and the markup in the margin.

Justification of type can really make the difference in a design.

 Align Right means all copy inside the symbol will be even on the right and raged on the left.

 Alight Left means all copy inside the symbol will be even on the left and raged on the right.

 Justify means all copy inside the symbols will be even on both the left and right.

New paragraphs, indentations and positioning of text might have a symbol in the text to show you where in addition to the symbol that tells you what to do.

 A New Paragraph will be started right where the symbol is added in the text.

 Closing a paragraph would have a curved line connecting the the two paragraphs and the symbol would be by that type or in the margin.

 No Paragraph Indentation would have an arrow at the text that needs to lose the indent and the symbol next to it or in the margin.

 Closing up space between words would add the symbol between the two words that need to lose the extra space.

 Adding a space would have an upside down v where the space needs to go and the pound sign in the margin or above within the text.

Using these marks on any creative copy, and understanding them by all parties will help quickly communicate changes and get projects turned out.