correction marks

Georg Seifert

What correction marks do you regularly use on test prints?

Are there “official” signs for “narrower”, “wider”, “shallower”, “leans left/right” and so on?

James Puckett

I mostly draw little arrows pointing to where curves need to go. If a point needs to move I draw an arrow with a point inside it. If a large part of a shape needs to move I put a box around it or just draw an arrow going through it.
I also use:
W wide
N narrow
B balance these (used on multiple stems or counters)
+ make this counter bigger

In spacing proofs I use +, -, <, and > to indicate more space, less space, or move the glyph.

Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer

I use double arrows <-> inside a counter to indicate that it needs to be wider,
and ->arrows<- outside whatever needs to be narrower,
straight lines to indicate where a bowl needs to be cut.

I use hatch lines to indicate where there's too much whitespace.

Michael Clark

If you look deep enough there are postings of Lange's notes on all of the Berthold designers. Notes on Hermann Zapf's "works" are on line also, beautiful, I might add.

Most of the people I know have their own shorthand, as opposed to clinging to rules set down by anyone else. You know your thoughts best. I still do not know what I was noting in '97 when I was doing Pouty... but I did at the time, it was fresh.

The most consistent mark I have is the big black X that obscures a bad character, very effective :-)

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Jackson Showalter-Cavanaugh

I just stare at my proofs until what bothers me coalesces in my brain.

I stopped marking up proofs, instead I make a list on blank sheet of paper.

I found making prescriptive instructions of proofs made my corrections both lazy and overzealous. I'd "fix" something without really looking, and almost always more than a few times. My lists force me to actively look at the proofs and file simultaneously while working through issue.

Mark Simonson

I tend to make lists, too. Other than crossing things out or circling them, I sometimes will make callouts (a line going from the item in question to a brief note).

Nick Shinn

I don’t mark up proofs any more, try to rely on my memory, while I still have it.

Max Phillips

(+) for 'make this bit thicker/darker/wider.' (-) for 'make this bit thinner/lighter/narrower.'

I just stare at my proofs until what bothers me coalesces in my brain. Then I correct it.

I just stare at my proofs until what bothers me coalesces in my brain. Then I drink.