Galley
Proof · Round 02 48 plates

The proofing desk for exhibition catalogues

Every plate passed in ink,
before it meets the press.

Galley puts the whole catalogue on one marked-up sheet — plates, captions, credits and press dates — so your publications team passes, holds or recuts every page the way a proofreader would: with a mark that means something.

Open a proof round Used by museum presses & culture desks
01

One round, three marks

A proof round in Galley works the way it works on paper at Harbor Light: the proofs arrive, the desk marks them, the printer answers. Nothing hides in a comment thread.

1 Lay out

The round opens

Round two lands as one sheet: forty-eight plates against the loan list, each with its caption, credit and colour bar.

2 Mark up

The desk marks

Pass, hold, or recut — every plate takes exactly one mark, signed by whoever placed it. A hold always names what it waits on.

3 Hand off

The printer answers

Meridian Lithographers sees only settled marks: recuts to make, holds to watch, and the plates cleared for Friday's run.

Plate 07 Credit verified
02 · The caption desk

Captions checked like loans, because they are loans

A caption is a contract: title, year, medium, dimensions, lender credit — exactly as the loan agreement wrote them. Galley keeps the agreement beside the plate, so the registrar's wording is one glance away, and a wrong credit line surfaces before it costs a reprint.

  • A —Credits compared word-for-word against the registrar's record
  • B —Dimensions carry their unit or the caption will not pass
  • C —Every hold names the person it waits on, and since when
From the colophon
“We closed Tidal Ink two days early. The proofs never left one sheet, and the printer never asked us what a mark meant.”
Mara Okafor · Head of Publications, Harbor Light Museum Press
03

Three colours, three meanings

Galley's page stays white paper and black ink. Colour appears only as the proofreader's stickers — and each one is a verdict, not a decoration.

On press

Cyan moves things

The working accent: primary actions, live proof rounds, plates travelling to the printer.

Recut

Vermilion stops them

The stop mark: registration drift, a failed colour bar, a plate going back to be cut again.

Hold

Acid yellow holds them

The waiting mark: a credit line unconfirmed, an essay still with its author, a date not yet set.

04

Built for publication desks

The same marked-up sheet serves every desk that ships printed matter with real deadlines and real lenders.

Museum press

Exhibition catalogues

Plates against loan agreements, essays against word counts, one press date the whole building can see.

Culture desk

Magazines & journals

Issue proofs move through rounds with signed marks, so the close never depends on somebody's memory.

Archive

Artist archives

Catalogue raisonné entries carry their sources like captions carry credits — checked, held, or passed.

Studio

Design criticism

Long-form pieces with commissioned artwork keep text, image rights and print specs on one sheet.

Catalogue No. 14 closed on time

Put the next catalogue on the proofing desk.