By determining the exact size and sequence of pages for the Gutenberg Bible, he signalled the beginning of planning and imposition. Gutenberg revolutionised book printing, with ‘imposition’ becoming the catchall term used for print layout planning for books.

Of course, in the past five decades, terminologies like ‘step & repeat’, ‘interlocking’, ‘nesting’ and ‘ganging’ have gained prominence, primarily for non-book print products like packaging and labels.

For many years, these were the refrain of specialised segments. However, with the emergence of digital printing, all are coming under one roof. This convergence has led to some confusion about appropriate terminology, especially when referring to software like Imp from InSoft, which prepares layouts for these segments. So, perhaps the meaning of ‘imposition’ needs to expand? Marketing agents often use trending terminology to push their products, even calling automated imposition ‘Imposition AI’! Buyers need to be informed and discerning.

AI and imposition: The case for hand-coded logic

Imposition and layout planning tasks demand precision, consistency and repeatability. While GPTs excel at creative tasks, they have glaring shortcomings in tasks requiring accuracy.

In contrast, InSoft Automation’s methodology, honed over a decade, relies on hand-coded logic that has proven dependable for dynamic, cost-based imposition and ganging.

This approach ensures reliability and precision, key components for successful imposition tasks – something we’re sure Gutenberg would appreciate as much as any modern print leader.