Layouter

A layouter is a professional who designs and composes pages by arranging text, images, and other elements to create clear, visually balanced layouts for print and digital media.

In publishing, layouters work with editors, art directors, photographers, and designers to develop page templates and grids. They determine typography systems, including typefaces, sizes, leading, tracking, and kerning, and they set margins, columns, gutters, and whitespace. They place and crop images, manage color and contrast, and ensure consistency across sections such as chapters, articles, and advertisements. They also oversee the practical aspects of production, such as pagination, captions, and readability.

For print, layouters prepare files for prepress, checking alignment, bleeds, color profiles, and file integrity, and they collaborate with printers to meet technical specifications. In digital formats, layouters adapt layouts for screens, considering responsive behavior, accessibility, and navigation, and may work with web technologies or interactive media to maintain coherence with branding.

Common tools include page-layout and vector/bitmap software such as Adobe InDesign, QuarkXPress, and Scribus, often used alongside Illustrator or Photoshop. Knowledge of printing processes, color management, and preflight checks is advantageous.

The role is distinct from a typesetter, who focuses primarily on arranging text, though there is overlap. A layouter emphasizes overall page composition, typography, and visual storytelling across a publication or platform. In some regions, the term layouter is used interchangeably with layout designer or page designer.