Files & prepress
What is proof?
Also called: Art proof, digital proof
A proof is the customer-facing preview of a job — layout, copy, colours and size — approved in writing before production starts, making it the document that decides who pays for a mistake.
A proof is a contract more than a picture. Approved proof with a typo in it: customer's reprint. No proof, or production ahead of approval: shop's reprint. That's the whole economics of proofing, and why 'the customer was in a hurry' is the most expensive sentence in the trade.
Digital proofs on screen don't promise colour (screens are RGB); wording like 'colours are representative' belongs on the proof. For colour-critical jobs the answer is a printed proof on the actual media.
How PrinterFlo handles no-login proof approvals →
Related terms
Software that speaks the trade
PrinterFlo runs print & sign shops on one board — quotes that price by size and material, proofs approved from one link, and a production checklist the quote writes for you.