Reversing type
{{Short description|White text on dark background}}
Reversing type (also reversing, knocking-out, reversed type) is a method of typographic printing with black or colored inks, in which the entire surface is printed, except for text elements.{{cite book |last1=Lawler |first1=Brian P. |title=Official Adobe Print Publishing Guide, Second Edition: The Essential Resource for Design, Production, and Prepress, The |date=25 October 2005 |publisher=Adobe Press |isbn=978-0-13-279809-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VE2S-bseZccC&dq=typography+Reverse+print&pg=PT149 |access-date=29 September 2021 |language=en}} Reversing is one of the special cases of printing on a color solid, when the color of the solid is black or colored, and the color of the letters is white. This means that the colors of letter background and letters change places.{{cite book |last1=Craig |first1=James |last2=Scala |first2=Irene Korol |title=Designing with Type, 5th Edition: The Essential Guide to Typography |date=16 May 2012 |publisher=Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed |isbn=978-0-8230-8560-6 |page=96 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IXHCKKhswdgC&dq=typography+Reverse+print&pg=PA98 |access-date=29 September 2021 |language=en}} As such, reversing is a meaningfulful way to add emphasis and contrast to the page as well as to develop a visible typographic hierarchy.{{cite web |title=Reverse Display Type |url=https://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-2/display-typography/reverse-display-type |publisher=Fonts.com |access-date=29 September 2021 |language=en}}
Use in printing
Reversing greatly affects a text's readability,{{cite book |last1=Ambrose |first1=Gavin |last2=Harris |first2=Paul |title=The Fundamentals of Typography |date=November 2006 |publisher=AVA Publishing |isbn=978-2-940373-45-1 |page=130 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5WLYdDc5do0C&dq=typography+Reversing&pg=PA130 |access-date=29 September 2021 |language=en}} so it is most often used for printing headings and for highlighting small fragments of text, preferably with bold emphasis. Quite often it is used as a design technique in advertising.
Outside the printing industry
In the computer industry, the inverted text usually displays a selected block of text, the current menu item. Many older people have a slight, comfortable astigmatism. At the high resolution of modern computer screens, they better see black letters on white background rather than vice versa. Therefore, long reversed texts are rare.
The reversing is widely used in the various equipment design (from television remotes to dump trucks): a half-erased button or plate remains readable.