In graphic design

Graphic design

Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...

 and printing

Printing

Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....

, FPO (pronunciation: each letter is pronounced separately: /eff-pee-oh/) equates to for position only or for placement only. Blank placeholders or temporary low-resolution illustrations are watermark

Digital watermarking

Digital watermarking is the process of embedding information into a digital signal which may be used to verify its authenticity or the identity of its owners, in the same manner as paper bearing a watermark for visible identification. In digital watermarking, the signal may be audio, pictures, or...

ed or stamped with the acronym FPO to indicate where the final version of an image is to be placed in the final file, film, or plate. FPO images are commonly used while the layout of a print project is being determined, and/or when desired images are still to be scanned or photographed. They preserve the pagination

Pagination

Pagination is the process of dividing information into discrete pages, either electronic pages or printed pages. Today the latter are usually simply instances of the former that have been outputted to a printing device, such as a desktop printer or a modern printing press...

that will be needed once the final images are added. In web design, FPO placeholder images provide a means for coders to finish building a website without waiting for final photographic assets.

Rarely, an FPO image makes it into print through an error by the production staff.