Paul Brainerd, considered the father of desktop publishing (DTP), died on February 15, 2026 at the age of 78. This American programmer was behind the PageMaker page-layout software, which helped shift publishing production to the computer in the mid-1980s.
Born in 1947 in Medford, Oregon, Paul Brainerd studied journalism and business administration. He first worked as a journalist before turning to computers and publishing technologies.
The 80s: the birth of DTP
In 1984, Paul Brainerd co-founded the Seattle-based software publisher Aldus. In 1985, the company launched PageMaker, a page-layout program designed for the Apple Macintosh.
At the time, publishing production was still largely based on photocomposition. An operator enters the text on a typesetting keyboard, which exposes the characters on film using a photographic process. The resulting columns of text are then cut and glued together to form the pages. These mock-ups are then used to laminate plates for offset printing.
DTP emerged in the mid-1980s with the combination of several technologies: Apple's Macintosh, Adobe's PostScript language and PageMaker page-layout software. Graphic design studios and editorial offices could then compose their pages directly on the computer.
DTP, the graphic arts workflow revolution
DTP spread rapidly in the late 1980s. Printers began to receive complete digital pages rather than separate text and images.
Paul Brainerd left Aldus in 1993. The company was subsequently acquired by Adobe. PageMaker remained in use for several years, before being gradually replaced by InDesign in the late 1990s.
From the mid-1990s onwards, Paul Brainerd focused primarily on philanthropic and environmental activities. In particular, he founded Social Ventures Partners, an international network that brings together investors and local non-profit organizations.
Forty years after the launch of PageMaker, DTP remains at the heart of the graphics industry's production workflow.
