Align
Give independently made parts one shared reference and align them to it; stop when they read as one.
Formerly Register
Four inks, printed separately, landing as one image.
Seen in Katsushika Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa, c. 1829–33
Try it on your work
Bring together two parts made separately (by different hands, days, or tools) and align them precisely, adjusting until their edges, holes, or joins agree. Where they refused to align records how the separation drifted.
Compare what the project says about itself in two separate places: the pitch and the plan, the label and the contents. List every mismatch, fixing nothing yet; the list itself is the state of the union.
Take two schedules, systems, or teams that are supposed to correspond and check them point by point. Stop at the third discrepancy or the end, whichever comes first. Three discrepancies means the correspondence is nominal; act accordingly.
How it has been used
Align separately produced layers so they read as one: the printer's registration marks, the animation cel over the background, the translation laid against the original. The move forces a shared datum: layers made without a common reference can be adjacent, never registered.
Where it leads
Grouped under Help the parts agree