AbstractThis paper describes the architecture of a system, a prototype of which is being developed by the authors at IBM Rome Scientific Centre, providing an interactive approach to the printing process, starting from the input of the basic components (images, texts and graphics) up to the definition and modification of page layout and finally to driving high resolution output devices. The system manages collections of pages, called “documents”; in turn each page is defined as a spatial composition of elementary boxes distributed on different levels. The main characteristics of the system architecture are interactivity, modularity and non‐procedurality (the user has only to describe “what” has to be done, rather “how