Prepress Technicians and Workers

What the job really is

Format and proof text and images submitted by designers and clients into finished pages that can be printed. Includes digital and photo typesetting. May produce printing plates.

At a glance

• Sector: Production
• O*NET-SOC code: 51-5111
• O*NET job zone: 3 — medium preparation
• Work sample tasks on file: 12
• Tools and technologies listed: 12

What you actually do

Work sample tasks recorded for this occupation:

• Select proper types of plates according to press run lengths.
• Operate presses to print proofs of plates, monitoring printing quality to ensure that it is adequate.
• Generate prepress proofs in digital or other format to approximate the appearance of the final printed piece.
• Proofread and perform quality control of text and images.
• Enter, position, and alter text size, using computers, to make up and arrange pages so that printed materials can be produced.
• Perform "preflight" check of required font, graphic, text and image files to ensure completeness prior to delivery to printer.
• Operate and maintain laser plate-making equipment that converts electronic data to plates without the use of film.
• Enter, store, and retrieve information on computer-aided equipment.
• Maintain, adjust, and clean equipment, and perform minor repairs.
• Examine finished plates to detect flaws, verify conformity with master plates, and measure dot sizes and centers, using light boxes and microscopes.
• Examine unexposed photographic plates to detect flaws or foreign particles prior to printing.
• Examine photographic images for obvious imperfections prior to plate making.

Tools and technology

Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Adobe Director, Adobe FrameMaker

What employers expect you to already be comfortable with.

Where this job leads

Related occupations — the usual moves up and sideways:

• Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
• Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators
• Printing Press Operators
• Etchers and Engravers
• Office Machine Operators, Except Computer
• Print Binding and Finishing Workers
• Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic
• Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Getting in

O*NET assigns this occupation job zone 3 (medium preparation). The related occupations above are the realistic routes in and out.

Find openings

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Check this against the source

O*NET OnLine: Prepress Technicians and Workers — the authoritative public-domain profile this page is derived from, including the full task list, reported skills and the wage estimates for your region.

Derived and rewritten from the public-domain O*NET database (U.S. Department of Labor / Employment and Training Administration). Figures are observations, not promises — always confirm salary, licensing and visa requirements with the employer and the relevant authority.