Creative Designer Job | Prepress Technician Jobs | Printing Press Technician
Prepress Jobs - What is the Job of a Prepress Worker? What does a Prepress Job Involve?
Prepress operators and printing technicians have the responsibility of preparing layouts and print formatting before an item is sent to be printed. A prepress technician will receive images from graphic designers or customers, and then they will prepare pages by completing a printing plate.
Printing plates are sheets of metal that will carry the image that will be stamped onto paper, similar to how rubber stamps work. After the printing plate has been designed, a prepress technician will then make sure that it is functioning properly, and the printing job itself can be complex if it requires color printing.
Prepress workers will use a photographic process in order to create plates, which involves chemicals and ultra violet light in order to make sure that images will harden on the metal plate. Direct to plate technology is now used to bypass this process by sending the information directly to a plating system using computers and digital imaging.
Prepress technicians are now using digital imaging technology in order to complete more in a short period of time, and printing press technicians will use computers in order to make sure that the print layout that the client has given them will print correctly. A prepress technician will then produce an image of the page and print out a copy in order to make sure that the design is as the client requested. Prepress jobs will use laser image setters to impose images on a metal printing plate.
Most individuals and businesses will bypass preprint technicians entirely by using desktop publishing, which allows graphic designers to complete much of the work that was traditionally done by these professionals.
Working Conditions for Graphic Designer Jobs - How is the Working Environment for Prepress Jobs?
Prepress technician work environments are clean and air conditioned, and press technicians usually work a eight hour day with some holidays and weekends, if a print job is on a tight schedule.
Prepress Technician Education - How to Become a Prepress Worker - How to Receive Your Prepress Training
Prepress jobs require experience in printing and knowledge of new computer technologies. Most prepress training will start on the job, performing manual labor moving printing supplies until a tech is skilled enough to perform the printing jobs on their own. Community colleges and technical colleges will offer training in prepress technologies and teach students how to use them.
Experienced workers in printing jobs may take graphics and communications courses in order to upgrade their printing knowledge.
Graphic Design Requirements - How to Become a Printing Press Technician
Prepress workers should have good communication skills and be able to deal with customers. Prepress technicians must also be good with computers and math in order to be able to estimate job costs and to edit digital images.
Prepress Worker Employment - What is a Prepress Technician Job?
Over the next decade, prepress jobs should decline by about 16% due to the increased popularity of desktop publishing, which allows business owners and individuals to bypass many of the traditional roles of prepress technology. New print technology is also increasing the amount of automation in the prepress jobs that are remaining, which is limiting the amount of employment opportunities.
For those prepress technicians who also specialize in desktop publishing and graphics design, business should be fairly good, although those press workers were unable to adapt to new and emerging technologies will quickly find themselves out of work.
Prepress Jobs Pay Scale - How Much Do Prepress Workers Earn?
In 2006, prepress jobs had median hourly earnings of $16.01, with earnings in printing being higher at $16.44 an hour. Job printers earned $15.58 in the same year, and newspapers had the highest rate of pay of all prepress employers at $16.19 an hour.