Prepress Technician

Prepress Technician Career

---

Prepress Technicians are a specialized set of workers who deal with a printed document in it’s beginning stages: They transform text and pictures into finished pages that are ready to print.

To place this job in context of the production line, the printing process is made up of three different stages: prepress, press and binding. As a Prepress Technician, you come at the front of this line, and take a document from a customer to get it ready for the second stage of printing. This preparation includes making changes to the formatting of the document, fixing any layout mistakes that exist, and correcting colors, images, and text. Once you have reworked the document you return it to the client for final approval, then send it on to press.

A typical day includes scanning files into specialized software, making type or color corrections to documents, and setting up printing presses to create film, plate or electronic proofs. Most of this is now done using computers and desktop publishing programs so you should be good at, or at least enjoy, working with electronics.

If you’re a Prepress Technician, you face tight deadlines and strict work schedules, so you should work well under pressure. Good communication skills are also a must as you work with customers to fix problems that arise, and ensure that a customer’s vision turns into their final product.

How do I become a Prepress Technician?

---

In the past most prepress technicians gained on the job training with very few attending graphic design programs or completing post-secondary work in printing technology. Today with the increased use of computers it is becoming necessary to receive graphic communications training with a range of software programs. Education opportunities include 2-year associate degree programs through community, junior or technical colleges also you have the option of completing a 4-year graphic design degree at an art school where prepress skills are taught.