Description
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.
- • Enter, store, and retrieve information on computer-aided equipment.
- • Enter, position, and alter text size, using computers, to make up and arrange pages so that printed materials can be produced.
- • Maintain, adjust, and clean equipment, and perform minor repairs.
- • Operate and maintain laser plate-making equipment that converts electronic data to plates without the use of film.
- • Examine photographic images for obvious imperfections prior to plate making.
- • Operate presses to print proofs of plates, monitoring printing quality to ensure that it is adequate.
- • Examine unexposed photographic plates to detect flaws or foreign particles prior to printing.
- • Examine finished plates to detect flaws, verify conformity with master plates, and measure dot sizes and centers, using light boxes and microscopes.
- • Select proper types of plates according to press run lengths.
- • Analyze originals to evaluate color density, gradation highlights, middle tones, and shadows, using densitometers and knowledge of light and color.
- • Set scanners to specific color densities, sizes, screen rulings, and exposure adjustments, using scanner keyboards or computers.
- • Scale copy for reductions and enlargements, using proportion wheels.
- • 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.
- • Perform "preflight" check of required font, graphic, text and image files to ensure completeness prior to delivery to printer.
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
