Working In The Industry

Printing in Colour - How Colours Combine

For colour printing pre-press technicians use digital colour page makeup systems to produce an electronic image that mirrors what the printed pages will look like. They then use "off-press" colour proofing systems and soft proofing techniques to print a copy or "proof" of the pages as they will appear. Once customer approval has been received technicians then often use laser imagesetters to expose the digital images directly onto thin aluminium printing plates.

Because of improved computer chips, an increase in technology use has had a major effect on the print sector. Over the last 3-5 years many printing business have altered their internal structures. In turn this has affected skills demands, with larger printing businesses now requiring workers with specialised skills. In these larger businesses the pre-press technicians are now responsible for the first stage of the print process only, as other processes have been automated.

Smaller print businesses often employ one printer who is responsible for all three stages of the printing process. These employees build content and structure page layouts with the materials supplied by the customer. They proofread draft documents for errors and clearness of print; they correct mistakes and then work with the print machinery to complete the print job. After the print run they may also need to bind the printed pages together (the job of a bookbinder in larger businesses). Working in these smaller businesses can be very fast paced and vacancies are generally filled by those that have a full set of skills and several years of print sector experience, due to the high level of responsibility. A trainee position within one of these smaller businesses would provide an excellent opportunity to learn a wide range of skills and that would provide you with many career development options.