| Important Core Job Duties (in order of importance) For the Top 5 most important - How can you build experience and skill doing these? This will help now, to begin preparing for this type of occupation. |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 95 (%) | Description: Generate prepress proofs in digital or other format to approximate the appearance of the final printed piece. |
| Importance: 94 (%) | Description: Enter, store, and retrieve information on computer-aided equipment. |
| Importance: 94 (%) | Description: Proofread and perform quality control of text and images. |
| Importance: 91 (%) | Description: Enter, position, and alter text size, using computers, to make up and arrange pages so that printed materials can be produced. |
| Importance: 86 (%) | Description: Perform "preflight" check of required font, graphic, text and image files to ensure completeness prior to delivery to printer. |
| Importance: 73 (%) | Description: Maintain, adjust, and clean equipment, and perform minor repairs. |
| Importance: 71 (%) | Description: Operate and maintain laser plate-making equipment that converts electronic data to plates without the use of film. |
Graphic Design and Illustration Careers and Jobs
Select, Find and Prepare for Graphic Design and Illustration Careers and Jobs - all on one page
For visually creative people who want commercial design work, illustration, or both. Use the tools below to see which graphic design and illustration roles fit your background and goals.
This field rewards a strong portfolio over formal credentials, and splits between commercial design work and illustration/art-focused work. Use the tools below to explore Graphic Design and Illustration-related job titles sorted by growth rate, salary, or required education. You can start with entry points like Junior Graphic Designer, or look ahead to advanced roles such as Art Director or Creative Director. Along the way, you will see specific certifications, such as Adobe Certified Professional, that can help you move up the career ladder.
Here is a short Helper Video 
This page will take you through 4 steps to (1) Select from Graphic Design and Illustration careers/jobs, (2) Find Graphic Design and Illustration job listings, (3) Prepare for Graphic Design and Illustration careers, and (4) Provide Graphic Design and Illustration career-specific resources.
Step 1: Select a Career/Job: This page starts with 4 ways for you to identify and select from listings of Graphic Design and Illustration careers/jobs:
A) Fastest Growing Graphic Design and Illustration Careers - 2023 to 2033 (est.)
These listings are based on job growth estimates and helps you to identify the fastest growing and evolving Graphic Design and Illustration careers. Some careers may not initially seem related to Graphic Design and Illustration, so relevant Graphic Design and Illustration jobs are listed alongside each listing. This can also help us to identify which careers (bottom of the listing) may have negative growth - perhaps due to automation or planned obsolescence.
B) Median Annual Salary U.S. Graphic Design and Illustration Careers
These listings are sorted (descending) by median annual salary in the U.S. This may help us to identify our ideal career. We may not qualify at this time for the desired career, but this listing and the results provided can help us to explore job details, as well as learn how to appropriately prepare for the career.
C) Graphic Design and Illustration Career Ladders (Educational Requirements)
These listings will help us to identify Graphic Design and Illustration careers sorted by educational requirements (with the most difficult to obtain listed first). This may help us to identify career ladders (as we scroll down the list), and help us to get jobs that we qualify for now.
D) Select From a Listing of 149 Graphic Design and Illustration Jobs.
The list may be quite long. There are two ways you might like to use this list:
1) Filter - As you enter a word, you will filter (limit) the list of job titles
2) Browse the list (Don't Filter) - You can simply explore the list of job titles. There may be many that you might never have considered to be of interest.
Once you have identified a job title of interest, simply click on it.
Step 2: Find a Job: After you have selected a career/job title above, you will see a form asking for your location. You will see several radio selection choices to utilize the job search site of your choice.
Step 3: Prepare For a Career: In this section you will gain access to detailed information to help you prepare for the chosen career. Information may include (not every career choice includes all of the elements below - updates occur quarterly):
Core Duties: Lists the primary worker-related tasks performed in this occupation
Supplemental Duties: Lists additional tasks that are performed but are secondary to the core duties
Work Activities: Summarizes the broad types of behaviors and actions related to this career
Specific Work Activities: Provides more granular day-to-day activities tied to the work performed
Essential Skills: Provides foundational skills that are core to performing this specific occupation
Transferable Skills: Provides career-portable skills that can be applied across multiple occupations and industries
Day-in-the-Life Summaries: Provides a snapshot of the key activities performed on a typical workday in this career
Knowledge Required: Provides the requirements regarding the acquisition of facts and principles
Software Skills: Lists software tools commonly used in this occupation, organized by category and priority
Preparation Required: Provides a summary of the required experience and education
Education Required: Detailed breakdown of the education required
Training and Experience Required: Detailed breakdown of the training and Training and Experience Required
Local Salary Information: Provides national and local salary ranges
Certifications: Provides appropriate government and private-sector certifications and/or credentials that may be required
Professional Associations: Provides professional associations that are related to the career selected
Job Listings: Provides links to active current job listings for the selected career, along with multiple similar job titles to explore. All information appears on this page without navigating away.
Related Careers to Consider: Lists up to 20 careers that might be of interest to you (related to your initial choice - what they do, what they know, and what they're called), ranked by best fit.
** If you clicked on a link from section D (as described in Step 1 above), you will see one or more links to an occupation that is usually a bit more general than your initial job selection - the link(s) is directly related to the specific job you identified through your prior selections.
*NOTE: It is possible that there may not be a career path identified for the specific job you selected in Step 1. If this is the case, scroll up the page and click on a different career/job.
Step 4: Career-Specific Resources (detailed and constantly updated): Continue to scroll down the page and you will find tabs that provide detailed (updated) links specific to the career you selected. This information includes:
Videos: Provides a listing of video links related to this career. A great way to get a quick overview of the occupation.
Resumes: Sources for resume materials and techniques. This can help to get you started.
Job Description: Sources that provide job descriptions, which are vital to resume and interview preparation.
Interviews: Provides links that can help you to prepare for and successfully complete the job interview. Can also assist with coffee chats.
Step by Step: Provides links to resources that can help to organize the career search process.
LinkedIn: One of the best professional social media sites that provides links, opportunities, and networking specifically for careers and career development.
Step 1 of 4: Select a Career/Job
39 Graphic Design and Illustration careers are listed below (sorted by Percentage Change in Total Job Openings - 2023 to 2033 est.). Graphic Design and Illustration-related jobs specific to each career are also provided. This shows which careers are emerging and growing the fastest. Please Scroll and Select below:
| Occupations | U.S. Job Openings 2023-2033 (% change) | Graphic Design and Illustration-Related Jobs |
46 Graphic Design and Illustration careers are listed below (sorted by U.S. National Median Salary). Graphic Design and Illustration-related jobs specific to each occupation are also provided. Please Scroll and Select below::
| Occupations | National Median Salary | Graphic Design and Illustration-Related Jobs |
46 Graphic Design and Illustration careers are listed (sorted by Education/Preparation Requirements - descending) to provide career ladders. Graphic Design and Illustration-related jobs specific to each career are also provided.
|
Education/Preparation Categories: 5 = Usually requires graduate school (e.g., Master's degree, Ph.D., M.D., or J.D.) 4 = Usually requires a four-year Bachelor's degree 3 = Usually requires vocational training, related on-the-job experience, or Associate's degree 2 = Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, but not always Please Scroll and Select below: |
||
| Occupations | Education/Preparation | Graphic Design and Illustration-Related Jobs |
Scroll through the picklist (below). There are 149 specific Graphic Design and Illustration job titles listed. Select those that may be of interest - you will get active job listing links, along with detailed resources to help you prepare for a career related to that job.
You can use this form two ways:
Filter - As you enter a keyword, you will filter (limit) the list of job titles below
Browse the list (Don't Filter) - You can simply explore the list of job titles. There may be many that you might never have considered to be of interest.
OR - leave blank and scroll through the choices:
Select a Job Title (Scroll and Select) :
Step 2 of 4: Find a Job
Find Job Listings:
Prepress Technicians and Workers.
Step 3 of 4: Prepare For a Career
Prepress Technicians and Workers
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.
Please click on a section below to expand and see detailed occupational information related to "Prepress Technicians and Workers":
U.S. Total Employment (2023):
28,200U.S. Total Employment (2033 est.):
23,300
Employment Change (2023-2033 est.):
-4,800 (-17.1%) Average Annual Job Openings (2023-2033 est.):
3,000
Core Duties
Supplemental Duties
| Important Supplemental Job Duties (in order of importance)
For the Top 5 most important - How can you build experience and skill doing these? This will help now, to begin preparing for this type of occupation. |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 55 (%) | Description: Examine photographic images for obvious imperfections prior to plate making. |
| Importance: 53 (%) | Description: Set scanners to specific color densities, sizes, screen rulings, and exposure adjustments, using scanner keyboards or computers. |
| Importance: 46 (%) | Description: Analyze originals to evaluate color density, gradation highlights, middle tones, and shadows, using densitometers and knowledge of light and color. |
| Importance: 43 (%) | Description: Examine finished plates to detect flaws, verify conformity with master plates, and measure dot sizes and centers, using light boxes and microscopes. |
| Importance: 36 (%) | Description: Examine unexposed photographic plates to detect flaws or foreign particles prior to printing. |
| Importance: 33 (%) | Description: Select proper types of plates according to press run lengths. |
| Importance: 32 (%) | Description: Operate presses to print proofs of plates, monitoring printing quality to ensure that it is adequate. |
| Importance: 26 (%) | Description: Scale copy for reductions and enlargements, using proportion wheels. |
Work Activities
| Important General Work Activities (in order of importance)
For the Top 5 most important - How can you build experience and skill doing these? This will help now, to begin preparing for this type of occupation. |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 92 (%) | Description: Working with Computers: Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information. |
| Importance: 87 (%) | Description: Getting Information: Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources. |
| Importance: 83 (%) | Description: Making Decisions and Solving Problems: Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems. |
| Importance: 83 (%) | Description: Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge: Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job. |
| Importance: 83 (%) | Description: Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates: Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person. |
| Importance: 80 (%) | Description: Thinking Creatively: Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions. |
| Importance: 75 (%) | Description: Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work: Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work. |
| Importance: 73 (%) | Description: Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings: Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems. |
| Importance: 70 (%) | Description: Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events: Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events. |
| Importance: 70 (%) | Description: Scheduling Work and Activities: Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others. |
| Importance: 69 (%) | Description: Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information: Estimating sizes, distances, and quantities; or determining time, costs, resources, or materials needed to perform a work activity. |
| Importance: 68 (%) | Description: Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials: Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects. |
| Importance: 68 (%) | Description: Controlling Machines and Processes: Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or vehicles). |
| Importance: 68 (%) | Description: Processing Information: Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data. |
| Importance: 66 (%) | Description: Training and Teaching Others: Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others. |
| Importance: 65 (%) | Description: Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships: Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time. |
| Importance: 65 (%) | Description: Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others: Getting members of a group to work together to accomplish tasks. |
| Importance: 65 (%) | Description: Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others: Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used. |
| Importance: 64 (%) | Description: Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People: Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people. |
| Importance: 62 (%) | Description: Documenting/Recording Information: Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form. |
| Importance: 60 (%) | Description: Communicating with People Outside the Organization: Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail. |
Specific Work Activities
| Important Specific Work Activities
How can you begin to build experience and skill doing these? This will help now, to begin preparing for this type of occupation. Specific Work Activities appear below: |
|
| Clean production equipment. | |
| Enter commands, instructions, or specifications into equipment. | |
| Examine condition of property or products. | |
| Inspected printed materials or other images to verify quality. | |
| Maintain production or processing equipment. | |
| Measure dimensions of completed products or workpieces to verify conformance to specifications. | |
| Monitor equipment operation to ensure that products are not flawed. | |
| Operate digital imaging equipment. | |
| Operate photographic developing or print production equipment. | |
| Program equipment to perform production tasks. | |
| Repair production equipment or tools. | |
| Select production equipment according to product specifications. | |
Knowledge Required
| Knowledge Required (in order of importance)
For the Top 5 most important - How can you build experience and skill doing these? This will help now, to begin preparing for this type of occupation. |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 78 (%) | Description: Computers and Electronics: Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming. |
| Importance: 71 (%) | Description: English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar. |
| Importance: 69 (%) | Description: Design: Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models. |
| Importance: 66 (%) | Description: Mathematics: Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications. |
| Importance: 65 (%) | Description: Production and Processing: Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods. |
| Importance: 63 (%) | Description: Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction. |
Essential Skills
| Essential Skills (in order of importance)
These are the foundational skills most central to success in this occupation. For the Top 5 most important, how can you begin building experience and confidence using these skills now? |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 52 (%) | Description: Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times. |
| Importance: 52 (%) | Description: Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively. |
| Importance: 52 (%) | Description: Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems. |
| Importance: 52 (%) | Description: Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action. |
Transferable Skills
| Transferable Skills (in order of importance)
These are skills that can transfer across occupations and industries. For the Top 5 most important, how can you strengthen these skills now so they support both this career and future career flexibility? |
|
| Importance (%) | Description |
| Importance: 52 (%) | Description: Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others. |
Day-in-the-Life Summaries
| Day-in-the-Life Summaries These summaries show the main types of activities you are likely to perform on a regular basis in this occupation. How can you imagine your typical workday — using these examples to see if this type of work fits you? |
| Activity: Clean tools, equipment, facilities, or work areas. |
| Activity: Inspect characteristics or conditions of materials or products. |
| Activity: Inspect completed work or finished products. |
| Activity: Maintain tools or equipment. |
| Activity: Measure physical characteristics of materials, products, or equipment. |
| Activity: Monitor equipment operation. |
| Activity: Operate industrial processing or production equipment. |
| Activity: Process digital or online data. |
| Activity: Program computer systems or production equipment. |
| Activity: Repair tools or equipment. |
| Activity: Select materials or equipment for operations or projects. |
Software Skills
|
Software Skills These are examples of software tools commonly used in this occupation, organized from most to least important for your career preparation. How can you start learning or practicing the highest-priority tools so that you feel confident using them on the job? |
| High-Priority Tech Skills |
| Desktop publishing software: |
| Adobe InDesign |
| Graphics or photo imaging software: |
| Adobe Creative Cloud software Adobe Illustrator Adobe Photoshop |
| Office suite software: |
| Microsoft Office software |
| Spreadsheet software: |
| Microsoft Excel |
| Emerging Tech Skills |
| Document management software: |
| Adobe Acrobat |
| Electronic mail software: |
| Microsoft Outlook |
| Presentation software: |
| Microsoft PowerPoint |
| Word processing software: |
| Microsoft Word |
| General Software Tools |
| Desktop publishing software: |
| Adobe FrameMaker Adobe PageMaker Esko ArtPro QuarkXPress |
| Document management software: |
| Adobe LifeCycle Enterprise Suite Global Graphics Software Harlequin |
| Graphics or photo imaging software: |
| Adobe FreeHand MX Corel CorelDraw Graphics Suite Corel Painter LaserSoft Imaging SilverFast Ai Studio |
| Internet browser software: |
| Web browser software |
| Internet protocol IP multimedia subsystem software: |
| File transfer protocol FTP software ProjectSend |
| Optical character reader OCR or scanning software: |
| Hamrick Software VueScan Multi-line optical character reader OCR software |
| Video creation and editing software: |
| Adobe Director |
Preparation Required
| Preparation Required - How much preparation is needed to obtain this type of job? |
| Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed |
| Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job. |
| Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. |
| Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations. |
| These occupations usually involve using communication and organizational skills to coordinate, supervise, manage, or train others to accomplish goals. Examples include hydroelectric production managers, desktop publishers, electricians, agricultural technicians, barbers, court reporters and simultaneous captioners, and medical assistants. |
Education Required
| Education Required - by frequency of educational attainment This shows you details about the level of education most commonly held by workers in this occupation. How can you begin planning the educational pathway that will prepare you best for this type of work? |
|
| Frequency of Attainment (%) | Level of Education |
| Frequency of Attainment: 39.3 (%) | Level of Education: High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED) |
| Frequency of Attainment: 23.2 (%) | Level of Education: Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) |
| Frequency of Attainment: 20.7 (%) | Level of Education: Some College Courses |
| Frequency of Attainment: 9.5 (%) | Level of Education: Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production) |
| Frequency of Attainment: 5.2 (%) | Level of Education: Bachelor's Degree |
| Frequency of Attainment: 2.1 (%) | Level of Education: Less than a High School Diploma |
Training and Experience Required
| Training and Experience Required - by frequency of training and work experience attainment This section shows you how often different types of training and work experience are required for this occupation. How can you start gaining the kinds of experience and training that are most common for this type of work? |
|
| Frequency of Attainment (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience |
| Frequency of Attainment: 37.5 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years |
| Frequency of Attainment: 21.9 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years |
| Frequency of Attainment: 16.6 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year |
| Frequency of Attainment: 14.3 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Over 4 years, up to and including 6 years |
| Frequency of Attainment: 3.7 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: None |
| Frequency of Attainment: 2.8 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Over 6 years, up to and including 8 years |
| Frequency of Attainment: 2.1 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Up to and including 1 month |
| Frequency of Attainment: 1.1 (%) | Level of Training and Work Experience: Over 8 years, up to and including 10 years |
Local Salary Information
Select a State (scroll and Select) :
Please select a State to see State and National Salaries
Job Listings
| Job Listings and Similar Occupational Titles - scroll and click to identify common requirements, keywords, and skills in current job listings |
Related Careers to Consider
Step 4 of 4: Career-Specific Resources
This section contains detailed external resources appropriate to "Prepress Technicians and Workers". Explore these resources to start learning more. Links are constantly updated, so bookmark this page.
Videos
Here is a listing of videos related to this career. A great way to get a quick overview of the occupation.
Resumes
Here are resources that allow you to see example resumes for this occupation. It may be helpful to see examples from others who have this type of experience.
Job Description
Here are resources that provide job descriptions, which are vital for resume and interview preparation.
Interviews
There are many great resources that can help guide you through the interview process. These links provide help in preparing and performing an effective interview, specific to this occupation.
Step-by-Step
Here are links to help guide you, step-by-step, to become a(n): Prepress Technicians and Workers
LinkedIn®
Here are links to various posts and groups from LinkedIn ® that relate to this occupation. Great way to start building professional contacts in the field that might be most appropriate for you.
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