PASTE-UP WORKER

Job Definition:

• Pre-press technicians proof, format, set and compose text and graphics into a form suitable for use in various printing processes and representation in other visual media.

Job Description:

• Arrange and mount typeset material and illustrations into pasteup for printing reproduction, based on artist’s or editor’s layout.

Duties and Tasks:

• 1) Measures and marks board according to layout to indicate position of artwork, typeset copy, page edges, folds, and colors.
• 2) Cuts typeset copy and artwork to size, applies adhesive, and aligns artwork and typeset copy on board, following position marks.
• 3) Compares measurements, using ruler and proportion wheel, to determine proportions needed to make reduced or enlarged photographic prints for pasteup.
• 4) Operates electronic plotter to draw artwork positions on pasteup.
• 5) Applies masking film to artwork layout space on overlay to create clear space on negative for subsequent addition of artwork.
• 6) Makes negatives or prints of artwork, using photographic equipment, to prepare artwork for pasteup.
• 7) Covers photographs and artwork with tissue or tracing paper for protection.
• 8) Writes specifications on tracing paper to provide information for other workers.
• 9) Draws functional and decorative borders around layout, using marking and measuring instruments.
• 10) Removes excess adhesive from board, using scissors, artist’s knife, and drafting instruments.
• 11) Indicates crop marks and enlargement or reduction measurements on photographs with grease pencil to facilitate processing.
• 12) Operates phototypesetter to prepare typeset copy for pasteup.
• 13) Tapes transparent plastic overlay to board and positions and applies copy to plastic.
• 14) Measures artwork and layout space of artwork on pasteup.

Activities:

• 1) Handling and Moving Objects — Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
• 2) Controlling Machines and Processes — Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or vehicles).
• 3) Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• 4) Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards — Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
• 5) Drafting, Laying Out, and Specifying Technical Devices, Parts, and Equipment — Providing documentation, detailed instructions, drawings, or specifications to tell others about how devices, parts, equipment, or structures are to be fabricated, constructed, assembled, modified, maintained, or used.

Abilities:

• 1) Manual Dexterity — The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
• 2) Near Vision — The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• 3) Wrist-Finger Speed — The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
• 4) Information Ordering — The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• 5) Arm-Hand Steadiness — The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.

Knowledge

• Design — Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
• English Language — Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Communications and Media — Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.