Did you hear about the desktop publishing specialist job description? It’s a job vacancy also called DTP Specialist. In this job position, the desktop publishing specialist uses to create design, printing, add edits to documents or even create documents while using his PC.
Desktop publishing specialist is an opportunity that we found in the different companies in the four corners of the world. But what is this job position? What are the required skills and responsibilities? You will find an answer for all your questions here in this article so continue reading to discover the desktop publishing specialist in detail.
Table of contents
Desktop publishing specialist job description
The desktop publishing specialist works in different formats as a freelancer or as a full-time worker in a company. His main objective is to design books, newspapers, brochures, cards, presentations, magazines, financial reports, tickets, newsletter or any different kind of design layout. He prepares all these layouts for publishing purposes, so he creates designs to be printed and published as a hard copy.
Also, a desktop publishing specialist could deal with design already available to print them or design it from scratch.
Desktop publishing specialist responsibilities
Like all the other job position, the desktop publishing specialist must deliver many responsibilities and duties to their company or to their clients:
- Involve in the media production process to help them with his point of view from the printing and publishing perspectives.
- Make a camera view version of the different types of documents by creating the format, the layout, type settings, size and rewrite text to fit with the document type and the design to be able for printing.
- Deal with the printing details such as colors, paper format, paper type and size and folding.
- Schedule printing activities for finalized documents.
- Brainstorm about the design ideas adopted in the different documents with the art team and the client in order to be able to collect points of view that could help him in designing parts like changing the font used, replacing the colors, changing the place of the objects in the design.
- Documents proofreading.
- Do the required revisions for each document before publishing.
- Have access for all the visual materials of the company.
- Archive documents correctly to find them whenever.
- Use photoshop to edit photos available in the company library.
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Desktop publishing specialist skills and personality traits
On the other hand, to stick to the desktop publishing specialist job description, you must have some skills in terms of professional skills and personal skills to be able to deliver the required work in the fastest time with the highest quality.
First, let’s start with the professional skills:
- Aware about the usage of the designing software like Adobe photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign.
- Excellent in PowerPoint
- Word program usage.
- Knowledge about the design technique and methodology.
- Aware about media production.
- Good in English
- Excellent in computer skills.
From the other side, let’s list the personal skills:
- Artistic spirit to be able to create the design based on a fine taste.
- Details oriented in order to take care of the tiny details in each design to make it perfect.
- Creativity to introduce a new idea to the company publishing in order to break the routine.
- Communication skills to be able to get in contact with the media production team, and the different teams.
- Good listener to be able to have the right brief from your clients, then deliver to them their requirements correctly.
- Organization skills to organize the works in the right manner to avoid any delay.
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Education, training & certification
In addition to the skills personal and professional, we went through the different job vacancies offered by the different companies. We found that the bachelor degree is a must in the graphic design field.
Also, some training and certificates like diploma, associates will be accepted by many companies. On the other hand, many training courses are available on this domain online and offline, you will learn the basics of graphic design and how to create a design eligible for printing and publishing.
Work environment
The work environment of the desktop publishing specialist is divided into 2 parts, the first one working while using a computer or laptop. The second part is in the printing suppliers carrying huge printed documents that could reach about 70 pounds.
Work schedule
The desktop publishing specialist working hours aren’t fixed for both types of work freelancers or full time, he could work for more than 12 hours during the printing process and on another day, he does a simple work.
The work is based on the printing and publishing projects availability.
What are the tools used in desktop publishing?
The tools used to achieve the work of the desktop publishing specialist are:
- Adobe InDesign
- Microsoft Publisher
- Affinity Publisher
- Scribus
- QuarkXPress
- Corel DRAW
- LucidPress
- Canva
- Page Stream
- Xara Page & Layout Designer
- Conga Composer
- LibreOffice Suite
- Pagination
- iStudio Publisher
- Vista Create
- Kofax Power PDF
- Venngage
- Design Cap
- Swift Publisher
- Viva Designer
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How do you become a desktop publisher?
To become a desktop publisher, you must have the artistic spirit that will help you in your career, as you should work in finding and creating a new attractive layout for the publishing of the company so having the artistic spirit will add a value for your competence.
Also, to become a desktop publisher, you must know the simple details related to the publishing activity starting form choosing the right layout until the paper type and the folding.
So, work on yourself to acquire all this knowledge from the different resources.
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What is the difference between graphic design and desktop publishing?
The difference between the graphic designer and the desktop publishing specialist appears on the objectives of their works and how they work to find out the final results.
The Desktop publishing specialist works in using the different tools to combine text and graphics in order to create a document eligible for printing. His main objective is the production and the commercial printing appearance. Also, the DTP generally uses a template to unifies the brand identity.
From the other hand, the graphic designer, he works in delivering a visual message through graphics. He works in combining text and graphics to create a certain communication in the visual. The graphic designer works generally on concepts. He revises the work many times to make it perfect. He selects elements to create a hole design. Designers could work on a team
Is desktop publishing the same as publisher?
Yes, there is a difference between publisher and desktop publishing. The publisher could be a publisher of book
s, newspapers or any individual piece of art. He deals with the documents already created and designed. In parallel, desktop publishing is the person who works in designing the layout of any kind of documents that need to be printed and published.
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What are the advantages of desktop publishing?
Because of the importance of the desktop publishing specialist, for sure, he has some advantages that push the employers to hire them. Between these advantages:
- Minimize printing time
- Reduce cost
- Increase productivity.
- Produce a specific layout for printing.
- Make the document’s appearance more professional.
What computer typesetters do
The computer typesetters are the person involved in typing using a computer to be printed.
What are the duties of a magazine publisher?
The magazine publisher works in realizing the success of their publications in terms of editorial and commercial. To achieve this success, he must understand the market, and the target readers to be able to communicate with them correctly by putting a content strategy that fits with the interest of the readers, also by establishing an advertising strategy to make all his target readers aware about his presence.
Also, the magazine publisher puts a specific budget to be in charge of specific duties like marketing, publishing tools and materials…
He supervises the production to make sure that the production is done in the right manner.
The magazine publisher is the ambassador of the magazine, he works in promoting it between his networks to reach out more target readers.
How an electronic publisher compares
Electronic publishers are compared with the desktop publishing specialist, and are starting to replace the DTP in many companies due to the fastest productivity and the lowest cost.
In parallel, the desktop publishing specialist is still an important factor in the companies as he will create a specific and creative layout suitable with the business which is weak in the electronic publisher, as it uses a specific template for the different business and industries.
Desktop publishing specialist salary
The desktop publishing specialist average salary is about $57,000 per year or $27.49 per hour. Also, the salaries depend on your experience level, your knowledge, and the company size.
Desktop publishing specialist resume sample
Desktop Publishing Specialist
ROBERT SMITH
Phone: (123) 456 78 99
Email: info@en.jobsindeep.com
Website: www.en.jobsindeep.com
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/jobsindeep
Address: 1737 Marshville Road,
Alabama.
Objective
Multi-faceted Desktop Publishing Specialist professional with experience in many areas. An
innovative, detail-oriented team player with a proven ability to cut costs through the
implementation of new technologies, solve complex problems, and achieve organizational
objectives.
Skills
Graphic Design, Digital Photography, Photo Retouch, Bindery, Digital Print.
Work Experience
Desktop Publishing Specialist
ABC Corporation 2001 – 2003
- Retrieved customers originated electronic files from network and/or storage device sources.
- Edited and arranged text and graphics files to customer specifications.
- Operated high volume printers, and finishing equipment for online and walk-in clients Design and Print Promotional items
- Operated Color-Press 800.
- Supported executives and company principals.
- Scheduled client appointments and coordinated meetings Prepared invoices, reports, memos, letters, financial statements and other documents.
- Produced high quality, professional brochures, letters, newsletters, organizational charts, flow charts, graphs, and other documents for sales.
- Designed and proofread telecommunications flowcharts, business plans, sales proposals, meeting materials, and organizational charts for administration.
Desktop Publishing Specialist
Delta Corporation 2000 – 2001
- Resigned from Cadmus Journal Services (a large printer of medical, technical, and scientific publications), to establish Bush Desktop.
- Since inception my customers have been The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) in New York; The International Union of Pure and Applied.
- My last publication with IUPAC was the December 2013 issue of Pure and Applied Chemistry and I recently completed a book titled Nurse Coaching.
- Printed preparation & production of flyers, brochures, business cards, postcards, presentations and mass mailings.
- Strong conceptual and design skills.
- Initial role progressed from a graphic stripper to desktop publisher.
- Since inception my customers have been The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) in New York; The International Union of Pure and Applied.
Education
GED
In Conclusion, the desktop publishing specialist job description is an interesting job vacancy, for each one has the artistic spirit, so if you find yourself the best candidate for this job description, begin now on learning to achieve your goal and to become a DTP specialist in the largest companies.
