Many people have asked me this question and, in the absence of a Wikipedia entry, here’s my definition.
The term pre-dates desktop publishing when “artwork” or “mechanical art” meant the material (photography, bromide, film, tranparency) or completed, camera-ready pages that could be photographed with a stat camera to make a same-size film that would be used to create a printed product.
Now, an artworker is someone who produces a print-ready product.
Artworkers get a concept from a designer (either in drawing or digital form) and use the appropriate software to create it.
An artworker would understand the basics of printing (cmyk, line screens, spot colours, etc.) as well as design, typesetting, formatting and colour correction. It would be rare to find an artworker with no eye for design.
They should be highly proficient in a number of basic graphics applications, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Freehand, QuarkXpress and InDesign as well as having a basic grasp of how to sort large amounts of information in Excel and Word. Knowledge of JavaScript and XML is also handy in creating automated work flows and negating the need for repetitive tasks.
A “traditional artworker” means someone who – maybe a compositor in the past – has the necessary craft skills to cut, fold and glue paper in order to mock up packaging or other design visuals.
A “creative artworker” is someone who is perhaps half way between a designer and an artworker. They would be required to design print-ready artwork on the fly or be called upon to apply a certain design style across a range of printed material.
Actually, at least in the advertising business, a ‘designer’ is what you define as ‘artworker’, and what you define as a ‘designer’ is in fact an ‘art director’.
I have found this duality of interpretations to have had a massive negative impact on my career as a designer. Try to guess which way.
Very interesting, Tiago, I guess these industry definitions have grown organically, mean different things to different people and there’s now some confusion over where to draw the dividing lines. It’s actually an incredibly important subject with regards to this website as Google searches are now contributing so much towards my new business. But what is my business; design, artwork, graphic design, art direction, creative or marketing? I can’t get to the first page of Google for all those keywords. Or can I?
It would be interesting to hear about how this has effected your career, Tiago. I’m guessing you’re feeling push away from creativity towards production?
That’s terrific as a description. We’re funny beasts really and truly misunderstood. We get local ads for Graphic Designers (loads of money) that specify the kind of stuff a artworker can do except we don’t have the required bits of paper to prove we can do it and, on the other hand, we get ads for Artworkers that want the design skills & qualifications of a designer (paid in peanuts, get monkeys!).
That’s why I set up my own business because people look at my CV and I don’t even get an interview!
Would you mind very much if I quote your definition on my website? Please have a look at it and see if you’d feel happy about me using it. Thanks.
Hello, Linda, artworking is a funny old business and artworkers are funny old people! Your description of the dynamic between graphic designer and artworkers, or creative artworkers – to add a another definition to the mix, is very familiar to me. Like you, I thought to hell with it all and set up my own business. But what I found very quickly was that the general public really don’t know what artwork is (they, understandably, think it’s something done by artists) and that I would get much more work as a graphic designer. This means I can offer a graphic design business that produces a printed product or a working website from scratch.
And all those people you sent you CV to that didn’t give you an interview – well, some of them don’t even have jobs today, I’m afraid.
There’s really no need to ask if you can quote my definition on your website. It would be great. I’d much rather you put me as a graphic designer in the anchor text, though!
Thanks for sharing this. I didn’t understand the differences between an artworker and a designer at first. What do you mean by “Print-Ready”. Sorry I’m new to the term
I’m more of a designer than an artworker.
Awesome blog btw, can’t wait for new stuff to come out!
“Print-ready” refers to artwork (usually a PDF) that can be used by a printer to output a job without changing anything. This usually means it’s the correct size, high resolution, with bleed and has the correct colors (CMYK not RGB, for example). Otherwise, a normal PDF would print out badly for a variety of reasons. I hope this helps, John.
Brilliant description. I am a creative artworker for a printing firm and proud! People ask what my job description means constantly so I now point them to this link
All the best fellow print-ready producers!
Thank Maxine. It’s funny there’s so little on this subject on the web.
Thanks for this article. I will copy some lines (quoting the source, of course).
I’m looking for a job, I have 10 years of experience as an Artworker (I have a job, I just want to change the city I live in) and today I had to explain that I AM NOT a “graphic designer”. My words were:
“My main task here is to assure that the files are sent perfectly to the printing houses. Artists have more freedom to create – thinking that I am behind them to assure their jobs to be delivered technical correctly.
I also continue projects who have “the approved stamp” from Creative Directors.
For example, now I’m working on some leaflets – one Art Director made one sample and I have to adapt this sample to five of the products the client have.
Last week, as we were a creative team in an election campaign, I made newspapers ads (40+) based on three designs came from an Art Director – adaptations with the newspapers guidelines.
A month ago a client wanted to create a 2012 catalog based on their 2011 model. This job was given directly to me as the primary design was done already.
The same with other catalog for other client; the same with some simple invitations…
This is my job in this agency. Even some stuff are passed directly to me, I cannot call myself “creative” – at least not 100%. I cannot say “I did that design”, I cannot put it in some “sample portfolio”.
Pure design were when I acted as a freelancer…
Hello Cristi, thanks for your comment. Of course, feel free to copy some lines. I appreciate you quoting the source.
Your job description echos that of an artworker perfectly. If I was you I would try to start designing projects from scratch – there’s more money in it and more demand for it.
Hi Rob
Just stumbled across your website. I’ve often found it difficult to describe to people not in the industry what an artworker does without it either sounding over simplified or over complicated. Your description is spot on.
I am an artworker in packaging. I have to take a new design ranges across hundreds of pack variants for each season. As well as an up-to-date knowledge of print production, you have to know the technical requirements of each component (such as tubes, cartons, PET bottles), and the best print methods for each. Sometimes at an early stage in the design process you can tell where there might be a problem in production and ‘tactfully’ advise the designer.
I think artworking is definitely a craft, and you need to have the right personality as it can be quite intensive. It’s good if you’ve got a long attention span, slightly picky about things and love a challenge.
Artworkers should stick together, because sometimes you are a lone voice amongst the creatives.
H
Hello Helen. I used to do packaging artwork – it’s a very difficult job. You’re right to say that artworkers need to know about printing methods as well, which is something I missed in my description. Definitely, artworkers should stick together.
Hey Rob,
You inspired me and I started my own website to present myself.
I wrote here about you and this article: http://dtpguy.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/what-is-an-artworker/
I also said: “I will copy the entirely article but you may click and go to his website – where you’ll find a lot of more interesting stuff that I will not write about it – because he already said best. ”
If you’re not ok that I copied all the article tell me and I will cut stuff.
Thanks!
Hey, cristi, this is great. I saw your article earlier and it’s fantastic. It’s amazing how many artworkers end up here as there isn’t much information about this career online.