Metal Print Finishing Designer - Prepress & Finish Expert

Displate; Polska; Hybrid; PLN 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private health plan

Life insurance

Free metal poster of your choice

Job summary

Displate seeks a hands-on Prepress & Artwork Specialist to prepare artwork for print on metal, apply unique finishes, and refine details for Limited Editions. You’ll collaborate with artists, licensors and production on-site at our Marki factory, ensuring color accuracy and production-readiness.

A background in print design and CS tools helps you create repeatable results. You’ll work daily with print technicians, refine files for LE/ULE releases, and document settings to support scalable

Qualifications

• Experience preparing artwork for print to production-ready state.
• Solid understanding of color, resolution, bleed and trims.
• Ability to design finish layers for various editions.
• Proficient in Adobe Creative Suite (PS, AI, ID).
• Collaborates with printers and production teams to solve issues.

Responsibilities

• Prepare artwork for print - file setup, color, bleed and separations.
• Design and apply finishes like gloss, metallics, textures and glow layers.
• Retouch details to ensure artwork prints accurately on metal.
• Prepare and evaluate print samples, iterate until approved.
• Work daily with Print Technicians on the production floor.
• Keep production files organized and documented for repeat releases.
• Support R&D and production trials of new finishes and substrates.

Skills

Prepress design

Print design

Printing fundamentals

Adobe Creative Suite

Communication with production

English proficiency

Tools

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Illustrator

InDesign

Acrobat

Job description

To make every Displate Limited Edition look like something worth collecting the moment it comes off the line. You take finished artwork from our artists and licensors and bring it to life on metal - designing the print finishes, refining the details that make an image work on a physical surface, building the production files, and running sample after sample on the floor with our Print Technicians until the piece is exactly right. The craft here lives in the finish and in the sample, not in the original artwork.

Your responsibilities

Core responsibilities

• Prepare other artists' artwork for print - file setup, color, resolution, bleed, separations, and everything else the printer needs.
• Design and apply print finishes on top of existing artwork: selective gloss and varnish, metallic and holographic under-prints, textures, glow-in-the-dark layers.
• Retouch and refine small details - clean-ups, edge work, missing detail, contrast and color corrections, the small fixes that make an image work on metal.
• Prepare and evaluate print samples, then iterate - adjust the file, print again, compare, repeat until it's approved.
• Work daily with Print Technicians on the production floor - compare results against the file, diagnose why a sample came out the way it did, and agree on what to change.
• Keep production files, naming, and documentation in order.
• Support R&D and Production trials of new finishes, substrates and effects.

Areas of responsibility

Prepress & artwork preparation

• Take incoming artwork from artists, licensors and in-house creators to a production-ready state.
• Manage color, resolution, bleed and trim, overprint, and separations across our formats and substrates.
• Spot early when artwork won't hold up on metal, and propose fixes.
• Design the finish layer for Limited Edition (LE), Ultra Limited Edition (ULE), Textra and Shards releases.
• Build the masks, channels, and effect layers that drive selective gloss, metallic and holographic under-prints, textures, and glow layers.
• Refine detail inside the existing artwork so the finish has something to sit on, while keeping the artist's intent intact.

Samples & collaboration with the floor

• Plan, prepare, and assess print samples, and decide what to change and why.
• Work side by side with Print Technicians, R&D, and the production team through every iteration.
• Build up real know-how of what our machines and materials can and can't do, and feed it back into how we design.
• Maintain clean, consistently named, reproducible production files.
• Document finishes and settings so a release can be repeated exactly.
• Keep the Design Studio's shared standards in good shape as the product line grows.

❌ What is not part of the responsibilities

• Creating artwork or illustrations from scratch — the art comes from our artists, licensors and partners.
• Designing digital products, interfaces, websites or apps — this is not a UX or product design role.
• Working in Figma or other digital product design tools.
• Choosing which artworks or licenses become Limited Editions.

📍 Where you'll work

• This is an on-site role, every working day, at our factory site: Okólna 45c, Marki.
• It isn't remote or hybrid. The printers, materials, samples, and technicians are all here. This is hands-on work with physical objects, and being next to them is most of the point.
• Public transport to Okólna 45c is limited, so check your commute before you apply. Most of the team drives or carpools.
• Hands-on experience designing for print or for physical products - apparel, packaging, labels, large format, publishing, POS or similar. You have things in your portfolio that were actually manufactured.
• Working knowledge of design for print - color modes and profiles, resolution, bleed and trim, overprint, separations, and why a file that looks right on screen can print wrong
• At least a basic understanding of printing and print finishing techniques - spot varnish, foil and hot stamping, embossing, metallic and holographic layers, textures, special effects: what they are and roughly how they're produced.
• Confident in Adobe Creative Suite - Photoshop and Illustrator above all, plus InDesign and Acrobat as needed.
• Precision and patience
• Communicative and comfortable working with production people, not only with designers. You can explain a file problem to a technician and understand printing problems.
• English good enough for your daily duties - most of our internal communication is in English. It doesn't need to be perfect; it needs to be usable.
• Able to be at our Marki site every working day.

Nice to have

• Experience working with production teams, print technicians, or a print house.
• Familiarity with sublimation, UV, or digital printing techniques.
• An interest in pop culture and collectibles - games, movies, comics. That's where our artwork comes from, and it helps to care about it.

Creative space

Catch up with your colleagues and soak up the creative Displate vibes firsthand in our Warsaw office. Nothing beats in-person high fives!

Health comes first

Stay vibrant with a private health plan and life insurance for you and your closed ones.

Get your reps in

Choose from two different sports cards, you fitness beast.

Relax, we got it

20 or 26 paid vacation days, whenever you need them.

Expand your palette

Any courses and conferences you need to learn, grow, and supercharge your skills – they’re on us.

Own your time

Leave melting clocks to Salvador Dali. Work flexible hours and balance your schedule your way.

All the pro tools you need to shine. Do you prefer MacBook or Lenovo?

A wall welcome

No better way to start your Displate adventure than a free metal poster of your choice!

Putting 'art' in 'party'

Displate Birthdays, charity events, Halloween, Black Friday… There’s so much to celebrate together!

Reading types

Our office library is here to get you inspired. Let us know what we should get next.

Team players

Forget webcams, your team looks best over a nice meal! Go ahead and plan a night out, it’s Displate’s treat.

See how it's done

Visit Displate production on an employee tour and watch a piece of metal turning into a piece of art.

In for a chill?

Each year, we pick a new beautiful spot and slow down for a day or two.

The selection process

The process includes an initial screening call, an interview with the Design Studio team, and a short practical task based on a real piece of artwork, so you can show us how you think about a finish and we can show you the kind of work you'd be doing.Application tipsMake sure to show us all your true colors! Alongside your CV, send us a portfolio or a handful of examples of printed or physically produced work. We'd love to see the object, not only the file. Where you can, tell us what the finish was, what you had to solve to get it, and what your role was in making it happen. That's the part we find most interesting.

Application tips

Make sure to show us all your true colors! In addition to your resume, feel free to include your portfolios, personal websites, and anything that will help us paint a full picture of you, your skills, and your passions.