✦ Task type · Research and checks
Print proofs, read by someone who has not read the file
You have read that page forty times on a backlit screen at 140 per cent. The printed version will be read once, at actual size, in a room.
Print is unforgiving in a specific way: the error is discovered after the run, at full quantity, and it cannot be patched. A proof read by someone unfamiliar with the file is the cheapest insurance available.
What to put in the public brief
- That a printed item will be posted to them
- The countries you can post to
- That photographs and written notes are required
- Roughly how long after receipt
- Whether they keep or return it
Keep the brand and content private.
What to put in the private instructions
Ask them to read it in daylight and again under a lamp
Ink and stock behave differently, and a colour that is fine by a window can be muddy at night.
Ask what is hard to read at arm's length
Not close up. Small type, low contrast and reversed-out text are all judged at the distance people actually hold things.
Ask them to test anything scannable
Codes, links, phone numbers. A QR code that works at screen size and fails at printed size is a common and expensive discovery.
Ask about folds and edges
Whether text falls into a fold, whether anything important sits close enough to the trim to be at risk.
Proof worth requiring
Ask for
Photographs in both lighting conditions, notes on legibility at arm's length, a scan test result, and anything that fell in a fold or near the trim.
Do not ask for
A colour judgement expressed as a match to a reference. Phone cameras and screens make that meaningless, and if it matters you need a physical proofing process.
When this task type is the wrong tool
If the copy is not final, this is premature — proofreading belongs before the proof rather than on it.
If colour fidelity is the whole question, a printer's proofing service answers it properly and a marketplace task cannot.
Common questions
Why not just proofread the file?
Do both. On-screen proofreading catches wording; it cannot catch eight-point type that is unreadable on uncoated stock, a fold that lands mid-sentence, a QR code that fails at printed size, or ink that renders a brand colour brown.
What reward is fair?
Ten to twenty-five dollars plus postage. It is short work, and the value is entirely in it being done by someone seeing it for the first time.
How many readers?
Three to five. Print errors are binary rather than distributional: either the fold is wrong for everyone or it is wrong for nobody, and you only need enough readers to be sure the first one was not unlucky.
Should they check the colour?
They can tell you whether it looks right and whether it matches anything else you send alongside. They cannot give you a colour measurement, and if colour accuracy is critical that needs a proofing process rather than a marketplace task.
Thinking of taking this task?
The same job, from the other side. Rewards are set by the poster, so treat these as the range this task type usually sits in rather than a promise.
- Usually pays
- $10 to $25 plus postage
- You need
- A delivery address and good reading light
- Proof expected
- Photographs in two lighting conditions plus written notes
Read it in daylight and again under a lamp, at arm's length. Scan anything scannable; a code that fails at printed size is the expensive discovery.
Create a worker accountCheck a proof
Set the reward and how many readers you need. Workers reserve a spot before you post the proof; addresses stay private.
Post this task