The leaflet looks elegant on your screen. Yet a line of text has disappeared, the photograph used is not the one that was approved, and no one knows which version to send to the printer. For a candidate for a prepress graphic design job in Morocco, this small portfolio is more instructive than a collection of beautiful images: it allows you to explain how you prepare a document that must actually be manufactured.
The Jawb editorial team offers a completely fictional exercise, centred on a presentation leaflet for an imaginary workshop in Casablanca. The aim is to make your decisions, your checks and the questions you still need to ask visible. This is neither an announced recruitment nor a universal printing recipe. Production settings must always match the service provider and the job concerned.
Prepress begins before the file is exported
In its guide to graphic arts professions, the OFPPT links graphic design to the preparation of products intended for printing and publishing, in particular the mock-up and the layout. This description places the profession within a production chain. It does not allow the conclusion that an institution currently offers all the training presented, nor that a diploma is enough to guarantee a job.
To choose your target, read the duties in a job advert rather than just its title. One company may expect mainly graphic creation, another execution and checking, another still coordination with production. Identify the deliverables requested, the tools mentioned and the degree of autonomy. Your portfolio will be more relevant if you can link a specific piece of work to a specific duty, instead of presenting yourself as capable of doing everything.
Prepress asks you to think about what happens after your involvement. Who receives the file? How do they recognise a usable version? What information would they be missing to continue? A layout can be convincing and still be incomplete as a handover portfolio. In your preparation, therefore, keep two criteria: the quality of the visible result and the possibility for another person to take over the work without guessing your intentions.
Turning a vague request into a verifiable brief
Our fictional workshop wants to present its activity in a leaflet. It provides a text in French, a text in Arabic, several images and an old layout. You also receive the instruction "make something more modern". This phrase indicates a preference, but does not define the document to be produced. Before drawing, identify the reader, the main message, the medium envisaged and the person authorised to approve the content.
The finished format, the number of pages or panels and the way the document will be distributed must be clarified. A folded sheet is not read like a poster; a version viewed on a phone is not judged only on a desktop printout. For the exercise, you can set a format yourself and flag it as an assumption. For a real order, an assumption that affects manufacturing must be confirmed before it becomes a production setting.
Then write down what is provided and what remains to be obtained. An image present in the folder is not necessarily approved for publication. A text received by messaging is not necessarily the final version. In our case, the choice of photograph remains open. This note changes your work: you can plan its position and continue the layout, but you must not present this image as a definitively approved choice.
A useful brief does not try to foresee everything. It makes the important decisions identifiable. You can organise a page with the request, the elements available, the confirmed parameters and the open questions. In an interview, explain which answer would have changed your layout. If the priority becomes a contact address rather than a general presentation, the hierarchy of the document must follow that decision; it cannot be deduced from your preference for a composition.
Building a clear reading experience in French and Arabic
Start with the information the reader must find. In our fictional leaflet, this means understanding the activity, recognising the services presented and finding the way to contact the workshop. Your first layout can use simple blocks to compare several hierarchies. An attractive colour does not compensate for important information lost in the middle of the text. Look at what you notice immediately, then at what you have to search for.
The Arabic version deserves its own composition and proofreading. It is not simply a matter of replacing the words in the French frames. Check the reading direction, the sequence of blocks and the presence of the necessary signs. Names, numbers and contact details must remain understandable in their context. If you do not have the language level to approve the text, identify this task as a proofreading job to be entrusted to a competent person.
Bilingual work also allows you to test your ability to keep the same message with different lengths. Do not automatically reduce the text until it becomes difficult to read in order to preserve a layout. You can revise the spacing, the size of the blocks or the organisation of the content. In an interview, show a passage where the adaptation improved readability, then explain why the choice remains faithful to the brief. Avoid presenting your solution as the only possible layout.
Keep a record of the content received. If a sentence is changed after approval, flag this development and request the appropriate proofreading. Correcting a typo and rewriting a commercial promise do not have the same scope. You can suggest a better wording, but the decision on the message belongs to the project's approval process. This distinction protects the consistency of the document and makes it possible to understand who approved each change.
Reading software alerts without delegating judgement to them
The Adobe preflight documentation states that the InDesign panel can flag problems with fonts, links, overset text or images, depending on its settings. A check therefore depends on the profile and scope chosen. The absence of an alert does not by itself prove that the document meets the request or that its content has been approved.
In our exercise, a line is missing at the end of a block. First check whether the source text contains this line and whether the layout block displays it in full. Enlarging a frame can resolve the overflow while moving another element. Then re-read the page after correction. The value of the portfolio lies in showing this link between a local change and its consequences, rather than keeping only a screenshot of an indicator that has turned green.
For the image, check that the linked file really matches the selected resource and its version. If you have replaced a photograph, find that choice in the final document. Do not fix an alert with an improvised substitution that would change the subject or the usage rights. In a personal exercise, you can use your own resources and note their provenance. For company work, follow the organisation's rules and have uncertain uses confirmed.
Avoid technical thresholds learned without context. A resolution requirement, a colour setting or a bleed must be linked to the manufacturing specifications. If you do not have them, your portfolio can show the points to ask about and the checks to carry out after an answer. This way of working is more honest than a "print-ready" claim based on a usual setting whose relevance to this medium you do not know.
Checking the exported file and the version sent
The working document and its export are two objects to examine. Open the file you actually intend to send, in a suitable reader, and compare it with the approved version. Check the number of pages, their order, the texts present, the images and the elements that must appear. This verification concerns what the recipient will receive. A screenshot of your software does not demonstrate that the export contains exactly the same result.
For the fictional leaflet, prepare a reading printout if you have access to a printer, or a preview at the desired scale. If the document is to be folded, a paper mock-up can help check the order and orientation of the panels. Present this test for what it is: a check of readability and organisation. A desktop printout does not guarantee the rendering of colours, paper and finishes of a professional production.
Give the files understandable names. Choose a simple convention that distinguishes the project, the version and the type of deliverable. Avoid several files called "final", "final new" and "really final". The name does not replace approval, but it makes searching easier. You can add a note indicating the file proposed for approval, the one intended for manufacturing after agreement and the documents kept only as a record of the exercise.
Your handover message must specify what is delivered and what remains open. In our case, the corrected layout may be ready for proofreading, while the photograph is still awaiting approval. Do not group these states under a "everything is approved" formula. If the recipient requests a new change, keep its context and check the relevant export again. An approval given on an old version does not automatically extend to the next one.
A short portfolio that shows your real contribution
For your application, select the items that explain the work: the fictional brief, a first layout, the corrected version and a page of comments. You do not need to multiply the variants to give an impression of volume. Choose a change of hierarchy, a correction of overflow or a version problem that you can describe precisely. The recruiter must be able to see what you paid attention to and ask a question about your decision.
Identify your contribution. Did you create the composition, apply a brand charter, adapt a text or check an export? If several people took part in a real job, do not claim the entire result for yourself. A personal exercise remains useful when it is clearly announced as such. The Jawb guide to writing a CV in Morocco helps you formulate this experience without turning a training achievement into professional responsibility that you have not exercised.
In a page of comments, link each decision to a need. You moved a contact detail to make it easier to find; you adapted a block to keep all the text; you kept a provisional image with an explicit status. These explanations are more useful than a series of adjectives such as "creative", "modern" or "dynamic". They make it possible to discuss the work even when the recruiter's tastes differ from yours.
Choose a portfolio format that is easy to view and test its access outside your own session. Remove client folders, private contact details and elements you are not allowed to share. An anonymised document can still contain recognisable information; check its content, not just its title. To start with, a fictional project with personal resources can save you this difficulty while giving a concrete basis for discussion.
Preparing technical questions and questions about the role
In an interview, start with the request and the deliverable. Then show a check that changed your decision. If you are asked why you did not send the file immediately, explain the point still open and the person whose answer you were waiting for. You thus show your understanding of collective work. You may be able to modify a layout without being authorised to approve content or a manufacturing specification on your own.
Also prepare for the question "what would you check differently on another order?". You can mention the medium, the languages, the length of the document, the resources provided and the service provider's requirements. The aim is to explain how you adapt your method. Do not recite software menus if you do not know what the setting in question is for. Say what you know how to do and what you would look up in the documentation or ask a colleague about.
Ask the company about its organisation: who provides the texts, who approves the layouts, who liaises with the printer, what tools and what checking profiles are used? These answers help you understand the role and the support provided. The guide to preparing for a job interview helps you organise these questions around your achievements. Do not ask them all mechanically: keep the ones that shed light on the duties announced.
If a recruitment test is offered, have the deliverable, the expected time and the approval framework specified. Keep a copy of the instructions and do not present an incomplete result as ready for real production. To apply on the platform, the Jawb application guide complements this preparation. A convincing prepress portfolio above all allows a precise discussion: what need did you understand, what did you check and what decision remains to be confirmed?
