Print & Production

Overprint

A printing technique where one ink is printed directly on top of another rather than knocking out the underlying color.

By default, lighter inks knock out (remove) darker inks beneath them to prevent unwanted color mixing. Overprinting intentionally layers inks to create new colors or to prevent white gaps caused by misregistration. Black text is commonly set to overprint so that slight misalignment does not create visible white outlines. Intentional overprinting of colored inks can produce unique effects; for example, yellow overprinting cyan produces green without requiring a separate green ink. However, unintentional overprinting is a common prepress error that can dramatically change the appearance of a design.

Related Articles