Achieving the best printing results.
Large areas of solid colors,
tints and blends
There are several design techniques
you’ll want to learn to help improve the
way large flat areas of solid colors or
tints reproduce on a digital press. To
maintain a smooth appearance, intro-
duce a slight pattern to modulate the
color. The pattern can take the form of
texture, subtle graphics or simple noise.
Adding a pattern can also improve color
reproduction and eliminate banding.
The same holds true for large areas of
color blends and gradients.
Use all your design options
One of the best ways to optimize quality
in large areas is to incorporate imagery,
photos, graphics or text in your design
right from the start. When you naturally
break up large areas of color with
design elements, you’re also taking
advantage of one of the strengths of
working on a digital press—that is, the
ability to reproduce high-quality, full-
color images.
On a digital press, large areas of solid color, tints
or blends may show some unevenness or banding.
Adding a subtle pattern to the background or
incorporating other design elements may increase
the visual attractiveness of the piece.
• Areas of solid color, tints and blends may reproduce better if filtering
techniques are used (i.e., noise or texture) at the design stage. Apply from
image manipulation software such as Adobe Photoshop.
• Create blends from QuarkXPress, Adobe Photoshop and
InDesign, or other common desktop publishing applications.
• Tints should not be less than 10%.
• Limit blends to less than 50% value change over 2-4" for best results.
• For tints less than 40%, apply noise or texture.
Tints and blends
Achieving the best printing results
Designing for Success
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