Design Tips & Checklist
Background Tints
For ease of reading, background tints should be no more than 30% where
type is to surprint and no less than 70% where type is to reverse out.
Exceptions to this standard may occur depending on ink color and type
size and should be tested during the planning stages of the project.
Reverse Lettering
Dominant color should be used to shape the letters. The remaining colors
should be spread/choked minimum of .005" (.35 pt) to a maximum of
.010" (.7 pt).
 Reverse of fine type of 10
pt or less and/or serifs is not recommended in three or four color
areas, because of potential press register variations.
Type should be reversed from
as few colors as possible.
Fine Lettering and Fine Lines
Black type should always surprint tint areas.
Thin lines (1/2 pt or less)
and medium or small lettering (10 pt or less) should be restricted to
one color.
No more than two process
color tints should be used when printing type matter smaller than 10 pt.
Screened areas should not
exceed 85% to 90%. Any screen requests where the percentage exceeds this
should be made solid.
Screened percentage
assignments to type and rules should be heavy enough to carry the shape
of the type and rule. Fine lettering and fine lines should not be
screened.
Avoid the use of fine lines
(1/2 pt or less) as border rules or printing keylines if the rule is a
color other than black and the adjacent color contains little or no
percentage of the border or keyline color.
Line thickness of less than
1 pt should surprint a background tint, another line, or a dot and
should not require a dropout.
Total Dot Densities
If the area is greater than 1 square inch:
The total dot density for
two-color film should not exceed 175% to 185% with one color solid.
The total dot density for
three- and four-color film should not exceed 320%. There must be no more
than one solid in a given area.
Exceptions: Small areas such
as fine lettering may overprint two solids satisfactorily.
Halftones
Should carry a highlight dot of 2% and a shadow dot of 95% when using
133 or 150 line screen.
Total dot density in shadow
areas should not exceed 320%.
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