What Is Trapping in Graphic Design?

Trapping is an essential concept in graphic design, but many designers are unfamiliar with the term. Trapping is a method of guaranteeing that the printed piece will not have any white lines in between colors.

This is done by slightly expanding or shrinking the area of one color to overlap the area of another color. Doing so ensures that no white space will be visible if there is a slight misalignment in printing.

For example, if you have two colors next to each other, such as black and yellow, and there is a misalignment when printing occurs, you may end up with a thin line of white showing between the two colors. To prevent this from happening, you can use trapping to slightly expand the area of one color so that it overlaps with the other color, thus eliminating any possibility of a white line appearing.

To do trapping properly, you must first understand how much of an overlap is necessary to ensure good results. It will depend on the type of paper being used and the quality of your printer. Generally speaking, an overlap of 0.25 points should be enough for most papers and printers.

Trapping can also be used to create special effects. For example, if you want two colors to appear slightly blended together instead of having a hard edge between them, you can use trapping to create this effect by overlapping both colors by a certain amount.

In conclusion, trapping is an important aspect of graphic design that should not be overlooked. It ensures that your printed pieces will look their best by preventing any unwanted white lines from appearing due to misalignment during printing or special effects like blending colors together. By understanding trapping and applying it correctly in your designs, you can improve your prints significantly.

Conclusion:

What Is Trapping in Graphic Design? Trapping is an essential concept in graphic design that involves expanding or shrinking one color to overlap with another for preventing any white lines from appearing due to misalignment during printing or creating special effects like blending colors together. It is important for achieving good results when printing designs onto paper and should not be overlooked when creating artwork for print.