When you’re designing something for print like a flyer, label, or poster, you want every detail to come out sharp and legible. That includes small text, which can be trickier than it looks. One of the most important choices you’ll make (often without even realizing it) is whether that text should knock out or overprint the background. Small text has thin strokes and tight spacing, which makes it very sensitive to how inks behave.
Overprinting Small Text:
- Good for dark inks (especially black) on light backgrounds
- Helps avoid misregistration where colors don’t line up perfectly and cause blurry or fuzzy edges
- Keeps text crisp and avoids thin outlines or color halos
- Default choice for body text in most print jobs
- Be careful if the ink is light or transparent, if you overprint a light color over a dark background, it might disappear or change color.
Knocking Out Small Text:
- Good when text needs to be a specific color, especially something light like white or yellow
- Prevents the background from affecting the color of the text
- Risky for small text on dark or busy backgrounds. If there’s even slight misalignment, it can leave distracting color gaps or shadows around the letters
For very small text, black overprint is often the safest choice. It’s less prone to print issues and usually looks best on press. Knockouts, while useful, require careful trapping and can cause problems at small sizes. My recommendations would be to use 100% black (K only, no CMY) for small text especially when overprinting. Avoid multi-color (CMYK) text below 10pt as it increases the chance of registration issues.