If you’ve ever seen a printed design where colors don’t quite blend right, you may have spotted what printers call an obvious trap. It’s a common issue, and one designers and printers work hard to avoid. An obvious trap happens when the overlap is noticeable to the naked eye. Instead of hiding imperfections, it draws attention to them. You might see a dark outline where two colors meet, or an edge that looks thicker or muddy. It’s like using a highlighter when you meant to use invisible ink. One example is if a light color traps ito a darker color, the edge might look fuzzy. Another example is if a trap is too wide, you may see an unintended halo around letters or shapes.
When traps show up clearly, they mess with your design due to edges not looking sharp, colors appearing off, and making the whole piece feel unpolished. Designers can reduce obvious traps by using proper color stacking (dark colors “trap: into lighter ones) and by keeping trap widths small.