Font not printing well???

motormount

Well-known member
Need some help here!

Got a catalog with item codes written in GothamNarrow -Xlight 6pt characters.

I proofed in with our epson 4800 -which i know can't exactly print very thin lines and thickens them a little bit -, the client approved and we started printing.

Problem is that no matter how much black ink the pressman used - the letters are hardly readable, worst than they seem in the image i'm uploading.

So we changed the character set to GothamNarrow - Book 6pt and now it prints ok.

That's something i never faced before, and i'd like know if anyone here seen something like that,
if i could somehow ''catch it'' before going to press and if one can actually use this character set (GothamNarrow -Xlight) at this size (6pt) and be easily readable.

Thanks in advance!

original pdf: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0f2337detaa1oth/p3.pdf?dl=0

photo with prints: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mellgop4rpxp4wb/IMG_20170726_084758019.jpg?dl=0
 
The wisdom of using an extra light font at 6pt is questionable (the use of light display fonts at text sizes is a common mistake), but to me it looks like it's printing as intended, and is readable. So if anything I'd say it's a question getting the proofer to more accurately reflect the print, if that's possible.
 
Based on what I see of your photo, it looks to me like you're printing on quite a soft, porous stock. The heavier font will compensate for this somewhat. Try increasing cylinder pressure, or alternately, packing the blanket in that area (or the whole blanket). You could try cheating by using blanket fix to raise the section of blanket the text is on.
 
-Like i said we asked the designer to change the character set to a heavier one and the job was printed.-

keith thanks for your input.

I don't know what ''effect'' increased cylinder pressure or blanket packing would produce on images, adjusting topically blanket pressure is out of the question ( it's a catalog with hundreds of codes ) still it's something i wouldn't have thought of and it might help elsewhere!

Thanks again!
 

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