What is overprint, and why should I turn it off?

Overprint is a setting that tells an object to print on top of the colors below it instead of knocking them out. Designers use it on purpose sometimes, but most of the time it is turned on by accident, and the results are hard to see on screen.

Two common problems:

• Colors mixing: a logo set to overprint mixes with the background color behind it, so it prints in a different color than you designed.
• White text disappearing: white set to overprint prints as nothing. The text simply drops off the printed piece.

Before you save, turn off overprint on everything, especially logos and white text. Flattening your file and converting all spot and RGB colors to CMYK also takes care of it.