That’s A Moire!

Today, we shall discuss the moire (pronounced more-ray) print effect. This effect is basically the result of the halftone screen process used in modern printing where patterns of small dots are overlayed to produce color and shading. It can also be the result of poor scanning. Ultimately, for my job, it is bad. I don't think there is a time I would approve of a printed piece that is suffering from a moire pattern. An example can be seen below:



A more mathematical method of showing this effect can be seen in this sample. It is catchy and neat, but when I am trying to have a very important program printed, I do not want my block colors and photo images to have this pattern. To me, it is poor craftsmanship to even show a proof with this effect all over it.

Now, my wife and her adorable missy-isms (or so we call them) might consider it very pleasing to have an eel on your print. It is sea-animal friendly! While I’d agree that sporting aquatic life in my work would give it a certain “fun factor”, this particular piece might not benefit from it as much. I will work some morays into my next project…