What's dot gain?Updated a year ago

Imagine this: you separate halftone artwork in Photoshop and it looks great. When you go to screen print it onto a garment, the image seems oversaturated and areas that should “fade” are way too dark. Those halftone dots didn’t all work together to create the masterpiece you saw on your computer screen. 

Sound familiar? It’s called dot gain and occurs whenever a squeegee is pulled across a screen, causing pressure. Dot gain happens with all inks and will happen to anyone. Screen printers typically choose 30% dot gain. Check out this blog for more information about adjusting artwork for dot gain.