Text Prints Very Bold

[SarahK]

When I print from affinity Designer, the text is always bolder than what’s on screen.  Tonight I exported the document as a PNG then printed it from the PNG, and the font thickness is as it should be on screen. Does anyone know how or why this is happening? Or how to fix it?

im using a Mac and V1 AD.

I’ve attached a photo so you can see the difference in the print direct from AD and one from the exported PNG.

[kenmcd]

Have you tried printing to a different printer?
Sometimes the printer driver is the issue.

What happens when you Export to PDF?
Can you attach a sample PDF?

What font is that?

 

[thomaso]

Is the bold version printing with 4c? Or maybe rasterized?

There was recently a similar issue, unfortunately not really solved but possibly it gives a hint …

[SarahK]

So, if I export as a PDF, then print the exported PDF, some parts of the font print correctly others parts don’t.

It happens with any fonts that I use, and I use a lot.

The file on AD is for printing greetings card, so the text is editable. 
 

I am not sure what c4 is?

[SarahK]

if I export “PDF - Flatten” it prints correctly. So, is there a way to flatten the document in AD, before printing, so I don’t have to export first?

[loukash]

2 hours ago, SarahK said:

if I export “PDF - Flatten” it prints correctly.

A "flattened" PDF is being fully rasterized. No vector objects, just bitmap. I.e. more or less the same as if you export to PNG.

2 hours ago, SarahK said:

is there a way to flatten the document in AD, before printing, so I don’t have to export first?

There is, but it's a destructive process, so you may want to temporarily duplicate the document content to keep the original editable layers intact:

1. group all objects
2. duplicate the group
3. disable one of the groups
4. select the active duplicate group
5. Layer > Rasterize = it will become a pixel layer
6. print
7. optionally delete the pixel layer, as you can create a new one from the original group at any time

Note that the pixel layer resolution directly depends on the document DPI setting. So if your print should be crisp, make sure to set the document resolution (File > Document Setup > Dimensions) to at least 300 dpi.

12 hours ago, SarahK said:

Does anyone know how or why this is happening?

How does it look like if you print the same text from another app: TextEdit, Pages or similar?

[Old Bruce]

@SarahK

Please choose a different font. I cannot be certain that your company is called Sarah's Pretty Plagues instead of Sarah's Pretty Plaques.

[Alfred]

1 hour ago, Old Bruce said:

@SarahK

Please choose a different font. I cannot be certain that your company is called Sarah's Pretty Plagues instead of Sarah's Pretty Plaques.

I suspect that a ‘g’ would have a curved descender like that of the ‘y’, but I agree with you. The difference between the caps height and the x-height in the current font is so small that ‘a’ and ‘d’ (and ‘h’ and ‘n’) are just barely distinguishable from each other.

@SarahK Here’s a possible alternative for your consideration:

https://www.fontspace.com/mystyle-font-f19184

The ‘mystyle’ font is free for personal and commercial use.

[SarahK]

2 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

@SarahK

Please choose a different font. I cannot be certain that your company is called Sarah's Pretty Plagues instead of Sarah's Pretty Plaques.

Omg, that’s embarrassing 🙈 I’ll change that now!

[SarahK]

1 hour ago, Alfred said:

I suspect that a ‘g’ would have a curved descender like that of the ‘y’, but I agree with you. The difference between the caps height and the x-height in the current font is so small that ‘a’ and ‘d’ (and ‘h’ and ‘n’) are just barely distinguishable from each other.

@SarahK Here’s a possible alternative for your consideration:

https://www.fontspace.com/mystyle-font-f19184

The ‘mystyle’ font is free for personal and commercial use.

Thank you for the font suggestion!