Intentionally printing one layer of ink on top of another is known as overprinting. Overprinting is sometimes used to avoid the need for trapping and to prevent gaps from appearing between colors.

A printing press prints each ink color one at a time—each printing plate is made up of components of one color only. Color-separated files are created in Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black, plus any spot colors.

It is not possible to print overlapping colors from a composite job because overlapping colors will not print on top of each other. However, Command WorkStation can simulate the effect of overprinting.