Halftone Effect
Halftone is a technique originally developed for print reproduction. GradLab's halftone layer applies it as a real-time post-processing effect over your gradient, adding texture, visual depth, and a tactile analog quality.
What is halftone?
Before digital printing, continuous-tone images (photographs, paintings) could not be reproduced directly in ink. Halftone solved this by breaking an image into a grid of dots — larger dots represent darker areas, smaller dots represent lighter areas. Viewed at a distance, the pattern resolves into the illusion of continuous tone.
The technique became a visual language of its own, associated with:
- Pop art (Roy Lichtenstein's oversized dot grids)
- Comic books and newsprint (coarse CMYK halftone patterns)
- Risograph printing (imperfect, textured dot reproduction)
- Retro graphic design (dot patterns as aesthetic texture)
Halftone in GradLab
GradLab's halftone layer works differently from traditional print halftone. Instead of encoding brightness information, it applies a geometric pattern over the gradient that creates texture while letting the color composition show through.
Enabling halftone
Toggle Halftone Effect in the panel. The effect appears immediately over the current gradient.
Controls
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Type | Pattern style: Dots, Lines, or Crosshatch |
| Size | Scale of the pattern elements |
| Shape | Dot geometry: circle, square, diamond, triangle |
| Contrast | How strongly the pattern elements stand out from the gradient |
Blend modes
The halftone layer composites over the gradient using a blend mode. Changing the blend mode determines how the pattern interacts with the gradient colors underneath. Multiply and Overlay produce rich color interactions; Normal gives a flat overlay.
Design uses
Texture on flat gradients. A fine halftone dot grid turns a smooth gradient into something that reads as printed or fabricated — useful for brand assets that need to feel physical.
Retro and analog aesthetics. A coarse dot or line pattern with high contrast creates the look of risograph prints, screen printing, or early digital graphics.
Depth and dimension. Halftone at low opacity suggests a mesh or fabric texture without overpowering the gradient colors.
Mixed media. Combining film grain (from Post-Processing) with halftone creates a layered texture that reads as genuinely analog.
Tips
- Start with Size around 20–30 and adjust from there — very small sizes read as noise, very large sizes become geometric and abstract
- Use a low Contrast value (under 30) for texture without the pattern dominating the composition
- Multiply blend mode works well for dark dots over light gradients; try Screen for light patterns over dark gradients
- Combine with the ASCII Matrix layer for a fully layered typographic-texture effect