design basics elements colour pre-press production finishing 12­25 resolution scanning creative techniques artwork imposition proofing 114­117 overprinting half-tones and gradients 120­121 26­71 72­111 112­139 140­163 164­183 118­119 120­123 124­131 132­137 138­139 122­123 half-tones and gradients A designer can use half-tones and gradients to make creative graphic interventions that add individuality to the images used within a design. A half-tone is an image composed of a series of different sized half-tone dots that are used to reproduce the continuous tones of a photograph in print. A gradient is a graduation of increasing or decreasing colour(s) applied to an image.