Ink trap

An ink trap is a feature of certain typefaces designed for printing in small sizes.

When the type is printed, ink naturally spreads into the removed area.

[1] Ink traps are only needed for small point sizes and are usually only found on typefaces designed for printing on newsprint.

Typefaces with ink traps may be offered in versions without them for display on screen or at larger sizes.

Typefaces featuring ink traps include Retina, Bell Centennial, Tang[2] and K2D.