Abstract: Inkjet-printed images (characters or graphics) have an image-quality asymmetry, correlated with the direction of pen scanning. The invention exploits this asymmetry to improve apparent overall quality by forcing the less-perfect side of each image element to become, and be hidden in, the element interior. To achieve this effect, part of each element is printed during pen scanning in one direction and part during scanning in an opposite direction. Neither scan prints the trailing edge--that is, the edge the pen reaches last, when moving in a given direction. Instead each scan prints only the leading edge--plus the interior or part of the interior, if the image is wide enough that its interior forms an analytically separate portion.