Edges not clean after procedure

[Chris P. Bacon]

The procedure:

The edges have a weird light brown thin outline that is visible even without magnification, but weirdly its thickness does not increase with magnification.

How do I clean the edges so they would be pure black?

How do I check how it would look on print?

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

This could just be a monitor/display issue if you are not seeing the anomoly increase with magnification.

You are putting a vector shape over what appears to be a placed graphic so there could be some artifacting when it tries to render the edges.

[Chris P. Bacon]

I see.

Is there a way to test how will it look on print without printing it?

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Not really - you don't have to go full print with expensive paper, etc. just a simple print to proof first would do.

One thing I did notice is your color picker window is not a smooth gradient in color.

This is yours:

Here is mine:

What are your color profile settings (Edit/Color Settings) and what monitor/graphics card are you using?

[Chris P. Bacon]

That's just the compression artifacts of my GIF recorder. It's the same as yours.