1. A reduced-ink barcode utilized to counter barcode readability-degrading ink splatter, wherein said reduced-ink barcode comprises printed dot foreground and non-printed background element regions assembled into a detectable pattern on a document, wherein each said printed dot foreground element region is a matrix of printed dots that has less than a maximum printed dot density, wherein said less than maximum dot matrix decreases ink splatter thereby increasing readability of the reduced-ink barcode as compared with a standard barcode, wherein said maximum printed dot density comprises a 6×6 dot matrix and said less than maximum printed dot density is selected from a group consisting of: 5×5; 4×4; 3×3; 2×2; and 1×1 matrices and any combination of the foregoing matrices that creates a less than maximum printed dot density foreground element region.