Which rich black to use

Rich Black is part of a series of tips to help enhance all your print projects. Contact us to receive your FREE copy of the entire set. Related posts. Should I choose coated or uncoated paper? When to use black Text-Only Documents — Text, especially smaller font sizes, thrives in standard black.

Black-and-White Documents — Many documents, even those with images, can convey their information very well using only black ink. Black and rich black have subtle but noticeable differences.

Before you hit print, choose your blacks wisely to get the quality and legibility you want while limiting cost and conserving toner. As there are 4 color variables in a CMYK color mode, there are many ways to create rich black. The common mixtures listed above may not be right for your project, but these are good models that will produce a deep black. Clash Graphics offers affordable flyer printing in Atlanta, business cards and same day printing services.

As one of the best printing companies in Atlanta, you can be confident your order will be done right and on time. Call or stop by our print shop in Atlanta when you need flyers, graphic design or other printing services. All prices are in USD. Sitemap Powered by BigCommerce. This can be avoided by using pullback trapping. In which the software removes a specified amount of the c, m, and y from around the text.

Which gives room for error in registration. So why not use pullback for the text and thin strokes? Because they are too thin. By the time the pullback is factored in, you will no longer have a rich black stroke or text because the c, m, and y will have been removed. Pullback trapping may not be available to you, depending on the software you use.

It is usually a feature in high end RIPing software. Which has all kinds of trapping options as well as a host of other useful features. I found a lot of pressmen have a preferred rich black mix that they like to print.

If given the opportunity, most pressmen will be more than happy to answer questions and give suggestions, IF it makes their job easier. You should apply the same rules to digital printing as mentioned above for offset, as they all still apply. Getting a "blacker" black is just one of the advantages of rich black, it also helps to reduce banding, especially in modern digital printing processes, but also in lithographic print, and it tends to dry faster for large areas of print where litho inks are used Even with some digital print processes on type you'll get the same problems because of the way dots are laid down onto the paper in quite rigid lines.

This answer became a little complex because there are different factors involved. So it is not a straight answer, but a series of cases. The answer to "Where to use Rich Black, which type of rich black, or should I use it at all" depends on several factors, like.

The size of the black element. You could use rich black on a big element but not use it on a small one. How this element interacts with another element. For example, you could need a rich black background interacting with a black photography. Normally in a full-color print, the black used is not a "deep black" but a washed one, a grayish one.

One old type of rich black was adding some cyan. Only one additional color because it was easier to align two colors than 3. Why adding some cyan to the black, and no magenta?

Because magenta casts a very dominant color to the mix. Besides a registration problem with cyan and black is less noticeable than magenta. Is more evident in small letters, more on serif fonts and even more on white over black. So you have to decide what is the minimum size you can handle. One big reason to use rich black is where you can compare other blacks and see that some are really black and others are not.

If you have a photo with a black rectangle next to it, the color and the image need to match in colors usage. In some cases, you could print with just black a.