Rich black
If you have ever tried to match black socks taken out of the washing machine, you already know that black comes in various shades. The same is true in printing: different means used bring different shades of black. The differences are not big but they are still noticeable. What if we want our printed product to be as black as possible? The answer is rich black.
Why not 100% K?
When printing, we operate in the CMYK colour space, which consists of four basic components: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. So, it should be a piece of cake to make an element black – all we need to do is make it 100% K. Yet the resulting black is not quite as black as one might expect; it is closer to anthracite. But if we want the print in a saturated, really deeply black colour, we need the rich black
What is rich black?
Rich black is obtained by adding between a few and a few dozen per cent of the other CMYK components to the 100% K, e.g. 40% each of C, M and Y. Then the black becomes deeper, more saturated and comes out distinctly better in print.
Every printing company has its own recipe for rich black, so if you have any doubts, contact the printer directly.
What’s it used for?
Rich black is mainly used for large elements, such as solids – objects with uniform colours. Regarding book texts, 100% K without extra components is recommended. Using ‘pure’ black ensures the text will not bleed and the edges are sharp and distinct.
