Black vs. Rich Black
How to really print black and why you should pay attention to it.
By Christine Lee
Not all blacks are the same when it comes to printing. Though most people assume printing to be a rather straight forward process, there are multiple methods to make black for printing. Some blacks may be darker and some can have more gray under tone than others. Find out how to spot the difference and when to use which black for your printing projects.
Most printing jobs, especially books, will certainly include the color black in either text or images. Using black for text is the most standard and effective option because of the effectiveness in legibility of text in black. However, printing black color is where it gets tricky for printers. Black in printing is categorized into two; Black and Rich black.
What’s the difference ?
Standard Black is made strictly using only black toner (K cartridge) while Rich Black uses mix of other colors ; Cyan ,Magenta, and Yellow to achieve fuller black color.
Such layering of other color mixes helps to create a sense of depth and richness in the color when printed.
Color representation
As mentioned above, using black toner in combination of other sub-tones creates more depth and fuller color presentation of black. Though such variation in color can be hard to detect on a screen before printing unless given with comparisons of the two blacks, there is a significant difference between those two once printed. Regular black appears to be rather muddy and closer to dark gray color, Rich black shows fuller and darker black close to what viewers normally perceive as color “Black”.
The difference in color representation between Regular Black and Rich Black is as shown below.
Legibility
Layers of toner used to achieve a rich black can effect legibility in printing. For example, for text-heavy projects such as news paper where each spread is mostly text in small font sizes, regular black is appropriate for crispness of text and better legibility. For the same reason, regular black is a popular choice for black and white projects. For projects that use large font sizes that require same treatment as other images or bigger texts, using rich black is effective to create a sense of depth to your project.
Cost
As obvious as it might sound, it takes less ink to create regular black than rich black. Hence, more cost effective. If you’re struggling to set a budget for your printing projects and correct color representation is not your top priority, simply go with standard black for printing.
A quick guide in using Black vs Rich black
Black : Black is much simpler to create compared to Rich Black. Simply using 100% value of K can create standard black color. Widely used for body text and small typography, it can be used to create legible and sharp text. Downside of using standard black for large areas full of images and text using black is that it will create images in darker grey color rather than a full vivid black.
Rich Black : Though each printer uses different recipes for creating rich black, rich black can be created by using mixes of C,M,Y, and K values. Most printer’s go-to recipe is mixing 100% Black, 60% Cyan, 40% Magenta, and 40% Yellow. It is important that the colors are not overly mixed as it will cause ink piling. Using 100% value for each color results in excess ink coverage, muddy images and texts, and long drying times.
Print high-quality prints directly from NetPrint via their instant price quote system on their website. Chat us up via our Live Chat support to ask printing related questions anytime ! Contact support@netprint.online to find out more information.
