subject: "Why is the color Black on my business card, flyer, brochure or postcard a gray color and not true Black?" [print this page] Let's talk about one of the tricks of the printing trade. The CMYK Formula for Printing The Color Black - Deep Rich Black.
"Why is the color Black on my business card, flyer, brochure or postcard a gray color and not true Black?" I get this a lot from clients. Many graphics artist do not disclose this information in hopes to have the clients return since their printing products are the Blackest. By disclosing this information to my clients, up to now, they have been so grateful that they come back to ask for quotes on other printing products. People don't remember what you said to them, they remember more, how, you made them feel. My clients have good feeling knowing they are getting the best advice to serve their clients. After all, it's all about product satisfaction.
Deep rich black is an ink mixture of solid black, 100% K, with additional CMY ink values. This results in a darker tone than black ink alone. If you print black alone as 100% K, the resulting black may not be as dark as you might like.
The CMYK Formula for Printing the Color Black - Deep Rich Black is C60 M40 Y40 K100.
This formula was taken from 3 of the top printers in the US.
Just about any quality printer will tell you this; however, of course, you have to ask. Some printers will have other formulas for CMYK values this is ok. Anywhere close to the above value will get you a better Deep Rich Black than using naked black K100% only.
