Blacker than black

Here’s a tip for desktop publishers or for anyone who produces work with graphics to be printed in a four-colour process, such as with commercial printers.

Not all blacks are equal. Professionals have long known that some blacks are more solid, seemingly blacker than others.

You can get denser blacks if you don’t colour objects with just 100-percent black. Add in the other process colours — cyan, magenta and yellow — up to 20 percent each if you like, although usually five percent is enough.

The additional colours won’t be noticeable to the naked eye because the black will cover them, but they’ll help fill in the minute gaps in the black ink, so the eye will get an overall impression of greater solidity.

A standard trick is to add a little magenta or red (magenta plus yellow) to get a warmer, richer black.

Adding cyan will create a crisper, cooler black.

Free *Cheap Trick* of the Week: March 11, 2001