06/10/2026
What color is that, really?
When it comes to black, some colors are great and others just will not do.
The first sample, the swatch on the left is 100% BLACK ink. This works best for body copy. Since it is only one of the 4 inks used in CMYK, there is no chance of a problem with the body copy getting out of register if you only use one color of ink.
The second sample, REGISTRATION, is only for crop marks and registration marks. It should never be used as part of a design. It uses 100% of each of the 4 inks used in CMYK and will leave too much ink on the paper, setting the work up to offset.
The third sample, #000000, is RGB Black. Unfortunately, it doesn’t translate to 100% Black and can create registration problems. When it converts to CMYK the mix breaks down as 75%C, 68%M, 67%Y and 90%K. While it is not too much ink, it’s way more than is needed to make simple black on press.
The fourth sample, RICH Black, is a mix we like to use for big areas of black on press. 100% Black can get a little washed out on a large area, so we give it a helper. In this case it is 20%C, 20%M, 20%Y and 100%K. Another mix that is commonly used is 40%C, 0%M, 0%Y and 100%K. Theres a thing called “kick back” that happens if the mix contains 100%K, but that’s a story for another day. (Note that #000000, does not have 100%K when it is converted to CMYK, so the magic kick back will not happen with that mix.)
https://gentryprinting.com/
