What's your CMYK black build?

["Technical" Terry]

I had someone say today that a banner he printed didn't look too good. It was all black and built with 100%K. He said it needed a rich black for this and told the designer (not me) to use 100/100/100/100!! I kind of fell back in my chair and he noticed and asked what was wrong. I told him that it seemed a bit of overkill. Then we got into a discussion as to a proper build. I said it varies greatly from shop to shop. What surprised me the most is that in all the years experience that he has, I thought he would have a build already decided upon through trial and error and then written down.

So just for the fun of it, let me know your preference. Please specify if your build is for coated or uncoated stock. Thanks

[CkretAjint]

We have 2 versions:

Black Bump: 40/0/0/100
and
Black Rich: 40/30/30/100

[jimking]

100,100,100,100 is a no no. We use 2 versions 40,30,30,100 and 55,45,40,100.

[Kool]

I always used 30, 30, 30, 100. :)

[MikeHun]

All that is good for offset.
Ink saturation on Solvent, Dye, UV large format I use 15/15/15/100

[julyski]

Here, we use 40/30/30/100 for a neutral rich black.

[HappyFriday]

4-color black is different for every press. Although most printers fall in the range of 280-320 total ink coverage for really rich blacks .

[PrintDriver]

I use what the print vendor tells me. :D
Rich black is a print device dependent formula. And you have to specify if you want a red rich black, a blue rich black or maybe simply a 'warm' or 'cool' black.

The only place I've used 100/100/100/100 in an actual printed piece has been with Lambda/Lightjet prints. No ink involved and it gives you a good dense black.

[Broacher]

Reminds me of a monster film poster I have with the title: "Creature from the C40M30Y30K100 Lagoon".

[MikeHun]

A Continous Tone RGB Printers Lambda / LightJet / Chromira does not use CMYK ink nor is it applicable to the CMYK process if you were to compare which is like apples and oranges an inkjet 1200 dpi to Lambda 5000 pdi + continuous tone. You're are wrong CMYK does not apply:)

[D-Frag]

it all depends on what i need the black for.... backlit signage gets a totally different build from say banners, and on top of that tradeshow stuff or other mediums get even wierder builds. it all depends on what ink, printer, medium and calibration/color monitoring you have and for what purpose.

[budafist]

I always used 30, 30, 30, 100. :)

Is what we use for digital rich black. We don't do this for offset though.

[PrintDriver]

As I said. I use what my vendors tell me. If a lambda guy (or two actually) wants his files set up in CMYK color space, who am I to argue?

And I did say no inks were involved.
:D

[graphk1]

for offset print...100K + 40C + 40Y +40M

coated or uncoated works for any post-nuclear equipment.

[urstwile]

I'm going to mostly echo PD here: I call my printer and ask them what I should use, when I have the control to know who the final printer is.

When sending ads to a magazine, if at all possible, I find out what they recommend. If not, then I do the 30/30/30/100 mix.

[graphk1]

it is...
and ad work for publications / magazines follows swop standards...a little different with limitations on total saturation.

[Road Racer]

If you MUST use All 4 colors, 30-20-20-100. Minimize saturation of c,m,y.

[doubting_thomas]

For digital and offset I use 20/20/20/100. It seems to work well for us.

[Exodus]

Depends on what printer... 50,40,40,100 or US Web Coated (SWOP) v2 standard of 75,68,67,90.

Our Lightjet is a completly different beast...

[PrintDriver]

Our Lightjet is a completly different beast...


So are you using a CMYK or RGB color space?
I'm taking a poll...
:D

["Technical" Terry]

So are you using a CMYK or RGB color space?
I'm taking a poll...
:D

YUV
:D

[Exodus]

So are you using a CMYK or RGB color space?
I'm taking a poll...
:D

RGB

[Booger]

For digita - HP5500 and Z6100s I've used 100/100/100/100 on some oddball microporus poly. Generally 30/30/30/100 works though. The 400% stuff is a rarity though. On the flip side a 10/100/100/35 deep red is a PITA and we get a lot of Budweiser stuff that gets into that relm.

[HappyFriday]

Our production person thinks anything higher the C5 100K is overkill for rich black.... has a complete misunderstanding regarding ink limit and such.

[Cooper]

I saw this blog and thought of you guys...

http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/articles/the-ultimate-guide-to-designing-with-black

A nice summary.

[HappyFriday]

Funny, one of our vendor listed the PS rick black as an option for us... I'm assuming their press is capable of supporting 300% ink limit

[garricks]

One of the first jobs I ever designed was a short paperback book. The cover was black & white and the printer told us he'd use rich black...he showed us what 0 0 0 K100 looked like and then C60 0 0 K100...it amazed me...now I generally use 30 30 30 100, unless my printer tells me something different.

[Savvywebdesign]

My main printery specifies 45/0/0/100, which prints well on gloss art.