Problem with black color

Graphic Design
#1

good morning.

i’ve just made a flyer with black color on the bc. but when i saved the file in pdf
the black color looked very faded…i gave 30% cyan and 100% black.

so i tried to create again the bc with the same color value…but using photoshop this time…
i placed the new bc on the indesign file…and a took a very good black color, exactly what i wanted.

but i i realized i have a problem with indesign…what may have happened?
i also have problem with measurement units, every time i open the program and create new document
the measurement unit is picas…

thanks everyone!!!

#2

In InDesign, go to Preferences > Appearance of Black and set it to Rich Black. Should not be necessary but in the digital age black will sometimes look grey if it doesn’t get a boost.

For this and any other preference settings, like your Units, set them without any document open and they become the new default.

#3

Studio’s advice will help make 100K black look darker in appearance. With offset and digital sheet-fed printing avoid the use of actual rich black if you can help it. Especially in your typography. Rich black almost never has perfect color registration, and will have have your client wondering why your typography is not ‘high resolution’, when in fact they’re gazing upon mis-registered 4 color process.

#4

I was just going to write that setting your PDF to auto-rich black can produce all kinds of on press errors.
Rich black is a function of the print machine being used, and the ink limit settings. Always best to ask.

#5

Black rules of thumb:

  1. All large black areas (including headline / fat text) use rich black or the black will look 85-90% grey.
  2. Unless you want a color cast, use one of these rich black mixtures (not both in same design).
    C:40, M:40, Y:40, K:100 OR C:60, M:40, Y:40, K100.
  3. Small black text should always be printed as 100% K.
#6
  1. If you must print black but can’t use a CMYK mixture, print using a UV digital ink setup. The ink is much thicker and therefore more opaque.
  2. If using a white plate (printer plate for chrome BOPP for example) do not put white under anything 100%K as it will print lighter. Let it print directly on the chrome and you get the same sort of effect as printing on newsprint (darkening - but without the dot gain of newsprint).
#7

There is more to printing than printing on paper.

  1. Be careful of using rich black on only half your design. An overabundance of large dark shapes will overpower 100K small type and make it look even more insignificant.

  2. Ask your printer. You don’t want a rich black exceeding the ink limits on some solvent printed vinyl stocks…like car wraps and vinyl signage.

  3. Small text printed digitally can be a rich black. We do it often, though usually “small” text in wide format is no smaller than 8 or 10pt.

#8