That’s right, Black is a color, and It’s no just one color, when it comes to ink on paper, getting black right takes more than just, black. Most printers use a 4 color process, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, & Black or Key. CMYK is based on a percentage value from 1 to 100. The percentage value is what gives you the colors you see on paper. So 0% Cyan, 100% Magenta, 66% Yellow, and 13% Black would give you RED. It’s what printers use to determine how much of each ink to put on paper. So i guess we could all assume when we we wan’t black we just ask for 100% K, right?
100% K actually produces a dark grey color, not a solid black, or what we like to call rich black.
The solution is simple, use a combination of all colors to darken the k value. Everyone has their own opinion of what the right combination of CMYK is to makes the best black, but in general, experienced designers accept three variations when looking for a true black. designer black: 70, 50, 30 cool black: 60, 40, 40 warm black: 40, 60, 40. All of which are mixed with 100% k.
