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I'm working on a full color piece in Illustrator which has a few large black and grey areas.

I'd like the black to be a rich black. I was thinking c30 m30 y30 k100. What is the best ways to match my gray areas?

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Thanks! I desired numbers from my printer and made it Global. This is exactly what I needed!.thanks!! – cwedge Jan 25 '12 at 20:39
If the question is answered, accept it so it shows as answered and Scott gets the well-deserved credit. :) – Alan Gilbertson♦ Jan 26 '12 at 1:48
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"50 Shades of rich grey" = spin off romance novel that takes place in the prepress room. – DA01 Oct 1 '12 at 16:15
THANKS It was very helpful. I'll never forget those values 75, 68, 67, 89. – user7175 Oct 11 '12 at 6:06
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@Andrey: you should forget them! – e100 Nov 20 '12 at 10:37
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2 Answers

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Talk to the production house and ask them what rich black they prefer. There is no single rich black every print provider uses. Each print provider has their own formula for a rich black. And, in many cases, the print provider may want simply 100% K and they will adjust the black to match their own environment. Therefore, the best option is to ask the print provider how they like rich blacks handled.

There are a couple ways to handle tints of the rich black.

  • The easiest .... make it a Global color. Double click the swatch in the Swatches Panel and tick the "Global" option.

  • More cumbersome.... hold down the Command/Ctrl key when you adjust color sliders. This will cause all 4 sliders to move in unison.

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Yep. Ask Your Printer. – Lauren Ipsum Jan 25 '12 at 1:05
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Coming from a print background I can tell you that the CMYK for a rich black is

C=75 M=68 Y=67 K=89

This will give you the best black. If you are sending to an RGB printer like any desktop

(yes they print CMYK and have all those cool mid tone cartridges but they take RGB images and have there own internal rip that converts it)

I would use R=0 G=0 B=0 If you use process black or C=100 M=100 Y=100 K=100 you will end up with a muddy brown on a CMYK printer.

Also on grey the printer will always use all of the colors to print grey, it will never use only black ink. This is to retain detail in the grey areas. I would make sure that you are adding a little more cyan or magenta to make the greys cooler or warmer depending on the look you are after.

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there is no 'one' rich black. It's all dependent on the inks, the press, the paper, and the printer. – DA01 Jan 25 '12 at 1:22
Yep, sometimes RichBlack is 320, sometimes not .. – Krom Stern Jan 25 '12 at 7:17
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please note that 100/100/100/100 should never, ever be used as a rich black. It is equivalent to 'registration black', and it's bound to stain your print because it's way too wet with all that ink not having time to dry properly. – Bakabaka Oct 1 '12 at 8:11

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