Print glossary
Rich black
Rich black is black built from black ink plus some cyan, magenta and yellow to make large dark areas look deeper.
A common build is around 60 cyan, 40 magenta, 40 yellow and 100 black, though printers have their own preferences, so ask. Use rich black for big solid backgrounds. Use plain 100 percent black for small text and thin lines, because four inks lined up on fine type can look fuzzy.
Never use the 'registration' swatch for black in a design. It prints every ink at 100 percent and can cause drying and smearing problems.
Not sure what your job needs? Ask the people who print it.
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