Black vs Rich Black

These two “A”s look identical on screen, but if they were printed out in CMYK settings, they would actually not look the same!

Here’s what they look like with a preview of how the actual print would come out:

The actual color for the “A” on the top is 100% black, no other inks:

The one on the bottom is a Rich Black, which means it has cyan, magenta, and yellow inks layered with the black:

100% black can often appear almost like a charcoal gray in print.

100% black is appropriate for printing text and small, intricate details, while rich black is appropriate for printing large blocks of color that need to have depth to them.

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