What kind of black should I use when designing for CMYK print?

Question

My question is what kind of black should I use when printing. At the moment I use this black (split into CMYK): C:0% M:0% Y:0% K:100%It looks fine in InDesign or Illustrator but if I save a PDF file (for printing purposes) the "color" black appears more like a dark grey **on screen**.My question is, if I send this file to print, the color black, **on paper**, will be black or something like dark grey?

Answer 1

It's common to use a 'rich black' for this purpose. You might try C:30 M:30 Y:30 K:100 as a default rich black value for print. If you are printing with a professional printer, you can ask them what rich black value they prefer (it may differ slightly depending on the printer). Thanks, I hope that's helpful!