What CMYK values should I use for rich black, and how should I handle tints/shades?

Question

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?

Answer 1

Hello,

Just regarding the Blacks, something I did in my years of print design, was to add a bit of Cyan to the Black channel to make it "richer", or "more black" if you will.

I used between 5%-15% Cyan depending on the medium my designs were going to be printed on.

For example, for newspapers, since the paper is "hairy" and not as white, I used 5%-10% Cyan. But for magazines whose paper is white and coated, I used 10%-15% Cyan.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

If you want a really nice rich black I would go with c 75 m 68 y 67 k 90. This really pops on a gray. As far as matching your gray I would have to see it in person because there are so many tones of gray. Hope that helps.