Designer told me to stop using pure black for text, I fought it for months

About 8 months ago a prepress guy at my local print shop called me out for using #000000 black on a brochure. He said it would look muddy and washed out once printed because the paper can't hold that density. I argued back saying black is black and he was just nitpicking. After he showed me a side by side comparison of pure black versus a rich dark gray I had to admit he was right. The difference in print was night and day with the dark gray looking way cleaner and more professional. Now I never use straight black for body text on anything going to print. Has anyone else gotten pushback from printers on small details like this? I feel like those guys see our worst mistakes every day.

2 comments

2 Comments

oscarwilliams15d ago

Yeah, have you ever tried to argue with a prepress guy and actually won? I sure haven't. In my experience, those folks see more bad files in a week than most of us see in a year, so they're usually right even when it stings. I fought the same battle with pure black for years and ended up looking like a fool when I finally saw the print comparison myself. Your mileage may vary, but I'd take that printers advice to heart because mine sure saved me from a lot of muddy looking projects. Now I just nod and say "yep, you're the expert" whenever they call me out.

lilyt9015d ago

Did you catch that episode of the print podcast where they talked about this exact thing?