Comments on: The Professional Designer’s Guide to using Black http://www.andrewkelsall.com/the-professional-designers-guide-to-using-black/ Graphic Design Blog of Andrew Kelsall Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:17:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: web design dubaihttp://www.andrewkelsall.com/the-professional-designers-guide-to-using-black/comment-page-2/#comment-9834 web design dubai Sat, 02 Jul 2011 21:12:07 +0000 http://www.andrewkelsall.com/?p=867#comment-9834 all are black..i cant find out difference in all of these.!! all are black..i cant find out difference in all of these.!!

]]> By: Doctorneoshttp://www.andrewkelsall.com/the-professional-designers-guide-to-using-black/comment-page-2/#comment-9832 Doctorneos Sat, 02 Jul 2011 19:43:08 +0000 http://www.andrewkelsall.com/?p=867#comment-9832 There's lot's that's right in this article but some key things are very wrong. Rich black, for instance, from a printer's perspective, depends on many things, like whether conventional or UV ink is used, the nature of the paper or board, whether there's UV or aqueous coating, the formulation of the black ink, that is, whether it's a "dense black" and many other factors. One thing that is definitely not correct is what's typical in the US for Rich Black. This is usually C60M50Y50K100, but the Y may be reduced if the board is particularly yellow (like Invercote.)Next, the designer has to consider whether a particular technique is printable. TIC is also dependent on the medium on which the art is printed. Newsprint has a very low TIC threshold and rich black needs to be gray-balanced at about 220 total before running it, otherwise, the web will distort by shrinkage or punch-through. KO of CMY under black creates a murderous condition for the pressman to register.In short, there are some things that may sound like a good idea but prove to be impossible in practice. At my shop, we see "professional" design work from major clients that will simply not print. We always manage to solve the problem, but it often mean more than one hit of a spot color and we did one major line that required one process black and three spot blacks to get to the designer's original concept. The art director's problem was that the designer promised that the black in a plastic part (the cap) of the package could be matched on the box. The entire job went from 7 colors to fill every unit on the press - 13.Most times, the "designer" has no clue as to what we as printers need to do to achieve the goal of the art. You can be sure that the client pays and pays for that expertise where proper design and understanding of the process would have stopped a ridiculous goal at the concept stage, before dozens of people signed on with a big "attaboy!." Best bet is to check with the printer before committing project suicide. We know what will work and it cost nothing to ask. There’s lot’s that’s right in this article but some key things are very wrong. Rich black, for instance, from a printer’s perspective, depends on many things, like whether conventional or UV ink is used, the nature of the paper or board, whether there’s UV or aqueous coating, the formulation of the black ink, that is, whether it’s a “dense black” and many other factors. One thing that is definitely not correct is what’s typical in the US for Rich Black. This is usually C60M50Y50K100, but the Y may be reduced if the board is particularly yellow (like Invercote.)

Next, the designer has to consider whether a particular technique is printable. TIC is also dependent on the medium on which the art is printed. Newsprint has a very low TIC threshold and rich black needs to be gray-balanced at about 220 total before running it, otherwise, the web will distort by shrinkage or punch-through. KO of CMY under black creates a murderous condition for the pressman to register.

In short, there are some things that may sound like a good idea but prove to be impossible in practice. At my shop, we see “professional” design work from major clients that will simply not print. We always manage to solve the problem, but it often mean more than one hit of a spot color and we did one major line that required one process black and three spot blacks to get to the designer’s original concept. The art director’s problem was that the designer promised that the black in a plastic part (the cap) of the package could be matched on the box. The entire job went from 7 colors to fill every unit on the press – 13.

Most times, the “designer” has no clue as to what we as printers need to do to achieve the goal of the art. You can be sure that the client pays and pays for that expertise where proper design and understanding of the process would have stopped a ridiculous goal at the concept stage, before dozens of people signed on with a big “attaboy!.” Best bet is to check with the printer before committing project suicide. We know what will work and it cost nothing to ask.

]]> By: How to Make Texthttp://www.andrewkelsall.com/the-professional-designers-guide-to-using-black/comment-page-2/#comment-8948 How to Make Text Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:22:22 +0000 http://www.andrewkelsall.com/?p=867#comment-8948 [...] it appear brighter, a spot colour could be used. Now, such colours could be a special ultra-bright Pantones®, hexachromes or even a metallics (not to metion UV coating, etc). Flower Image source and [...] [...] it appear brighter, a spot colour could be used. Now, such colours could be a special ultra-bright Pantones®, hexachromes or even a metallics (not to metion UV coating, etc). Flower Image source and [...]

]]> By: Andrew Kelsallhttp://www.andrewkelsall.com/the-professional-designers-guide-to-using-black/comment-page-2/#comment-8662 Andrew Kelsall Wed, 16 Mar 2011 19:54:19 +0000 http://www.andrewkelsall.com/?p=867#comment-8662 <strong>Brett →</strong> Cheers; thanks for stopping by.<strong>Chris →</strong> To be honest, I'm not sure. On issues like this, you'd be better off ringing your printer. I had a phone call just the other day that saved a whole lot of hassle, as every printer operates differently :) Brett → Cheers; thanks for stopping by.

Chris → To be honest, I’m not sure. On issues like this, you’d be better off ringing your printer. I had a phone call just the other day that saved a whole lot of hassle, as every printer operates differently :)

]]> By: Chris Anastasihttp://www.andrewkelsall.com/the-professional-designers-guide-to-using-black/comment-page-2/#comment-8661 Chris Anastasi Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:23:26 +0000 http://www.andrewkelsall.com/?p=867#comment-8661 Andrew, Fantastic post! Thank you very much. I have a question... I am using the Pantone Black Twice technique you described earlier on in your article. I am printing a pattern in Pantone Black on a Solid Pantone Black Background. My intention is to get a subtle "Rich black" pattern on the Solid Pantone Black base at the back of a business card and other collateral items. Is this technique possible on Uncoated paper such as GfSmith Colorplan? I am thinking of sealing it off with varnish to avoid rub-off... would it ruin the effect?....and.... Does it make a difference whether the printer prints both inks at once (wet on wet) or allows drying time in between blacks? Andrew, Fantastic post! Thank you very much. I have a question…
I am using the Pantone Black Twice technique you described earlier on in your article. I am printing a pattern in Pantone Black on a Solid Pantone Black Background. My intention is to get a subtle “Rich black” pattern on the Solid Pantone Black base at the back of a business card and other collateral items. Is this technique possible on Uncoated paper such as GfSmith Colorplan? I am thinking of sealing it off with varnish to avoid rub-off… would it ruin the effect?….and…. Does it make a difference whether the printer prints both inks at once (wet on wet) or allows drying time in between blacks?

]]> By: Brett Widmannhttp://www.andrewkelsall.com/the-professional-designers-guide-to-using-black/comment-page-2/#comment-8386 Brett Widmann Tue, 08 Feb 2011 04:06:28 +0000 http://www.andrewkelsall.com/?p=867#comment-8386 This is a really cool article. I love all the examples. This is a really cool article. I love all the examples.

]]> By: Fresh Resources, Design Links & Inspiration #5http://www.andrewkelsall.com/the-professional-designers-guide-to-using-black/comment-page-2/#comment-8379 Fresh Resources, Design Links & Inspiration #5 Mon, 07 Feb 2011 14:53:30 +0000 http://www.andrewkelsall.com/?p=867#comment-8379 [...] Colour Hex Values ChartI stumbled across this resource the other day. The web shows shows loads of Pantone® colour swatch codes, along with their RGB counterparts (hex values). A wonder tool that I will [...] [...] Colour Hex Values ChartI stumbled across this resource the other day. The web shows shows loads of Pantone® colour swatch codes, along with their RGB counterparts (hex values). A wonder tool that I will [...]

]]> By: 25 Reasons why you’re a Typography Freak! | Andrew Kelsall | Creative Designerhttp://www.andrewkelsall.com/the-professional-designers-guide-to-using-black/comment-page-2/#comment-8263 25 Reasons why you’re a Typography Freak! | Andrew Kelsall | Creative Designer Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:02:21 +0000 http://www.andrewkelsall.com/?p=867#comment-8263 [...] You recognize a few professional logos that make use of free-download fonts.11. You muse over why CMYK has been used on 12pt text rather than a spot color.12. You use the ‘em’ dash while [...] [...] You recognize a few professional logos that make use of free-download fonts.11. You muse over why CMYK has been used on 12pt text rather than a spot color.12. You use the ‘em’ dash while [...]

]]> By: Designers black | Mats Tijmes - life as a junior designerhttp://www.andrewkelsall.com/the-professional-designers-guide-to-using-black/comment-page-2/#comment-8262 Designers black | Mats Tijmes - life as a junior designer Tue, 25 Jan 2011 14:27:56 +0000 http://www.andrewkelsall.com/?p=867#comment-8262 [...] Designers black article/ [...] [...] Designers black article/ [...]

]]> By: Visual Communications | Blog : Dakota County Technical Collegehttp://www.andrewkelsall.com/the-professional-designers-guide-to-using-black/comment-page-2/#comment-8000 Visual Communications | Blog : Dakota County Technical College Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:14:19 +0000 http://www.andrewkelsall.com/?p=867#comment-8000 [...] http://www.andrewkelsall.com/the-professional-designers-guide-to-using-black/?ref=nf Comments: No Comments RSS Feed: RSS Category: Graphic Design, Resources/Information [...] [...] http://www.andrewkelsall.com/the-professional-designers-guide-to-using-black/?ref=nf Comments: No Comments RSS Feed: RSS Category: Graphic Design, Resources/Information [...]

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