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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.
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oscarwilliams3mo 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.
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lilyt903mo ago
Did you catch that episode of the print podcast where they talked about this exact thing?
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