That print shop guy told me to stop using pure black, he was right

Last month I took a poster mockup to a local shop in Portland and the owner told me my solid #000000 would look muddy on their press. I figured he was just trying to upsell me on their color matching. Printed it anyway for a zine release and yeah, the dark areas came out flat and almost greenish. Spent $120 on 200 copies that I'm honestly embarrassed to hand out. Has anyone else had a printer call out your color choices and actually save you from a bad run?

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perez.cole3d ago

Man that sucks and I feel for you. I had a similar thing happen with a T-shirt guy who warned me about how dark colors print on fabric, and I didn't listen either. I paid for a bunch of shirts that looked like the design was fading into the shirt itself. That greenish muddy look is the worst, it makes everything look cheap no matter how good the art is. The thing is, print people see this stuff every day, they know what the machines actually do. It's easy to think they're just trying to squeeze more money out of you but usually they're just saving you from a wasted run. Hopefully you can still sell those zines at a discount or just give them away to friends. $120 is a rough lesson but at least you'll know better next time.