Black text shows gray

[cjlewis]

Hi,

I am using Affinity Publisher to create a newsletter. I am still using the first version. I hope it is ok to still ask about that version here. I made my text and some lines and logos black. However, I got a call from the printer saying they were getting gray when printing. When looking over the document, I found that when I have 100% K selected in CMYK, if I use a tool to test the color, such as Colour  Contrast Analyzer, it does not show #000000 black. (in fact, it shows different color values depending on which pixel I hit)

When I look at it in other color profiles, it does not show black either. For example, if after having it in CMYK with 100% K selected, I switch to grayscale, it does not show all black either.

I changed everything to CMYK 100 100 100 100. Is this the correct way to get to #000000 black in Affinity?

[Pšenda]

https://www.google.com/search?q=Black+CMYK+site:forum.affinity.serif.com

[Hangman]

Hi @cjlewis and welcome to the forums,

You need to ask your printer how they want you to provide your artwork and whether they want you to use a specific colour profile for their press. Ideally they should be able to provide their own preferred profile for you to use. They should at a minimum provide you with artwork specs which could be anything from using a specific colour profile to a specific pdf version when exporting.

Currently your K100 is being translated into a different colour profile resulting in a CMYK mix, C 100 M100 Y100 K100 won't be the correct approach. Your text, lines and black logo's should only appear on the Black plate as K100 to avoid any registration issues.

[Dan C]

Hi @cjlewis,

Welcome to the Affinity Forums 

On 4/23/2023 at 8:59 PM, cjlewis said:

I changed everything to CMYK 100 100 100 100

Usually, for printing in CMYK the text would be set to 0,0,0,100 for 'pure black', so setting 100 values for all colour sliders may explain the grey text you are seeing currently - though as Hangman mentions above this will be printer specific and they should be able to confirm the appropriate colour value and colour profile required to print 'pure black' text.

I hope this helps!