: A good dark grey cmyk with lots of small white text My print has got a plain dark grey background CMYK of 0, 0, 0, 90. This has just been rejected from the printers because 'it was black

@Jennifer810

You can trap your small white text with thin pure Black color (non-overprint) stroke. It will solve the problem somehow. But using spot gray is much better.

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@Shanna688

You can't* reverse text with 4C printing.

You'll need impossible-to-achieve registration for reverse text to look clean and sharp. Even the printer will agree if you ask. Small text will exaggerate any misalignment. Forget serifs!

Next, let me admit right out front that I've never heard of "black-space," let alone "black space and not CMY… K" so I can't help you there. I could make an educated guess. Why waste your time? For what it's worth, ask. Maybe he has no idea, himself.

So I'd suggest…

For clean reversed text on a dark grey, I'd go with a spot grey. You have a choice of warm and cool greys and no alignment to speak of.

*without a snootful of time and trouble.

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@Nimeshi706

See this link: What CMYK values should I use for rich black, and how should I handle tints/shades?

Then ask your printer what breakout they prefer for rich black.

Create a swatch using that build, and then adjust the tint for the swatch.

Don't try and formulate a "rich grey" simply use 80% of a rich black.

As for your concern about the type, it should be fine unless you are using very, very small type sizes.

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