Black is one of the most frequently used colours in printing. But, contrary to what you may think, not all black inks are the same. In both black and white printing and full colour CMYK printing, black ink can change dramatically. In printing, there are two types of black: standard black and rich black.
Standard black consists of black ink (100% K) and nothing else, while rich black also contains Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow. By adding the other colours, you can get a deeper and more saturated tone.
On computer screens, the two tones may appear the same – but this definitely won’t happen on paper. To ensure consistency, make sure you check the values for each colour. If you look carefully at the illustration, you can see what the two different blacks will look like when printed.
Black (C:0 M:0 Y:0 K:100)

Rich black (C:30 M:30 Y:30 K:100)
