Change color globally in document

[CortuserJoel]

Hi! I'm new to InDesign and i am making a poster to be printed. 

I want my black colour to be set as my custom profile which i have named "rich black". I want strokes, fill, text to use my rich black instead of the preinstalled "black" that is in indesign. When I make tables as well i want all the lines and the text to by default to be my own custom black.

Is there a way to do this? Is there a way to search for all objects including fill, stroke, text, tables for black and change it to my custom "rich black"?

Thanks for the help!

[Derek Cross · Accepted solution]

It's not advisable to use Rich black as you describe – too much ink!

Regarding selecting a colour to use on text and objects, use Styles – such as Paragraph, Character and Object Styles.

[Luke_Jennings · Accepted solution]

You might also have registration issues on thin lines and type when using 4C black for offset printing. You might consider using a spot color black. If you are printing digital, check with your printer for suggestions.

You can also use Edit> Find/Change> Object> Fill, Stroke to find and change your existing colors.

[Randy Hagan · Accepted solution]

I concur with Derek. While as a concept printing in rich black seems like a good thing, in practice it can introduce as many issues as it seems to solve.

1) You will never be able to delete/edit 100% Key color black within InDesign. You and I generally see it as Black, but InDesign defines it as [Black] and it's not a color you can delete or edit. If you want to create a rich black, you have to do it yourself. And if you want to apply rich black, you'll need to do it yourself. By design — InDesign doesn't use rich black.

2) Actually, you may find you need multiple rich blacks. Different printing processes have different standards for applying rich black. For example, the magazine-standard rich black 40%C/30%M/30%Y/100%K, which quality bright-white coated paper stock can handle just fine, can be perilously close to the maximum ink percentage ro running newsprint at 35mph through a typical-quality community newspaper press. Instead of getting the deep, rich black you'd expect you'd get a messy blob because that much ink at high dot gains is too much for a spongy substrate like newsprint to hold.

3) You want to be selective on where you use rich black. Using it against sharp edges like stroked frames around images and headline type will show even the slightest press misregistration at once. Using it on small type like text and captions is much, much worse. That's a great way to get printers to start questioning your ancestry in really graphic terms. And not in a good way. While doing those stroked frames around your images with 100% key color Black actually allows you to trap/hide slight mis-registrations on press and ensures better results for your work.

If you really want to develop rich black builds, work that out with your printer(s). Oftentimes they can help you get what you want on their end, and in most all the rest, they'll be happy to share what you need to do on your end to get the best results from their presses. As Derek says, working with 100% Key color black builds is generally the better option.

Hope this helps,

Randy

[CortuserJoel]

Thanks for a great explanation! Really helped and I understand a lot more now than I did 8 hours ago 🙂 

[CortuserJoel]

I just wonder. My text will be at it smallest like 20 pt and the largest around 70 pt. Do you still think Black is the right because i have read that you should use rich black on text larger than 18 pt 🙂 

[Randy Hagan]

At those sizes, rich black wouldn't be a bad thing ... it's not necessary, but I don't think it'd necessarily hurt.

But there are things you can do to help to make things work better. overprinting strokes within InDesign can help with very slight print registration issues. You can find out more about how color trapping works and how overprinting can help assist process color printing through the two links below. They're good reading for your project and good things to know far beyond your class assignment:

Overprinting Fills and Strokes with InDesign

Trapping color with InDesign

Hope this helps,

Randy

[rob day · Accepted solution]

Is the poster being printed via offset?

If it is printing to a composite printer (i.e., inkjet) then you can get a rich black by setting your Appearance of Black Printing / Exporting preference to Ouput All Blacks as Rich Black. If you are printing directly from InDesign choose Composite RGB from the Output tab. If you are Exporting a PDF choose Document RGB as the Destination in the Output tab. In both cases the default [Black] will print or export as rich black (0|0|0 RGB).

[CortuserJoel]

I am sorry but after googling offset I don't acctually know how the company that are going to print my poster will do it. This will be for my master thesis and wanted to try and make it in InDesign 🙂 I think i understand what you mean with the export option and maybe that's the easiest way since i will be sendning my poster as a PDF file to the printing company?

[Derek Cross]

If you're only prinitng a couple of copies of your poster it's probably going to be printed by inkjet.

[rob day]

Is this an online printer and do they have a PDF specification? You would want to be sure the process is inkjet before exporting to an RGB Destination.

[CortuserJoel]

The only specification I can get is the width and height. It is supposed to be sent in as a PDF file but no more than that I am afraid. SHould i contact and ask them anything more you mean?

[Derek Cross]

It's always good practice to ask your printer for their specs.

If you can't get them I suggest you work in RGB color mode, export to PDF/X-4, tick Crop Marks and Use Document Bleed Settings.

(By the way, if your poster includes images that bleed, don't forget to add 3mm to each edge.)

[rob day]

You should at least know the process. If they are an online printer, what’s the site name?