How to achieve a dense black - Litho printing

How to achieve a dense black? 
Many contemporary designs use large areas of solid dark colours. Black solid areas in particular, have a tendency to look dull or washed out when printed in 4 colour process, especially on uncoated and matte paper finishes. Generally speaking this is because the black ink used in CMYK (litho process), is less dense, than that used in a single colour 'black only' job.

"The best way to 'achieve a dense black' is by using an underpin; it isn't as complicated to set up as some people may think."

The solution is an 'underpin'
An underpin works by boosting the black's density with a neutral colour underneath; but without creating an overly large amount of ink on the sheet.  For a designer, or an artworker, the easiest option is to create a 'special black' for the areas they want to appear dense and dark. 

A 'special black'? 
The 'special black' needs to contain the underpin colour and can be easily created in most design packages.  The most commonly used underpin is a 40% tint of Cyan. So our custom black needs to be created as a 4 colour process colour with a 4 colour break down of: 40% Cyan, 0% Magenta, 0% Yellow, and 100% Black. See below for a visual

Advantages! 

For an easy way to create a dense black, the use of a 'special black' colour works brilliantly.  The main advantage of this method, is to keep the normal process black colour available for any type used in the design (which would look messy with an underpin). 

Also, this technique is the most widely used, and litho printers are generally comfortable printing files which use the special black method.