Fine Print

Fine Print Knowledge Center

The online guide to print and design.

Introduction
A Brief History of Printing
PrePress
Planning and Strategy
Design Tips
Color Management
File Submission
Proofing
Materials and Stocks
Inks
Platemaking
Types of Printing
Offset Lithography
Digital Printing
Screen Printing
Gravure
Thermography
Flexography
Letterpress
Large Format
Specialty Printing
3D Printing
Promotional
Security Printing
Green Printing
Types of Finishes
Coatings
Binding
Folding
Scoring
Die Cutting
Embossing
Foil Stamping
Perforations

UCR

A technique for reducing the amount of magenta, cyan, and yellow in dark and neutral areas and replacing the amounts of CMY with black.

The technique works in the following way: colored ink is used up to a certain value, after which black is added in order to improve the dark areas of an image, so that total ink coverage (TIC) is not exceeded.

The image reproduction will appear normal but will use less ink, the shadows will have more detail, and trapping will be improved.

Cyan, magenta and yellow are removed as far as they are identical and replaced with the equivalent amount of black.

The depth of colors is thus improved and the total amount of printing ink reduced.