Client said my CMYK blacks looked muddy, so I swapped the build and now everything pops

I do custom apparel printing in Austin and a regular customer told me my dark t-shirts looked washed out next to another shop's jobs. They showed me one of their old prints, and it had that deep rich black I just couldn't get with my usual 60/40/40/100 build. I switched to a rich black with more cyan and less magenta, and now my contrast looks way better. Anyone else had to rework their black ink recipe after a picky client called it out?

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perez.christopher13d ago

and honestly this whole thing reminds me of how people talk about coffee beans or even audio gear. like once someone points out the difference you cant unsee it, suddenly every dark roast tastes burnt and every pair of headphones sounds muddy. same with your blacks, that 60/40/40/100 was probably fine for years but now your brain is locked onto that richer cyan mix and youll never go back. kinda wild how one picky client can just reset your whole baseline for what good looks like.