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Comparing converted black to true black

I’ve noticed a pattern when opening logos from other companies—the black is often never truly black.

Created in Illustrator
Fake black (35.31.32) on left. True black on right (0.0.0)

Here’s the colors used to make this fake black:

  • Red: 35
  • Green: 31
  • Blue: 32
Screenshot from Adobe Illustrator color palette. Shows the color mix for this dark gray.

But true black should be:

  • Red: 0
  • Green: 0
  • Blue: 0

You can tell the logo came from a legacy CMYK environment, and someone converted it to RGB without adjusting it to true black.

Here’s the comparison again:

Created in Illustrator
Fake black (35.31.32) on left. True black on right (0.0.0)

Looking at these two blacks side by side, I couldn’t help but think of Josef Albers’ paintings—especially “Midnight + Noon II” from 1964 at the National Gallery of Art.

"Midnight + Noon II" 1964 by Josef Albers
from National Gallery of Art
https://www.nga.gov/artworks/61567-midnight-noon-ii

My screenshot looks remarkably close to Albers’ painting. Does that make it a work of art? If so, I’m calling it “#231F20 vs #000000.”

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1 Comment
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artdude75
artdude75
3 months ago

The depths of black reaches into the inner soul, and the inner computer monitor.