In design Priting problem

Question

Hello everyone,
I am quite new to in design. I have a small question. When I change the background color of the page in in design ( say black ) what should I do so that when I print the page I get the page in black instead of the default white? On some forums I read, change master page? How do i do it?
Thanks a lot
regards
HB

Answer 1

[Paper] is a special color. It really means "don't put ink here."
You can edit the APPEARANCE of [Paper] on the screen to help you visualize what your job will look like on a colored stock, but [Paper] color itself is not an ink and will never print.
If you need to add a color for background to a job, you need to actually add that color as ink. You can do that by filling a frame on the master page with the appropriate color. If you are doing that strictly for proofing, do it on a separate layer that can be turned off for the press run on the colored stock.
A further word to the wise. Most presses don't have a white ink, and even if they do, printing white over black stock is not a successful strategy. Also, printing other colors on black stock will just make darker black areas. If you need a black background, use white paper and add the black ink to the background, leaving holes where you want things in white. Your other colors should knock out the black ink, too.
Peter