A design world arms race to make the blackest black has intensified this week after an artist revealed his latest creation called Blink. 

Stuart Semple created the ink over a period of two years after launching a precursor called Black 3.0 in 2019. The artist had been reacting to the controversy surrounding Anish Kapoor’s being given exclusive rights to Vantablack, the pigment that was initially developed for use on satellites owing to its high absorption rate. 

Semple began experimenting with black after a farcical attempt to engineer a purer pink in parody of Kapoor. A more serious effort took shape after the 2019 release and following a beta testing period in which he assembled a team of other artists and designers to provide feedback for the darker and more opaque shade.

“Chemically there are similarities, but the acrylic resin in Black 3.0 is fundamentally different in Blink because we needed much more flow whilst keeping the stability of the pigment binding,” Semple told Fast Company. “It’s very much a different potion than Black 3.0.”

The final product is still not as absorbent as Vantablack, though Semple sees it as a useful accomplishment nonetheless.

“Anything you’d ordinarily use black ink for, like outlining, will be better now,” Semple said. “I think anything on paper that needs a good nonreflective super black will look great.”