Offset printing help: Choosing appropriate papers save money newsletters, brochures, direct mail

You'll notice some items can be printed on more than one type of paper. Mostly it gets down to a trade off between cost and photo reproduction. Uncoated papers are inexpensive. Coated papers cost more but photos look much better on them.

If you are selling a high-ticket item or service you'll most likely want to use gloss paper. If you're printing in four-color process you'll also want a coated sheet. If you want to save a few bucks you can use matte paper. It's a good trade-off between price and photo reproduction.

Paper Grades
Each type of paper is broken down further into paper grades.

Two measures upon which paper is graded are brightness and whiteness. These describe different characteristics. Again, paper is a large percentage of the cost of a printed piece so a little knowledge has the potential to save you a lot.

Brightness is the measure of a paper's ability to reflect light. The scale goes from zero to one hundred but most papers are in the range of 84 - 96, go figure. The higher the brightness, the more light the paper will reflect and the more the printed images will pop off the sheet. There will be more contrast between both text and images and the printed piece and things will stand out more. Any sheet with a brightness over 90 can be considered fairly white.

Whiteness refers to the shade of the sheet of paper. The three major shades are balanced white, warm white and blue white. There is no numeric scale for whiteness. Papers are simply produced and marketed as a particular shade. Most papers are made to a blue-white shade because our eyes and brain perceive it as whiter.

Opacity is another paper characteristic and it measures show-through. A sheet with high opacity will prevent solids, screens, and halftones from being visible through the opposite side of the sheet, which could otherwise be quite distracting. This scale is again from one to one hundred but most sheets fall in the 80 to high 90 range.

Choosing the appropriate paper

Paper accounts for 20% - 40% of the cost of a printing job. The actual percentage depends on the run length, number of colors and the type of paper used. Shorter jobs, those with fewer inks and those that use expensive paper will be on the higher end of the scale. Long runs, multi-color jobs and those printed on inexpensive paper will be at the lower end.

How to use the information in this article
Whatever the case though, it's to your advantage to select the proper paper for your job. The proper paper is the one that achieves the intended goal of the piece for the least cost.

Your printer may tell you she's quoting on a "#1 grade coated gloss sheet" and that's great. How do you know you need a #1 grade? What's the difference between a #1 and a #2? How do you know you need a coated paper at all?

This article will help you answer those questions but your printer should help as well. She should tell you what she's quoting on and why she suggests it. You should also look at samples. Don't just settle for a swatch book, ask to see printed samples with similar ink coverage as what your job. Compare papers of different types and/or grades.

Finally, the grading system helps you compare quotes. Once you know what paper type and grade you need, make sure each printer is quoting on the same. They don't have to use the same brand of paper, just the same type and grade. If that's the case, you can be fairly certain you aren't getting cheated.

Let's define a few terms up front. I have simplified things quite a bit here for the sake of brevity. If you have any questions you can contact me or your printer should be able to answer them. After all, that's why he's your printer, right?

Paper comes in three basic types:
Uncoated; this paper is most often recognized by what it isn't: shiny. Uncoated paper has no coating on it. It looks flat. Almost all colored paper is uncoated.
Matte; these papers have a thin coating applied which is not buffed to a shine. It is often described as having a "dull" finish. However you shouldn't confuse it with dull paper described below.
Coated; these papers have a coating applied to them. In fact, they start out as uncoated. After the coating is applied, the sheet can be left alone, in which case it's called a "dull" finish. If the sheet is buffed to a shine, it's called "gloss".

Again, the goal is to select the least cost paper type and grade that will achieve your goal. The first step, therefore, is to establish the goal of the piece. Think about what the piece will be used for and in what situations.

Type	Characteristics	Uses
Uncoated	Inexpensive, no glare, easy to read, easy to write on, pen ink won't smear	Sell sheets, some brochures, flyers, pieces which will be written on, newsletters, inexpensive four-color pieces
Matte	Moderate cost, no glare, photos look fairly good, pen ink smears a little, has a tendency to mark on areas of heavy solids	Newsletters, stationery, some trade show pieces, price lists, interior of some catalogs, flyers, directories, manuals, order forms, portfolios, short-lived pieces
Dull	No glare, sophisticated look, smoother surface than matte so photos look better, pen ink smears a little, has a tendency to mark on areas of heavy solids	Higher-end brochures, four-color pieces
Gloss	Photos look very good, surface glare so it's not as easy to read, pen ink will smear	Catalog covers and interiors, brochures, sell sheets, portfolios, postcards

Don't spend more than the piece demands
Think carefully about your piece. If a piece has multiple uses, it most likely will pay to use a paper commensurate with the most demanding use. For instance, I have a customer who produces a small, four-color process catalog four times a year. She does a mass mailing, gives it away at trade shows, and sends it to prospects who request it. They print the piece on a mid-grade gloss coated sheet. This is moderate in cost for a coated paper and showcases the color photos.

I have another customer who prints a catalog that is mostly copy. However the center eight pages are in color with photos. The piece is a give-a-way at trade shows. The outside cover is four-color process. We print the catalog portion on commodity uncoated offset. It is cheap and since there are no images, photo reproduction is not an issue. Yes, the cover is four-color but they want to save money. The eight center spread pages are printed on a mid-grade coated sheet.

Don't waste your money on coated sheets or higher-grade sheets if the purpose doesn't warrant it. Ask your printer for prices on different paper types and grades. Ask her if she can show you samples of pieces printed on different stocks so you can make an educated decision. Remember, paper is a large component of your costs to manage it smartly!

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Paper Type	Available Grades	With better grades you get...
Uncoated offset	Commodity offset, #1 opaque, #2 opaque	Whiter and brighter sheets, everything "pops" off the page more.
Matte	#1, #2 & #3	Whiter, brighter and a more smooth finish.
Gloss or dull coated	#3, #2, #1, #1 Premium, #2 Super Premium	Whiter, brighter and a more smooth finish.