About Paper
Paper has six important characteristics
to consider. Each characteristic affects the look and
price of your piece.
Here's a brief glossary of terms:
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Opacity:
Rates how well the paper
blocks light from showing through. Generally, the
lighter the weight of the paper, the more the paper
will let light come through. Papers that are not
opaque can be a problem with two-sided printing,
as pictures or text on the back will obscure the
image you are looking at on the front side.
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Brightness:
The degree or amount of
light that the paper reflects. Brightness is one
major key to the quality of a color piece because
the brighter the paper, the more vibrant the colors
will seem. Paper is divided into five grades of
brightness – a number five-grade paper being
the least bright and a number one grade paper being
the brightest. The lower the brightness, the less
contrast and duller the colors. The higher the brightness,
the higher the cost, because chemicals such as titanium
dioxide must be added to improve the paper's reflective
qualities.
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Whiteness:
Similar to brightness,
but not the same. White light is made up of all
the colors in the spectrum and whiteness is the
ability of a piece of paper to equally reflect
all those colors. If it can't, the paper will
appear off-white, impacting the color's true appearance.
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Holdout:
Refers to the paper's ability
to keep ink on the paper's surface, instead of soaking
it in. The better the holdout, the more distinct
the dot, creating a sharper, brighter image.
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Smoothness:
Describes the paper's uniform
surface consistency.
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Finish:
The quality used to describe
the paper's surface texture or coating with regard
to matte and gloss finish, as well as any texture
in the paper itself. Dull or matte finishes reflect
light less uniformly, making it easier to read text-heavy
pieces, while gloss finish reflects very uniformly,
making color images stand out. |
WEIGHT
In
the US and Canada, paper weight is determined
by the
weight of 500 sheets of paper before it is cut. The
chart below shows the size of these 500 sheets
differs,
depending on the intended use of the paper. Therefore,
you cannot compare American basis weights across
paper
types. In Europe, they use the grammage system, which
simply states how many grams a square meter of
a given
paper weighs without regard to the type of paper. Therefore,
grammage numbers can be
compared across paper categories.
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Paper Type |
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Sheet Size |
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Bond,
writing, ledger
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17x22
inches
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Text,
offset & coated
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25x38
inches
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Cover
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20x26
inches
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Newsprint
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24x36
inches
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USAGE
Writing Papers are ideal for:
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Letterheads,
Envelopes, Invoices, Second Sheets, News Releases,
Resumes |
Text Papers are ideal for:
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Posters,
Corporate Literature, Annual Report Text, Mailers,
Newsletters, Certificates, Envelopes, Flyers |
Cover Papers are ideal for:
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Annual
Report Covers, Business Cards, Post/Reply Cards,
Tab Dividers, Invitations, Announcements, Folders,
Brochures, Covers |
RULES OF THUMB
Once you have
the basic paper characteristics under your belt,
there are a few rules of thumb to keep in
mind when specifying paper:
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Even within
the same grade of paper, there can be variations
in smoothness, opacity and holdout. For this reason,
whenever you specify a paper, tell your customer
service representative to order the best paper within
that selection. |
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If possible,
try to get a paper dummy made from your final choice.
Since most quality papers come in a variety of basic
weights, the dummy will help you choose the weight
and feel you want.
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Dynacolor
has a large supply of house stock. These papers
run well on our presses and we buy them in bulk
so we can pass the savings on to you.
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