Many people neglect the importance of the paper when they print their materials. There are several types of paper and several important qualities attributed to each, which makes for numerous possibilities. The exact type of paper you choose for each and every different thing you print affects the way it is perceived by people and its durability. What are your options?
Printer Paper Types
First of all you have 4 main types of paper – offset, cover, tag and index.
Offset paper is the basic, most commonly found printer paper that everyone uses today for printing documents. Depending on its weight it can be thicker or thinner.
Cover paper is much heavier and rigid, usually used for business cards, folders, etc.
Tag paper is very dense and water resistant. As its name suggests, it is usually used for name tags, products tags and so on.
Index paper is stiff and most commonly used for indexing folders and cards.
Printer Paper Qualities
The qualities attributed to each type of paper are weight, brightness, opacity and finish.
The weight aspect refers to how thick the paper is. The higher this number is, the heavier and stiffer the paper. As a comparison, most common printer papers are about 80g. Any number below that makes for a very thin and light piece of paper whereas any number above it characterizes thicker paper.
Brightness refers to how much light the paper is able to reflect. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 100 where 100 is the brightest. Most papers are about 60 to 90 on this scale. The effects of higher or lower brightness are better or worse readability, perceived contrast and clarity of colours.
Opacity refers to how transparent a piece of paper is and whether what is printed on it will be visible from the other side. It is directly dependant on the paper’s weight, as well as on its ingredients. Lighter paper is always somewhat see-through and heavier is not. Rice paper, on the other hand, no matter how heavy, can be completely transparent because of its consistency.
The finish refers to the surface texture of the paper. A piece of paper can be coated or uncoated meaning that it can be covered by a certain substance or left in its original state. The coating can be glossy or matte. A glossy finish is mostly used for photos, as well as advertising materials. The matte finish is a bit dull but makes for some great business cards, for example, and is much more resistant to staining than gloss. Some papers have a texture added to them as they are manufactured usually in the form of some kind of lines. These types of paper are mostly used for business cards and office stationery.
The process of choosing paper is mostly influenced by your intentions. A brochure, for example, will attract more attention if it has a gloss to it whereas a restaurant menu would look more sophisticated if it were on matte paper; business cards cannot be printed on regular printer paper whereas a contract would look very strange on linen paper; the examples are numerous but the importance is always great – choose the paper correctly and your products are destined for success.
Printer Paper Discounts
PC World – regular discounts
Euroffice – 20% off for new customers
Office Supplies Supermarket – 20% off for new customers
Viking Direct – regular discounts
Business IT Online – free delivery on orders over £40
There are many more office supplies stores listed on the website. Simply search for “office” and you will be able to browse the stores that list regular discounts on their products.
