Paper
There are many choices available when it comes to paper.
Coated
This type of paper, as the name suggests, has a coating usually of china clay, which gives it a smooth finish. Coated paper is available in a gloss, silk (satin) or matte finish. It is usually used for projects that require a fine finish. Most leaflets and glossy magazines are printed on coated paper.
Uncoated
Uncoated paper doesn’t have any coating and is therefore not as smooth as coated. Used mainly for laser printers and photocopiers, as well as most business stationery. Many brochures and some catalogues do use uncoated paper too. Available in bond (common), wove (premium) or laid (textured).
Colours can vary drastically between printing on coated or uncoated paper. The colours you see on your computer screen may not look as you intended once printed onto paper. This is particularly true when printing onto uncoated paper as the ink tends to ‘soak’ into this more. So colours can look more dull or flat than when it is printed on coated. A ‘paper-correct’ proof should be printed if you are worried how colours will reproduce.
Paper thickness
Paper weight or density is measured in grams per square metre (g/m²). However, the unit symbol used is gsm, with 80gsm typically being used for office paper. The higher the “weight” the thicker or more dense the paper, so 300gsm becomes card and is used for products such as invitations or business cards.
Carbonless paper is usualy very thin at 70gsm and is used for carbon-copy forms.
See our Help & Support section for more information.
Finishing
Trim
This is on by default as most artwork will need to be trimmed or cut to size when finished.
Fold
Most leaflets and any magazines or books will need folding when finished. You may only want your work pre-creased for folding yourself later such as greetings cards, in which case, you can select Crease only and turn off the Fold option.
Crease (scoring)
Thick paper or card is usually pre-creased or scored for easier folding and to avoid the paper tearing.
Fold+Stitch
Refers to any work that requires any folding and stitching or stapling but isn’t a particular magazine or booklet. See saddle-stich below.
Wire O Bind
Wire-O™ binding, also called wire binding and Double-O binding, is a method for binding documents. This binding method is inexpensive and is typically used for binding things like books, booklets, calendars, spirals, day planners and other small readers.
Saddle-Stitch (stapled)
Saddle-Stitched is a method of securing loose printed pages with staples down the middle of a folded sheaf of papers. Most magazines, brochures and small booklets are saddled-stitched.
Perfect Bound (glued)
Magazines that exceed a certain number of pages or use a heavier weight of paper are usually perfect bound. Paperback or soft cover books are also normally bound using perfect binding as are catalogues or phone directories. They usually consist of various sections with a cover made from heavier paper, glued together at the spine with a strong flexible glue. The sections are rough-cut in the back to make them absorb the hot glue. The other three sides are then face trimmed. This is what allows the magazine or paperback book to be opened.
See our Help & Support section for more information.
Lamination
Laminating offers enhanced image and protection for your documents and helps prevent tearing and creasing. Choose either matte or gloss as a finish.
For magazines or booklets, this would only apply to the outer covers so the inside pages would generally not be laminated throughout, unless specified.
Spot varnish (seal)
Ultra Violet (UV) Varnishing is a process for achieving an even more striking type of coating on your printed material.
A UV varnish can be applied as either an all-over coating, or as a spot varnish. A spot varnish or seal is applied to only a particular area of the artwork, this can be done in InDesign or QuarkXPress where certain graphics or text are blocked out with a solid to show where the varnish is to appear when printed.
Choose either matte or gloss or silk/satin as a finish.
See our Help & Support section for more information.
