Choosing paper
- Oliver Renshaw
Default paper options (media) have been set to provide you with the right type of paper for the product you are ordering, so you can be confident that you will receive great results without changing your media type. You can also be confident that you are acting sustainably as we only use woodland trust paper.
Paper Weight
Paper weight indicates how heavy and thick the paper will be. It is measured in ‘gsm’ which stands for grams per square metre. 80gsm is standard printer paper but to create a more premium feel you may want something a bit thicker with a higher gsm. Here is our guide to paper weights:
Paper weight | How it is commonly used |
|---|---|
80gsm | Standard office printer paper used for course handouts, dissertations, meeting notes etc. |
100gsm | More premium office paper which we use as standard for colour printing. |
130gsm | Durable paper that is mainly used for leaflets, booklets and magazines. |
170gsm | Tough paper that is used for posters, flyers and post cards. It can also be used for brochure covers. |
250gsm | Paper at this weight is considered to be card (board), it can be used to add a quality finish to flyers or for the cover of a booklet. |
350gsm | Ideally used for a business card. |
Colour
Many of our products can be printed on colour paper or card. We offer a range of bold and pastel colours. This is ideal for using as a cover to your document to create a bit of interest.
You should also consider the legibility of printing on colour paper, where this is important it is best to stick to pastel shades to increase the contrast between the print and paper.
Finish
We offer two types of paper finishes, uncoated or silk.
Silk Paper
Silk paper has a slight sheen to it but is not the mirror like finish of full gloss. It provides a soft and smooth appearance to your print. This type of finish is mainly used for posters, leaflets and brochures.
You can write on silk paper with a ball point pen so it can also be used on forms, but uncoated paper is much better for writing on.
Uncoated Paper
Uncoated paper has the texture of regular printer paper so has a coarser and slightly fluffier feel than silk. It has a matt finish so doesn’t have a sheen to it. This makes it much better for reading or writing on, so suitable for course handouts, forms and dissertations.
Uncoated paper comes in heavier and thicker paper weights and this type of paper can feel very classy adding a premium quality to your print.
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