Paper Secrets: What every producer should know

Selecting the right paper boils down to three main decisions, according to Sappi Fine Paper specifications sales representative Joyce Pekala. What do you need the piece to say? What kind of feeling are you trying to convey? And what are the functional requirements of the piece?

We all descended upon the Beverly Regent Oct. 16 to hear Joyce speak and to enjoy an evening of friends, food, drinks, and a bounty of vendor tables overflowing with paper samples and other goodies. Appleton Coated, Fox River Paper Co., Lithco Inc., Nationwide Papers, Neenah Paper, Sappi Fine Paper and Unisource all provided samples and information to our attendees.

Our chairs were laden with fabulous handouts provided by Sappi — red velour binders full of paper samples and educational materials. The handouts were programs for Joyce’s themed presentation, which compared paper to a theater performance.

Paper will perform well if the printed piece’s message, function and feeling are taken into consideration when the paper is selected. To understand how different types of paper will perform, it’s important to understand the basic building blocks of different types of paper and how various papers react to inks and varnishes.

Joyce started “behind the scenes” with fiber and surface. Fiber used for making paper comes from both hardwood and softwood trees. Each mill decides which specific blend works best for them. The fiber is treated and bleached to make pulp. Pulp looks and feels like wet cotton balls, because it’s essentially just fiber and water. The pulp is compressed and finished to the appropriate coated or uncoated surface.

The surface of the paper is like the bare walls of a stage set, which can be painted to create spectacular scenery. Uncoated paper has an irregular surface filled with tiny holes and channels. Ink absorbs into the surface, softening the appearance of halftone dots and lines. Uncoated paper causes details to become a bit blurred. Coated paper, on the other hand, has a smooth, uniform surface, provides good ink holdout, with sharper details and better light reflection.

Different types of paper serve different needs. A gloss finish is good for reproducing hard, shiny objects like cars and glassware. A silk finish provides a more moderate gloss, best for reproducing more tactile objects like people and fine art. A velvet finish provides good contrast between the image and the non-image area, and is good for textiles, earth tones and illustrations. A matte finish maximizes readability, and you can write on it. Uncoated paper enhances the tactile feel of your piece.

A theater performance also needs players. The lead players in the performance of paper are whiteness and brightness, according to Joyce. Whiteness and brightness are two distinct things. “Whiteness” is a paper’s ability to reflect equal amounts of red, blue and green light. A sheet can be blue-white, balanced white or neutral white. A blue-white paper absorbs warm light rays, making your project look cooler. A balanced-white paper absorbs cool light rays, making your project look warmer. And a neutral-white paper refracts colors evenly.

“How come everyone wants blue-white paper?” asked Joyce. “Most people perceive paper with a slightly blue tint to be white, while a neutral white seems to be creamy. We don’t have any scientific evidence, but we kinda blame the Tide people and some of those other folks that give us the little blue flecks in the washing powder, so we’re dying our t-shirts blue. We’re in this world of blue-white.”

Brightness plus whiteness gives you dazzling color. For excellent color reproduction, try to maximize the amount of white and bright light reflected from the paper.

Once we know what goes on “behind the scenes” and are familiar with the “lead players,” we are ready to determine the “cast of characters” or paper stock. So, how do we decide which paper to use? Joyce provided some points to consider.

“Your paper selection has to do with what you are actually trying to say as the finished, printed piece,” she said. “Are you going for an emotional response or trying to be technically correct?”

Paper choice is all about the subtleties that work for you, Joyce said. She reviewed several different images, discussing appropriate possible paper choices for different situations and intentions.

Joyce asked the audience to look at a photo of a Shakespearean-style actor in a suit of armor. If the image will be used in a mailer for a theater company trying to sell tickets, the appropriate paper choice might be a blue-white matte, she said. The blue-white would bring out the coolness of the drapery behind the actor and the matte finished would provide a friendly feel. If the image will be used by an antique dealer selling the suit of armor, the intention is different. A warmer paper would provide an antique feel, while a gloss or silk finish could be used to hold the detail of the product.

Determining your message, feeling, and functional requirements before selecting your paper, combined with knowledge of paper characteristics, will help make your performance truly spectacular.

Thank you to APALA Program Committee members Eva Quan of Capital Research, Ralph Salazar of Pacific Printing Industries, and Regina Peavler of Saatchi & Saatchi for coordinating this month’s meeting.