Ideas for the right paper to use?

[Ken]

For my small business I order 5,000 letter headings at a time on 100 gm
paper. In the past when I have asked for quotes on the premium papers the
price jumps up dramatically.



We have just carried out a re-branding exercise with logos, letter head
design, etc. When the logos are used on colour printed sales literature the
colour look really good and really vibrant but imaging them on the surface
of letter headed paper with my pantone swatches they seem to look really
dead.



Any thoughts on how I can keep the vibrancy of the colours but not pay
really ridiculous prices for the printing.





Ken

 

[ato_zee]

We have just carried out a re-branding exercise with logos, letter head
design, etc. When the logos are used on colour printed sales literature the
colour look really good and really vibrant but imaging them on the surface
of letter headed paper with my pantone swatches they seem to look really
dead.
Any thoughts on how I can keep the vibrancy of the colours but not pay
really ridiculous prices for the printing.

With general purpose and laser paper the ink can soak into, diffuse
through, the fibres of the paper, dulling the colour, and often an image
on the reverse side of the paper.

I use http://www.paper.co.uk/subcategory.asp?SubCategoryID=6 Premier
Elements Fire, 100gsm A4.
It's a premium quality paper for business documents and colour
printing in a weight range 80 to 160gsm.
You can just Google for premier elements paper if the above
URL doesn't work.
The paper comes in 500 sheet packs costing (when on special
offer) about the same as general purpose paper of 100gsm weight.

I've also had good results from 90gsm Xerox System X Printer
Paper (Tesco used to carry it) now I have to go to Staples and they
don't always stock it. W H Smith also occasionally stock it.

Once youv've found a paper you are happy with, buy a couple of
packs and give them to your printhouse, they should work fine.
It's certainly worth a try as a 500 sheet pack of Premier
Elements Fire 100gsm cost me 8 quid, if it doesn't
work out you can still use it for continuation sheets.

If you are stateside I'm sure there are equivalent papers.
Or go for a colour laser printer, they come in a wide
price range, you can do the letterhead and text in one
pass and if ever needed incorporate an image or graph
in the text.

 

[Ken]

With general purpose and laser paper the ink can soak into, diffuse
through, the fibres of the paper, dulling the colour, and often an image
on the reverse side of the paper.

I use http://www.paper.co.uk/subcategory.asp?SubCategoryID=6 Premier
Elements Fire, 100gsm A4.
It's a premium quality paper for business documents and colour
printing in a weight range 80 to 160gsm.
You can just Google for premier elements paper if the above
URL doesn't work.
The paper comes in 500 sheet packs costing (when on special
offer) about the same as general purpose paper of 100gsm weight.

I've also had good results from 90gsm Xerox System X Printer
Paper (Tesco used to carry it) now I have to go to Staples and they
don't always stock it. W H Smith also occasionally stock it.

Once youv've found a paper you are happy with, buy a couple of
packs and give them to your printhouse, they should work fine.
It's certainly worth a try as a 500 sheet pack of Premier
Elements Fire 100gsm cost me 8 quid, if it doesn't
work out you can still use it for continuation sheets.

If you are stateside I'm sure there are equivalent papers.
Or go for a colour laser printer, they come in a wide
price range, you can do the letterhead and text in one
pass and if ever needed incorporate an image or graph
in the text.

Thanks for the tips. I am in the UK so especially good.

Ken

 

[ato_zee]

Thanks for the tips. I am in the UK so especially good.

The benefits of the laser printer is that it doesn't use ink
that to a greater or lesser extent soaks into the paper and
is not inherently glossy when it dries, printers that
use pigment based inks are a good choice. There
are upcoming printers with waterproof and
varnish overcoat capability.
The superiority of the colour laser lies in it producing
a dry surface coating which being dry doesn't spread
through the papers fibres, and being plastic based
when it melts and fuses it is brighter and slightly
glossy.
There is a slight downside to the colour laser in
that it sticks to smooth plastic as does its B&W
equivalent, a problem you don't get with commercially
produced letter headings.
For business use it is worth bearing in mind that
that you can on some days get wet mail, and
that inkjet produced stuff tends to run badly when
wet.

 

[Ivor Jones]

The benefits of the laser printer is that it doesn't use
ink that to a greater or lesser extent soaks into the
paper and is not inherently glossy when it dries,
printers that
use pigment based inks are a good choice. There
are upcoming printers with waterproof and
varnish overcoat capability.
The superiority of the colour laser lies in it producing
a dry surface coating which being dry doesn't spread
through the papers fibres, and being plastic based
when it melts and fuses it is brighter and slightly
glossy.
There is a slight downside to the colour laser in
that it sticks to smooth plastic as does its B&W
equivalent, a problem you don't get with commercially
produced letter headings.
For business use it is worth bearing in mind that
that you can on some days get wet mail, and
that inkjet produced stuff tends to run badly when
wet.

If recommendations are in order, I can thoroughly recommend the HP Colour
Laserjet 2605dn. I've had mine for around 6 weeks and it's amazing, good
value at £299 from Staples as well. Toner is a bit expensive but lasts a
long time.

Ivor

 

[me]

I've also had good results from 90gsm Xerox System X Printer
Paper (Tesco used to carry it) now I have to go to Staples and they
don't always stock it. W H Smith also occasionally stock it.

Viking has Xerox's Colortech (sp?) range, which I quite like, I
generally use the 100 gsm version