Category Archives: Paper

Coated Paper… The Importance of the Surface

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When deciding on the paper to use for marketing materials, such as a brochure or sell sheet, many of our customers tell us, “I’d like a shiny paper; it looks so professional.”

We’re not sure how this association with shiny paper – which we printers refer to as coated paper – got started, but we have a theory. Full color printing requires a smooth, uniform paper surface and therefore almost always uses a sheet that has had a coating applied during the manufacturing process. The purpose of the coating is to improve the way the surface of the sheet receives the ink, and it works! Full color printing on a coated sheet looks sharp and bright – in a word, professional.

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Sticking to the Facts… All About Labels

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Whether you use them for product identification or shipping, for security or promotion, or for any other use, labels are a part of every business’s inventory of printed items. The earliest use of labels was for product identification; uses now include a wide range of applications across many industries.

Label, Sticker, or Decal?

We’ll begin our discussion of labels with a semantics question: what is the difference between a label, a sticker, and a decal? Since many people use the terms interchangeably, we think there’s no obvious answer beyond common usage.

  • When adhered to a product (such as a soup can or a piece of fruit) as a means of identifying or providing information about the product, we most often refer to the item as a label.
  • When affixed to something (the bumper of a car, the front of a package, or a voter leaving the polls) in order to call attention to what is written on it, we refer to the item as a sticker.
  • When the item can be moved from one surface (the substrate it is printed on) to another (a window, a model airplane), usually with the aid of heat or water, we refer to the item as a decal.

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Printing, Paper, and the Environment

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Thoughtful use of the earth’s resources and protection of the environment may seem like an odd topic for a newsletter written by a printer. After all, printing requires paper, and the paper industry has been criticized for destruction of forests, water pollution, and other anti-environment actions. Printed advertising mail is portrayed as a nuisance to those who receive it and cited for adding to landfills. Even e-mail messages are critical of print – you may have seen this tag line as part of an e-mail signature: Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

Is printing really the environmental evil its critics assert? Should businesses and individuals adopt a policy of eliminating hard copies of documents and using only e-mail and digital media for sales and marketing outreach? Or are there other considerations that will allow businesses and organizations to continue to use printing and still be good environmental stewards?

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Selecting the Right Paper for the Job

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paperAs printers, we love paper. Paper adds a design element, influences the impression, and contributes to the overall appeal of a printed piece. Paper is also a critical variable in how well a job runs on press, in a high-speed copier or digital printer, or through the laser printer on your desktop.

For most printing jobs, there is a paper whose characteristics are best for the application. For example, if the printed piece is a trifold brochure, a sheet with good folding characteristics will be best. If the piece has significant ink coverage, then a paper with superior ink holdout will perform best.

It is our job to guide you through the many possibilities to match the paper to your printing project. This will be easier if you understand how the characteristics of paper affect the appropriateness for a specific printed piece.

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An Environmental Success Story… Paper Recycling

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paper-cmyk_smPaper recycling is more than just putting used paper in an appropriately-labeled recycling bin. Rather, it is an entire process that includes collecting, sorting, shipping, manufacturing, and purchasing the newly-made products in a repeatable cycle. Whether paper is made from trees, crops, agricultural residue, or other fibers, a recycling system is needed to promote environmental sustainability.

A surprisingly large number of products can be made from recycled materials: fine writing and printing papers; newspapers and magazines; household paper products like paper towels, napkins, facial and toilet tissue; office products like copy paper, file folders, envelopes, and adding machine tape; packaging products like cereal packages, egg cartons, gift boxes, and cardboard boxes; game boards; animal bedding; and insulation.

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Fun Facts About… Paper in Our Lives

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PaperIncreased awareness of the effects of human beings on the environment may be changing our relationship to paper, but it isn’t destroying it. There is much evidence to support the idea that paper has a legitimate role in our lives. And while we don’t want to waste paper, we don’t need to eliminate it – or the things we do with it – completely.

Here are some fun facts about paper:

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Paper for Printing… Keeping Our Forests Healthy

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200366841-001What are your assumptions about paper and the environment? Do you believe that using paper results in the destruction of forests and the overburdening of landfills? Do you believe that papermaking is energy-intensive and creates air and water pollution? Do you think that electronic communication is always better for the environment than using paper?

If you have been using assumptions like these as part of the decision making process on whether to use print in your business or organization, we’ve got some important information for you. Not only is paper not an environmental threat, it actually helps keep forests healthy and productive.

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Printing, Paper, and the Environment

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Thoughtful use of the earth’s resources and protection of the environment may seem like an odd topic for a newsletter written by a printer. After all, printing requires paper, and the paper industry has been criticized for destruction of forests, water pollution, and other anti-environment actions. Printed advertising mail is portrayed as a nuisance to those who receive it and cited for adding to landfills. Even e-mail messages are critical of print – you may have seen this tag line as part of an e-mail signature: Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

Is printing really the environmental evil its critics assert? Should businesses and individuals adopt a policy of eliminating hard copies of documents and using only e-mail and digital media for sales and marketing outreach? Or are there other considerations that will allow businesses and organizations to continue to use printing and still be good environmental stewards?

http://macgra.com/1005Printips.pdf

Topping It All Off… Coatings on Paper and Printing

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When deciding on the paper to use for marketing materials such as a brochure or sell sheet, many of our customers tell us, “I’d like a shiny paper; it looks so professional.” We’re not sure how this association between shiny paper – which we printers refer to as coated paper – got started, but we have a theory.

Full color printing requires a smooth, uniform paper surface and so is almost always done on a sheet that has had a coating applied during the manufacturing process. The purpose of the coating is to improve the way the surface of the sheet receives the ink, and it works! Full color printing on a coated sheet looks sharp and bright – in a word, professional.

http://macgra.com/0909Printips.pdf