Stringent media evaluation programs at third-party laboratories, such as the Rochester Institute of Technology, provide assurance that certified digital substrates will perform satisfactorily in the equipment, each and every time. Pre-testing and scripting of the papers mean guaranteed performance with no worries.
Wausau Paper has developed a unique tool (available in printed form and online) to simplify the process of selecting a grade for a digitally printed product. The Digital Compatibility Chart assigns a rating to each paper in Wausau Paper’s portfolio. The rating indicates the papers most suitable to the level of coverage on your project. Papers that have earned a Level 1 rating should be used for projects containing black & white photos, and single-color line art and type, while papers that have earned a Level 4 rating can be used for full-color images with significant ink coverage. The majority of Wausau Paper’s grades are well-suited for simple, light to moderate ink or toner coverage jobs, but when the graphics become more complex, the rating system will aid printers in selecting a paper that will help deliver high print-fidelity results.
Yes you can. As digital equipment technology improves, the range of substrates being used for digital print widens. However, not all presses have formal certification programs, so there are some gaps in the data available to help you make a decision about the right paper for the equipment. Wausau Paper sought to fill that gap by conducting extensive testing of every grade across its portfolio on all types of equipment and by different levels of coverage. The test results published in Wausau Paper’s Digital Compatibility Chart can help you make a confident decision about the best paper for your next digital project.
Wausau Paper’s Digital Guarantee applies to runnability subject to equipment manufacturer’s recommendations and limitations for caliper and basis weight, as well as recommended grain direction for the basis weight used. Typically, recommended grain direction is long on text weights and grain short on cover weights (this includes paper that has been trimmed down from a parent sheet by a customer).
Just as digital printing has come a long way in the past decade, so have paper manufacturing practices. There are a myriad of sustainable substrate options for digital printing. With one of the largest selections of environmentally preferable papers of any North American paper manufacturer, Wausau Paper makes it easy for you to be creative with an eye toward sustainability. Wausau Paper holds FSC chain-of-custody certification for a variety of its brands and grades. Approximately 1,000 items across 20 grades are Green Seal certified. Within our Exact Digital® line specifically, 63 items are FSC certified and 26 items carry the Green Seal certification.
Yes. Wausau Paper’s Exact Digital paper-based wrap is recyclable via the “mixed office waste” paper collection process, as well as curbside paper recycling.
What is the benefit of using variable data printing (VDP) in digitally printed projects?
Studies indicate that people prefer personalized mail. A 2007 InfoTrends study indicated that highly personalized mail dramatically increases response rates by as much as 20 percent. With digital, VDP options are limitless. Beyond inserting the recipient’s name on a direct mail card, you can customize specific graphics, photos and messages for each recipient. The result is a better return on your marketing investment.
Paper quality has a significant impact on image quality. Brighter, smoother papers yield better toner adhesion, cleaner colors and higher print contrast. The quality of the paper enhances the perceived value of digitally printed documents.
The same characteristics that make a great offset paper apply to digital paper: formation, smoothness, brightness and opacity. All four of these qualities play a role in superior print results and shouldn’t be overlooked.
In addition, digital papers are made to specific calipers, contain less moisture, and are precision cut to digital sheet sizes/rolls. Digital papers may also have a product-specific surface treatment for toner and ink-jet applications.
Many roads lead to Rome and there are surely just as many ways to spec paper.
There is the “hands-off” approach, the “most expensive sheet we can afford” approach, the “let’s use the same three papers we always use” approach, to name just a few.
None of these roads are roads you should travel. To enhance your design, communicate your message in the best possible way and stay within your budget, choose the “I want the best paper for the job” approach. It is easier than you might think.
Here are 10 easy steps to find the best paper for your job. Speccing paper is a critical issue, but if you follow the 10 steps below, it should be a breeze for you.
Step 1: Consider Paper Early On
Let your paper supplier know early on in the project’s design stages what paper you are considering. Part of making a good paper choice is utilizing the sheet size to its fullest potential and creating as little waste as possible. Keep an open mind. Sometimes small changes, such as narrowing the piece by 1/16”, can save you a lot of money on paper and reduce your spoilage dramatically.
Considering paper early on will allow you to make these small adjustments with ease and be prepared for any special delivery times you might have to take into consideration.
Step 2: Personality
Consider the life span and personality of the final piece. Is it an annual report that will be viewed extensively in the months to come and allows for a better sheet or a direct mail piece with a life span of less than a few days?
If you are talking about environmental issues, pick a paper with a lower brightness and possibly visible fibers and flecks. If you are trying to raise funds for a nonprofit organization, stay with a middle-of-the-road sheet, so the organization won’t appear to already have ample funds. The personality of your piece, its life span, texture, coating and color determine the price range and the quality of paper you should consider.
Step 3: Finish
Modern pre-press technology has opened up a vast variety of papers for full-color printing. Yes, coated sheets are a safe choice, and there are many occasions when a coated sheet is great for the purpose and personality of the project.
But now and then, using an uncoated smooth or textured sheet will allow you to enhance the overall feeling of the message you want to send.
Large corporations have discovered this option to portray a softer, more approachable image. With an additional boost of special inks and general advancements in pre-press and printing technology (i.e., Stochastic), there is no reason why your color images should not look brilliant on an uncoated sheet as well.
Step 4: Color and Brightness
Look at some of Domtar’s swatch books and you will be amazed about the variety of whites that are offered. Blue-white, soft white, natural white…you name it.
Blue-whites give the paper the appearance of being brighter than it actually is and give the colors printed on them a high contrast, making them really pop.
Blue-whites, by all means, are not suitable for every project, though. This color base can easily make warm skin tones look gray and is not easy on the eye for extended viewing. Skin tones are what natural or soft whites are made for.
Colored sheets are a great “second color” when your budget only allows one-color printing. Be aware that the colored background will also affect the appearance of the ink you choose to print on it. Offset inks by nature are not opaque, so blue ink on an ochre-yellow sheet often has a green tint.
Step 5: Grade
Some 80 percent of printed jobs in North America are printed on white paper – most of them on white coated paper. So let’s have a quick but very important look at the grading system that classifies paper.
More than 18 years ago, the American Forest & Paper Association set out to make your life easier by regulating white coated papers by grades. Back then, the only criteria used was a paper’s brightness, with a number 1 sheet having the highest brightness.
But as technology and the ability to increase brightness levels have evolved, so have the mills’ approach to how a paper is graded. Today, a sheet has to have more than a great brightness to make its mark as a number 1 sheet. It also has to have good opacity, formation and runnability on press.
How do you know which grade is right for you? Get a few printed samples of your first choice grade from your printer or merchant, and then compare it to samples one grade above and below. Do you see the difference?
Step 6: Weight
To give you some guidelines, you can find Writing grades for letterheads, Text sheets for the inside of brochures. and Cover sheets for book covers, folders, greeting cards and postcards.
We all know that these guidelines are mere suggestions, as the design trend these days is to spec heavier sheets for projects. Currently, you will find complete brochures printed on light Cover stock to make up for a reduced page count.
Weight is foremost on your mind when it comes to mailing or shipping a piece. Always stay on the light side when creating direct mail pieces and consider that the printed ink will add some weight as well.
Hand in hand with a paper’s increased weight is an increased opacity and caliper (thickness). As a rule of thumb, the heavier the sheet, the higher its opacity and caliper, which is critical when printing on both sides of the sheet for a direct mail piece that has to fulfill postal requirements.
In the case of direct mail pieces, make sure that the paper you are specifying meets the USPS 7 pt. or 9 pt. requirements for mailings in the United States and a minimum of 0.18 millimeter caliper for mailings in Canada. This means that the paper is either manufactured to caliper (called out in point) or guaranteed by the mill to fulfill the postal service requirements (called out in the paper’s stock lists).
Step 7: Sustainability
Sustainability is more than just speccing recycled paper, but let’s just start with these key terms to help you with your paper selection.
Recycled – No matter the source, there will always be some misconceptions about recycled papers. You’ll hear, “They cause trouble on press,” “All recycled papers are of lower quality” or “There are hardly any recycled papers out there.”
But today’s recycled papers are a far cry from what some printers might have experienced more than 15 years ago. Today’s recycled papers run as smoothly on press as any virgin sheet and emboss even better because the recycled fibers are softer. And when it comes to variety, there are hundreds of recycled papers on the market today.
Pre-Consumer Waste – This is waste that has not seen the end consumer and often just refers to production overs or mistakes from the mills that are re-fed again.
Post-Consumer – This is the paper you and I recycle so carefully every week…and this is what you should pay attention to.
Virgin Sheets – These papers contain no recycled content.
Beyond Recycled – Pressure has been mounting on large corporations to make sustainable, sound paper choices. Growing public concern about the conservation of forests worldwide has led consumers to demand that their purchase of any forest products should help secure natural resources for future generations.
Buying paper with recycled content is an honorable notion, but is it enough? A study done by Metafore, an independent nonprofit organization, shows that without adding “fresh fiber” into the papermaking process, North American consumers would run out of paper in less than a year.
Therefore, we need virgin fiber, but virgin fiber that comes from responsibly managed forests. As a response to these demands, independent third-party certification programs have gained a lot of respect for the work they do.
The most prominent certification program is the Forest Stewardship Council, or FSC. With the support of 85 percent of the leading environmental groups, FSC sets standards for forest management, as well as chain of custody (the path taken by raw materials from the forest to the consumer). The FSC label on any paper product gives you the confidence that the product comes from a responsibly managed forest.
The Sustainable Forestry Initiative qualifies a mill overall for their forest management efforts. SFI principles combine the perpetual growing and harvesting of trees with the protection of wildlife, plants, soil and water quality.
There are several ways to support sustainability…as there are many ways to Rome. A 100 percent FSC virgin sheet can be as good for the environment (and our future) as a certified recycled sheet.
Step 8: The Printing Process
If your budget allows for specialty printing processes such as embossing, foil stamping or letterpress, make sure your paper is suitable for these techniques. As with the paper grades, take a look at printed samples to get a good idea of how your design will look on a specific paper.
When it comes to digital printing, not your desktop printer, be aware not to mix and match offset with digital paper lines, unless called out by the press manufacturer. They both are designed with different print environments in mind – the moist ink environment of offset printing and the warm, dry toner environment of the digital production press.
Using the right paper for the printing process, whether digital, offset or specialty, eliminates one variable in print production that can cause problems – and we don’t have time for problems.
Step 9: End Usage and Distribution
When designing corporate identity pieces, remember that 99.9 percent of letterheads will be imprinted with laser or ink-jet printers. Look for the mill’s laser compatibility or guarantee when speccing a paper.
If you have your eyes set on a paper that is not called out in this manner, be sure to get a few sample sheets and run them through your laser printer. Better safe than – you know the drill.
We already spoke about what to watch out for when mailing a printed piece, but even if mailing is not on your agenda, think ahead. If a piece is handed out in person and the recipient might be inclined to write some notes on it, make sure to take this into consideration when looking at varnishes.
For educational or reference pieces with a long life span, pick a paper that offers sturdiness and durability.
Step 10: Availability
Most papers are readily available and at your merchant or printer within one-to-five business days.
If the paper you have chosen is stocked out of state/province or is a specialty paper that has to be shipped from the mill, no problem. When you have considered the paper choice early on in your project, you are well prepared and won’t get any headaches.
Every once in a while, you will come across the term “mill item.” This term can refer to papers that are made to order, but it is also often used if a merchant doesn’t have a specific paper in stock and has to order it from the mill.
In the latter case, be aware that what is considered a “mill item” for one merchant might be readily available on the floor of the next merchant.
Naturally, every merchant stocks the papers they sell the most, so any unusual colors or substrates, in general, might require a few extra days in delivery.