When creating print media for your business, you often have the option to choose from three different types of paper. Most commonly you will want regular stock paper, but for publications that are made to impress audiences, you can also choose one of two types of coated paper; either matte paper or glossy paper.
Both matte and glossy paper are appealing in their own ways and are used for business cards, brochures, postcards, catalogs, calendars, stationary, and more. If you are gravitating towards using a coated paper for your materials but aren’t sure which one to pick, here are the key differences you would notice when printing with each from online printing websites.
Color
Both types of coated paper handle colors and pictures differently, and when it comes to using coated paper in general, the colors will be slightly different from the digital images that you are looking to use. This is important to keep in mind.
If displaying vibrant colors is what you are after, it would be wise to choose glossy. The sheen of glossy paper makes colors more saturated than actual, which is ideal if you are looking to draw attention with your graphics. Glossy paper is also great for images and graphics that are of high quality, as it is capable of displaying visuals with sharpness and clarity.
Matte on the other hand can work in subtle ways, as it’s smooth nature can highlight minor details better than glossy paper can, such as textures, accents, and more. Matte paper is ideal for photos and other graphics where lots of detail is required. Believe it or not, but it is matte paper that absorbs more ink than glossy paper does.
Text
When considering coated paper for print media, the use of text should not be overlooked. Words, sentences, and paragraphs all need to be easy-to-read, and the coating of your paper can actually play a part in the legibility of text.
If you want the short answer of which generally makes text more legible, the answer is matte. Matte paper has little to no sheen to it, so there will be no glare for those that want to read a publication in a lit room or in daylight. Matte coating also is not as easy to smudge as glossy coating, so you can also choose matte paper if you want text to remain clear and readable in that regard.
There is one scenario in which companies might choose glossy paper if they have readable copy, and that is if their text is light and their background is dark in color. This would actually make their text more clear and brighter compared to matte paper.
Manufacturing And Costs
Both coated paper types are made from the same chemical coating. The difference lies in how much coating is on each type of paper. Matte paper will have enough coating to make a paper look smooth, but not enough to be reflective. Glossy paper will have a thicker coating that makes it shine, but it can definitely cause smudges, fingerprints, and oil-based stains.
As mentioned before, matte paper will use more ink over glossy paper, so printing costs will generally be higher for materials that use matte paper. Typically, though, if businesses choose a paper based on low costs, they will choose an uncoated paper.
Summary
Alternatives to regular paper for printing include glossy and matte paper. They both handle ink differently and contain different properties to make them either shiny or smooth. We do not consider one coated paper to be generally better than the other.
This entry was posted
on Monday, August 10th, 2020 at 12:07 pm and is filed under Business Cards.
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