Select the proper paper
Choosing a paper material is the same as choosing a font. With sufficient skill, this is a powerful method of creating the character of a printed piece. However, it can also undermine your design and reduce its impact if you make the wrong call.
“Every paper has a certain association,” says Paul Neale, Principal and Creative Director at Graphic Thought Facility (GTF). "Paper contributes to the overall emotional message of print."
“Often times you can rely on the inherent properties of the materials to carry the character, warmth, or properties you want to give a design,” he continues. "It's about balance: we could, for example, create a book with a very strict formal grid, but use the materiality to humanize it."
Paper Box, a recent GTF project for the major European paper manufacturer Fedrigoni, aims to help designers choose paper. The Italian brand has particular experience in the manufacture of specialty papers. The entire range of almost 900 papers is in a single black box – with three pull-out swatch books containing uncoated white, uncoated colors and coated materials.
"If you know what you're looking for or if you don't, the variety of materials in these three volumes will help you narrow your options," explains Neale. "Sample books are revised too often: They are beautiful and simple and designed with neutrality in mind."
Understand how the paper behaves
Paper swatches can guide your choice, but you can't make the decision in isolation. You need to set the usage in context and consider how the inventory will behave for the intended use.
GTF has created many art books and monographs, projects where the printed properties of the material – such as an image contains – are particularly critical. "You have to understand how the ink sits on the surface," says Neale. “Does it light up when you print a dark color on it? Can you see the structure of the paper? What if you add a matte coating? "
He warns against choosing uncoated material just because it's popular: it always has to suit the purpose. “Uncoated feels better than coated. It's less damp in the hand, ”he says. "But sometimes you can see that it was given because the customer likes it, but there are compromises in the printed image."
Physical dummies are important for demonstrating the tangible sensory properties of a printed object – such as weight, texture, smell – and the cutting mat in the GTF studio is put to good use. When time and budget allow, Neale also recommends working with manufacturing partners to create printed models that recreate the terms of the final job.
“It's one thing to imagine something in your head. But once you try to model it in real life, the shape always changes, ”he suggests. “Printed objects have to be produced physically. This is the only way things can be developed. "
Neale adds that physical models also greatly reduce misunderstandings at every stage of the process. Once a customer is convinced of the benefits of spending additional time and money on premium inventory instead of settling for one of the printer's internal papers, they can present the model internally for colleagues to buy in.
JOIN EVERYONE IN THE CONVERSATION
Dummies can also be an invaluable tool for discussing the project with production partners and determining what is feasible. According to Neale, these conversations should always take place as early as possible.
"This is especially true when you're trying to do something outside of the norm," he adds. “There are usually reasons why things are done the way they are. You need to think about the bigger idea in broad brush strokes, but it's also important to get into details early on. "
In the case of Paper Box, the sheer simplicity of the final product is an incredibly complex process behind the scenes to get the fine details right. Ninety percent of the design development was spent either in Excel or physically crafting dummies by hand in the studio, made possible by Fedrigoni's full sample and dummy service.
The studio requested a cut sheet sample for each material in each weight and color. "Then it was a lot of math," recalls Neale. "We put most of the materials in a table and looked at different ways of organizing them to determine the physical thickness of each book."
Don't assume that the sky is always better
Since the paper box holds all of the available weights of each material, it took a lot of trial and error to achieve the right balance. The end result is precision engineered. The three books of identical size are aligned so that "FED-RIG-ONI" is written on the spine.
Such an extensive design process gave Neale an even deeper insight into the relative properties of different stocks. "It's too easy to say that a heavyweight stock automatically means 'premium'," he muses.
"Sometimes that's still the case – like getting an exclusive invitation to the Triplex Museum Board. But light doesn't necessarily mean cheap," continues Neale. "It can also mean sensual. Show-through doesn't have to be negative either: you can Use it and highlight it as a positive thing. "
“Inexpensive, expensive, thick or thin, the important thing is that your choices make sense for that particular application,” he adds. "It's a combination of materiality and what you print on it."
USE SPECIAL PAPERS WISELY AND SPARING
In addition to the entire range of high-quality white and colored papers, Paper Box also includes all Fedrigoni special stocks – from glossy to stucco to pearlescent paper.
"Some materials are so specialized that you think," I'll never use this, "says Neale." But a few years later, a very special opportunity could arise – like an artist catalog for which this paper somehow translates many of the qualities of their work . "
Neale finds it particularly satisfying to find the perfect match for an unusual finish in the specialty papers menu. "I love using a material that is going out of style or has questionable taste for a project where it undoubtedly makes sense," he says. "But for every project you have to decide what should lead. It could be the typography or some amazing images. Not everything has to scream."
This certainly applies to choosing the right paper for a printed project. “Sometimes the paper is something that we want people to experience. In other cases, the choice of paper is just as important – but you don't want people to even be aware of it, ”concludes Neale.
“Some PMS specialty inks may need to be beautifully delivered or photos carried with accuracy and vibrancy. In these cases, it may not be so much about drawing attention to the paper – but it always has to be functional. "
fedrigoni.co.uk/paperbox