Inks & Papers
In this section you will find some useful information on inks and papers. If you have any questions please contact us for more details.
Inks
Inks are usually printed as full colour or special colours, or a combination of the two. Full colour printing is achieved by a 4-colour process - the 4 colours used are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. You may also see these referred to as CMYK (black is given the letter K, which stands for 'Key'). Special colours (also called 'Spot' colours) are usually mixed in line with the 'Pantone' colour matching system.
Most printing today is achieved using standard vegetable-based inks. For certain jobs you may require high performance inks, for example to enable faster drying on specialist papers or boards.
We print with vegetable based inks as standard, which offer additional environmental benefits.
Paper
The range of different paper and boards to choose from is vast and being constantly updated, but in principle can be broken down as follows:
Uncoated
Usually rougher in texture, uncoated papers are often used for materials that need to be written on (eg stationery), but can also be used in brochures when a more organic or textured feel is desired.
Coated
A ceramic coating creates a smoother surface, often divided into matt, silk/satin and gloss finishes. The most common types of paper used in marketing communications.
Recycled/part recycled
Ranges of uncoated and coated papers are available with varying levels of recycled paper content.
Speciality
Interesting, textured, very high quality or just plain weird, specialist papers can achieve dramatic effects. Printing or finishing with these materials usually requires a high level of expertise and care. To see more, look at the websites from the likes of GF Smith, Robert Horne or Antalis.
