Our paper range

The quality of paper is important for printed products. Printed items are often the first way someone comes into contact with your brand, product, service, or event. It's important to select the right paper type and weight for your design, purpose, and budget.

Paper types

Satin

Satin is our recommended default choice for the very best results. It’s a coated paper with a satin finish and a slight sheet. Satin is suitable for print jobs containing text and pictures, makes printed colors appear bright and well defined, and is great for readability. If in doubt, choose satin.

Gloss

Gloss is a coated paper with a high shine. Printed colors appear bright and vivid on gloss paper, making it ideal for displaying striking images and photographs in color.

Uncoated

Unlike gloss or satin, this paper does not have a coating, which gives it a very soft finish. The ink sinks into the paper, giving the color a more understated appearance. Uncoated paper is a great choice for stationary or postcards, since it’s easy to write on and has a prestigious look and feel.

Natural

This is an uncoated paper that has all of the characteristics of uncoated paper, but has not been treated to make it as white as possible. Instead, it has a natural off-white color. Natural paper is a perfect choice for a more vintage or rustic look.

Recycled

As the name suggests, this consists of 100% recycled paper. Recycled paper saves trees, and also saves more than 70% of the energy and water used in traditional paper production. It has a natural look but is still very white.

Still unsure about which stock to choose?

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Examples of silk, gloss, uncoated, and recycled paper

Paper weights

The quality of paper used can often be the first time someone comes into contact with your brand, product, service, or event. It’s important to consider paper weight when it comes to design, purpose and perceived value.

What is ‘lb’?

‘lb’ is a measurement of paper weight. However, the meaning of this number varies for different types of paper.

Text 70 – 80lb.

This weight of paper is lightweight and good if you’re on a tight budget or sending your prints through the post (the paper is lighter, so the postage will be less). Most magazine pages are printed within this range.

Text 100lb.

This paper weight is our most popular range. At 100lb. you no longer get ‘show through’ – where you see print from the other side of the page.

This range can be used for self-cover catalogs or magazines, as the paper is strong enough to support the stitching.

Cover 80 - 130lb.

This paper is thick and has a more premium feel. It’s perfect for covers, certificates and makes for premium flyers.

Text vs Cover paper

Cover Paper is approx 1.8 times thicker than Text paper. 80lb Cover paper would be the same weight as 145lb Text paper.

Paper sizes

Our products are available in a huge range of the most common and popular sizes.

If your project calls for something a little bit different, that’s absolutely fine! Use the Custom Size feature in our price calculator to get an instant price.

Not sure which paper size to choose for your project? See our list of industry standard sizes.

Size Width (“) Height (“)
Tabloid 11 17
Legal 8.5 14
Letter 8.5 11
Digest 5.5 8.5
Junior Legal 5 8

Special book sizes

Size Width (“) Height (“)
Letter 8.5 11
Square 8.5 8.5
US Trade 6 9
Digest 5.5 8.5
Standard US paper sizes from Tabloid (11

Cover papers

Cover papers add a front and back cover to your booklet. To add a cover, select ‘Add Cover’ in the price calculator and choose your cover paper type, weight, and finish.

The heavier the weight of your cover paper, the more rigid the booklet will be. We don’t advise adding a thick cover to booklets with low page counts, as it forces the booklet to stay open.

Some customers choose a thinner cover to give their booklet more flexibility, while others choose not to have a cover at all. This is often called a ‘self cover’ or ‘floppy cover’, since with this option the booklet is very flexible.

Note: only cover papers can be laminated.

Cover paper finishes and laminations

Suitability

We offer a wide range of paper weights, but not all options are suitable for every product. But don’t worry–our cost calculator is very advanced, and it won’t let you choose an unsuitable option.

Your available suitable options may also change depending on whether your order is going to be printed on a digital or offset press. Our system always makes sure that your options fit the printer being used for your order.

Upgrading and variations

On occasion, when it comes time to print an order, we might find the particular requested paper weight out of stock. Rather than delay your order, we will often print it on the next weight up.
This is called ‘upgrading’ and is quite common in the industry.

Most of the time it is not an issue, but if your item is going to be sent by post, upgrading the paper can affect the postage cost.

If paper weight is of great importance to your order, please let us know before we go to print.

We do not charge extra if we need to upgrade your paper, and we never downgrade paper.

Variations in paper production

Paper is a natural product, supplied from the mill in batches. As such, there can be variations in weight or thickness from one batch to another. This can result in paper that is up to 8lbs heavier or lighter.

We may also buy our paper from different merchants at different times, which can also lead to small variations in our paper stock.

Environmentally friendly

We’re passionate about the environment here at Mixam, and we do our best to source materials that have a minimal environmental impact.

We’re also working hard to make sure that we leave the lightest possible carbon footprint in everything we do.

For example:

  • We print on environmentally certified and recycled papers
  • All our papers are from sustainable sources
  • We use superior quality vegetable-based inks
  • We recycle all our waste products
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