When a client asks us about paper, the first question is usually about weight — 130gsm or 170gsm? Silk or gloss? Those things matter, but paper choice runs deeper than that. The stock you choose affects how your print looks, how it handles, how long it lasts, and yes, where it came from and what happens to it afterwards. Getting it right is worth a proper conversation.
Weight and feel: setting the right expectations
GSM (grams per square metre) is the most quoted figure in any paper spec, and for good reason — it's the clearest shorthand for substance. A 90gsm flyer feels disposable; a 350gsm business card feels serious. But weight alone doesn't tell the whole story.
A coated silk at 130gsm will feel stiffer and more premium than an uncoated 130gsm sheet, because the coating process compresses the fibres. Uncoated stocks feel softer and more tactile — they're popular for brand work that wants to feel considered and honest rather than slick. Gloss coatings make colours pop and photographs sing; silk sits between gloss and matt, giving richness without the mirror sheen.
For anything that will be written on — feedback forms, menus with pencil annotations, notepads — uncoated is the practical choice. Ballpoint slides across coated stock and rarely grips properly.
Matching stock to purpose
A common mistake is specifying the same paper across every job. Consider what the piece needs to do:
- Brochures and catalogues — coated silk or gloss typically, with a heavier cover weight to give the piece a spine worth feeling.
- Leaflets and flyers — 130–170gsm coated works well for most; go uncoated if the tone is craft or ethical.
- Business stationery — uncoated 100gsm for letterheads (it feeds cleanly through office printers); heavier, often textured stock for business cards.
- Point-of-sale and menus — laminated boards or encapsulated sheets if they'll face repeated handling.
- Charity and educational print — recycled or FSC-certified stocks signal values without a word being written.
The ethical dimension — and why it's not just a box-tick
Sustainability in print gets talked about a lot, sometimes performatively. But the supply chain behind paper is genuinely worth understanding, because it varies enormously.
FSC certification (Forest Stewardship Council) means the wood fibre in your paper comes from forests managed to environmental and social standards. It's the most widely recognised scheme and it's verifiable — look for the chain-of-custody number on the certificate. PEFC is an equivalent scheme, equally credible, and covers a larger area of certified forest globally.
Recycled stocks — made from post-consumer waste — have a different environmental profile again. They avoid virgin fibre altogether, though the de-inking and processing involved means they're not automatically lower impact than certified virgin stocks. Context matters.
What's genuinely worth avoiding is paper with no credentials at all — unverified stock where the provenance is unknown. Reputable UK printers can tell you exactly what certification any given stock carries. If a printer can't answer that question, it's a reasonable one to push on.
Closer to home, choosing paper manufactured in Europe rather than shipped from further afield reduces transport emissions — though that needs weighing against the specific stock's other credentials.
A word on colour and recycled stocks
One practical note: recycled and uncoated stocks tend to absorb ink differently from bright white coated papers. Colours can appear slightly softer or warmer. That's not a flaw — it's a characteristic, and good designers account for it in their artwork. If you're reprinting something originally designed for a coated sheet onto a recycled stock, flag it to your printer early so the files can be adjusted.
Talk it through before you specify
Paper choice is one of those areas where a short conversation before artwork is finished can save money and improve the result. A good printer will tell you when a cheaper stock suits the job just as well — and when it genuinely doesn't.
If you'd like to talk through paper options for an upcoming project, the team at Ratcliff & Roper Print Group are happy to help you find the right spec.