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.

  1. Paper types
  2. Paper weights
  3. Paper weights
  4. Paper sizes
  5. Cover papers
  6. Suitability
  7. Upgrading and variations
  8. Environmentally friendly

Paper types

Silk

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

Gloss

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

Uncoated

Unlike gloss or silk, this paper does not have a coating, which gives it a very soft finish. The ink sinks into the paper, giving the colour 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 colour. 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

Examples of silk, gloss, uncoated, and recycled paper

Paper weights

What is gsm?

The term ‘gsm’ is an acronym for ‘grams per square meter’. The higher the gsm number, the heavier the paper.

90-115gsm

This is a lightweight paper that is good if you’re on a tight budget or are sending your prints through the post (the paper is lighter, so the postage will cost less).

Most magazines are printed in this range. Letterheads tend to be printed around 115gsm.

130-170 gsm

This is our most popular paper weight range. At 130gsm, you’ll no longer get any show through (where you can see the print from the other side of the page).

This weight range can be used for brochures or magazines, since the paper is strong enough to support the stitching.

250-450gsm

Paper in this weight range is thick and has a more premium feel. It’s perfect for covers, certificates, and high-end flyers and leaflets.

Paper in this range can be laminated, but it can only be folded if it’s scored first.

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 brochures 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 displayed in standard A sizes and a range 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! Contact us and we’ll provide you with a quote for a custom size. 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 (mm) Height (mm)
A0 841 1189
A1 594 841
A2 420 594
A3 297 420
A4 210 297
A5 148 210
A6 105 148
A7 74 105
Size Width (“) Height (“)
Tabloid 11 17
Legal 8.5 14
Letter 8.5 11
Digest 5.5 8.5
Junior Legal 5 8

Special sizes

Size Width (mm) Height (mm)
DL 99 210
Square - 210 210 210
Square - 148 148 148
Square - 120 120 120
Square - 105 105 105
Custom size 105 297
Custom size 210 280

Special book sizes

Size Width (mm) Height (mm)
Novel 127 203
Standard 132 197
Demy 138 216
US Royal 152 229
Royal 156 234
Square - 210 210 210
Size Width (“) Height (“)
Letter 8.5 11
Square 8.5 8.5
US Trade 6 9
Digest 5.5 8.5
Standard 'A' paper sizes from A0 - A6 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 litho press. Our system always makes sure that your options fit the printer being used for your order.

Some products, like letterhead stationary, are made with uncoated paper, so you can print on the paper with your desktop printer. Digital uncoated paper can’t be overprinted on with a desktop printer. That’s why all of our letterheads are printed using a litho press.

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 10gsm 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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