What stationery do I need?
Businesses stationery covers every aspect of your printed communications. Most businesses need letterhead paper, printed with laser-safe laser printers. It should be “long grain” to prevent jamming in the photocopier. Envelopes should be matching. You may need labels for use with larger envelopes and boxes. Business cards are essential and you should hand them out freely. Compliment slips make a difference as well. Whatever stationery you choose, do not think cheap. Shop around for the price but don’t stint on the quality!
How do I present a consistent image with stationery?
Make sure your letterheads, mailing cards, invoices, compliment slips, envelopes and business cards match. Pay attention to the detail and make sure your stationery matches your signage and marketing materials. Colours, typeface, logos and tone of text should all match.
What are the main factors when designing stationery?
Consider the effect of the stationery on your customers and contacts, and aim to impress. Consider typeface, logo and overall letterhead design, ink colours, the text (address phone number, business slogan and legal essentials such as VAT number). Think about the weight of the paper – heavier is more expensive but can signify high quality, recycled may indicate you are aware of environmental issues. Consider using a designer if you want more than basic design.
What are the main different paper types?
The main papers (or “stock”) used by small businesses are:
- Coated paper – this has a smooth finish because it has a coating (usually china clay) and is available in gloss, silk (or satin) or matt. It is used for leaflets, glossy brochures etc and are sometimes called ‘art’ paper.
- Uncoated paper – because it doesn’t have a coating it is less smooth and therefore is suitable for laser printing and photocopying. Premium quality uncoated paper is used for business stationery, but it can also be used for brochures etc. Available in a range of finishes.
- Laid paper – premium quality paper with textured pattern or parallel lines. Often used for business stationery.
- Wove paper – this premium quality paper has a smooth surface and is mostly used for business stationery.
- Bond paper – this is usually cheap uncoated wove paper and is used for photocopiers and faxes
Which thickness of paper should I use?
Thickness of paper is specified by its weight in grams per square metre (GM or GSM). Low grade photocopier paper is around 80gsm; letterheads 100-120gsm with good quality letterhead around 120gsm. Business cards are around 350gsm and flyers around 300gsm-350gsm.
Some papers seem thicker or bulkier than others, despite being the same weight. Uncoated papers are bulkier than coated and matt and silk coated papers are bulkier than gloss. Card, which is known as “board”, is often measured in microns (one micron is 1,000th of a millimetre.
How do I select the right paper?
Generally letterheads, compliment slips etc are printed on uncoated paper at 100gsm. 120gsm is classier but more expensive. Your printer will stock a range (get samples) and if you want a particular brand they do not stock not doubt they will get it for you. Remember to get inkjet/laser compatible paper if you are going to print your own stationery. Consider using the same stock throughout ie if you go for uncoated, make sure letterheads, businesses cards and compliment slips are all uncoated.
If you want to create full colour documents with photographs and illustrations use a coated paper for vibrant colour. Gloss paper will produce vibrant colour reproduction, but use silk or matt if you prefer.
What are the main paper sizes for my stationery?
The most common system of paper sizes in Europe is the ISO standard. The A series sizes (which includes A4 – the size of a standard letterhead) are:
- A0 – 841 x 1189mm
- A1 – 594 x 841mm
- A2 – 420 x 594mm
- A3 – 297 x 420mm
- A4 – 210 x 297mm
- A5 – 148 x 210mm
- A6 – 105 x 148mm
Printed leaflets are often one third of A4 (sometimes called ‘DL,’ which is the associated envelope). Standard compliments slip are this size i.e. 210x99mm
Other paper sizes you may hear are the SRA paper sizes used by commercial printing companies. These are slightly larger than the A series to provide room for grip, trim and bleed. Sizes are:
- SRA0 – 900 x 1280mm
- SRA1 – 640 x 900mm
- SRA2 – 450 x 640mm
- SRA3 – 320 x 450mm
- SRA4 – 225 x 320mm
What main printing terms should I recognise?
Stock means paper, Pantone is a trademark for colour standards and CMYK are the four basic colours used in the printing industry. At least if you have heard of the list of printers’ terms written below you won’t feel quite so confused!
- Bleed – printed area which extends off the trimmed area. It is not possible to print all the way to the edge of the paper sheet. To achieve this effect it is necessary to print a larger area than is required and then trim the paper down. Designers allow an extra 4mm-5mm of bleed to colour and image areas to allow for a little leeway when trimming
board – thick paper over 200gsm in weight, commonly used for folders, brochure covers etc. - Bond paper – A basic uncoated paper, often used for copying or laser printers. The better quality bond papers, with higher rag content, can be used for letterheads.
- CMYK – cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow and Black are used as the basic colours in the printing industry. CMYK is the colour model used in full colour printing – also known as four-colour printing and process printing. By overlaying various tints of these four inks it’s possible to reproduce a vast range of colours.
- Contrast – the degree of tones in an image ranging from highlight to shadow.
- Coated stock – paper which has a coating usually of china clay. It can be gloss, silk or matt and is suitable for jobs requiring a fine finish such as colour brochures and annual reports.
- Crop marks – in printing, marks placed on the copy to indicate the edge of the paper. Used as a guide when cutting (or trimming) documents to finished size.
- Die-cutting – the process of using sharp steel rules to cut special shapes, such as the pockets of a folder.
digital printing – information is transferred from computer directly onto paper, without the need for film and printing plates. Digital printing is faster and more cost-effective for small/medium print runs and allows special techniques such as personalisation and printing-on-demand. - Dots per inch (DPI) – measure of the resolution of input devices such as scanners, display devices such as monitors, and output devices such as laser printers, digital printing presses and monitors.
- Encapsulation – a form of protective enclosure for papers and other flat objects; involves placing the item between two sheets of transparent polyester film which is then sealed.
- Finishing – any process that follows the actual printing – for example folding, creasing, stitching and binding.
- Four-colour process – the most common system for producing full colour print. The four ink colours are Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow and Black (CMYK). The inks can be overprinted and combined in a variety of different proportions to produce a wide range of colours.
- GSM – abbreviation for ‘grams per square metre’. This indicates the weight of paper or other stock. Photocopier paper is generally 80gsm, good letterhead paper 120 gsm, postcards 300gsm and business cards 350gs.
- Laid paper – uncoated paper often used for business stationery which has a textured pattern of parallel lines similar to hand made paper. Compare to Wove Paper.
- Lamination – a plastic film bonded by heat and pressure to a printed sheet for protection. Available in matt or gloss finish.
- Landscape – an oblong artwork or photograph where horizontal dimension is greater than the vertical.
- Leaflet – a leaflet usually consists of a printed sheet of paper not larger than international standard A4 in size.
- Letterhead – a piece of paper (usually A4 or A5 in size) used by a company or organisation for official correspondence. Letterheads usually feature the name, logo and contact details of an organisation.
- Lithographic printing (litho) – a conventional (non-digital) print process. The process works by first transferring an image to thin metal, paper, or plastic printing plates. Rollers apply oil-based ink and water to the plates. Only the inked image portion is transferred to a rubber blanket that then transfers the image onto the paper as it passes between it and another cylinder beneath the paper.
- Micron – although paper is usually measured in grams per square metre (weight), it is sometimes measured in microns (thickness). A micron is unit of measure equal to one millionth of a metre or .00004″.
- Pantone – Pantone, Pantone Matching System and PMS + are Pantone Inc’s industry-standard trademarks for colour standards, colour data, colour reproduction and colour reproduction materials, and other colour related products and services, meeting its specifications, control and quality requirements.
- PDF – Portable Document Format – The industry standard for saving files in an acceptable format – often used for viewing proofs and for supply of final artwork.
perfect bound – a way of adhesive binding multi-section jobs. Individual sections are collected together and the spine is ground off (typically 3mm). Glue is then applied to the spine and a cover pulled on before the product is trimmed to size. - Portrait – an upright, oblong artwork or photograph where vertical dimension is greater than the horizontal.
pre-press – all procedures (and costs) associated with bringing a job to press, such as design, artwork, proofs, set-up etc. - Proof – a version of a document produced for the purpose of review before it is printed.
- Ream – five hundred sheets of paper.
- RGB – red, green, blue additive primary colours.
saddle stitch – a way to fasten a booklet by wiring it (stapling) through the middle fold of the sheets. - Score – to impress or indent a mark in the paper, to make folding easier.
- Spiral binding – a binding, as used in notebooks, in which the pages are fastened together by a spiral of wire or plastic that coils through a series of holes punched along the edge of the document.
- Spot varnish – a way of highlighting an area of a page by selectively applying a gloss varnish to it.
- Stock – paper or other material to be printed.
What are the legal requirements for business stationery (including online)?
As from 1st January 2007 the following applies to business stationery. Whether in hard copy, electronic or any other form a company must state its name, in legible lettering, on the following:
- all the company’s business letters, order forms;
- all its notices and other official publications;
- all bills of exchange, promissory notes, endorsements, cheques and orders for money or goods purporting to be signed by, or on behalf of, the company;
- all its bills of parcels, invoices, receipts and letters of credit
- on all its websites
On all of its business letters, order forms or any of the company’s web sites, the company must show in legible lettering:
- its place of registration
- registered number
- its registered office address and if it is being wound up
Whenever an email is used where its paper equivalent would be caught by the stationery requirements then that email is also subject to the requirements. The above also applies to Limited Liability Partnerships.
What are the main printing methods and how cost effective are they?
Use the right method for the job.
- Photocopying is very cost effective and fast for small quantities. Good quality for straight b&w.
- Digital copying is very cost effective for small quantities
- Laser copying is very cost effective for small quantities, but expensive per page.
- Offset printing using “instant” plates & camera ready art offers choice of colours and becomes more cost effective than copying at reasonably low volumes.
- Offset printing is the traditional method for high quality printing and offers extremely good quality. Low per page cost for long runs, but short runs are expensive due to set up costs. Particularly good for stationery.
- Full colour offset printing Vibrant full colour and low per page cost for long runs, making it ideal for top quality, high impact marketing materials. Impractical for short runs.
Can I use my own software for layout?
It is crucial to ask your printer first as some software packages will not support CMYK colours which is very important. If you will be printing predominantly in full colour, you should choose CMYK colours. If you will be printing in spot colour, pick colours from the Pantone spot colour palette.
