Research for B2B Business Booklet/Magazine Texture Selection
Problem statement:
How might we select the texture for a booklet print design to achieve the goal of creating a premium and sleek feel for a dispensing machine and its drink products when presenting to a client?
Research & Directions:
1. Print Paper
- Quality: Paper quality includes aspects like brightness, opacity, finish, and texture.
- Brightness: Higher brightness (90–100) offers better contrast for text and images.
- Opacity: Higher opacity prevents show-through from the opposite side of the paper.
- Finish: Matte, gloss, or satin finishes are available. Matte reduces glare but can dull colours, while gloss enhances vibrancy.
- Texture: Smooth, rough, or textured papers affect the look and feel of the magazine.
According to our problem statement, below are some recommended directions to consider:
- Smooth and Matte Finishes: Choose a smooth and matte paper finish for a sophisticated and elegant touch. Matte finishes minimize glare and create a refined appearance.- Top consideration.
- Quality Paper Stock: Opt for high-quality paper stock that feels substantial. The thicker paper adds a sense of luxury and durability to the booklet.
- Spot UV Coating: Consider using spot UV coating on specific design elements or images. This glossy finish applied to selected areas can create a striking contrast with the overall matte texture, adding a touch of sophistication. - For us, Matte can be considered to achieve the premium requirements.
- Soft Touch Coating: a unique finishing that introduces a velvety texture to the surface. The paper adorned with this coating becomes exceptionally tactile, enhancing its appeal to the touch. It boasts fast drying, non-yellowing properties, and is environmentally friendly. Described as luxurious and sophisticated, this coating elevates the final product to a level of elegance that captivates and intrigues. (source: https://www.printingforless.com/resources/printing-paper-type-descriptions/) Note: Apple often utilizes a variety of finishing techniques for its packaging, and one of the coatings commonly associated with Apple products is a matte finish or Soft Touch® coating. This particular coating provides a velvety texture and a smooth, non-glossy appearance, enhancing the tactile experience and adding a sense of sophistication to the packaging.
- Metallic Accents: Introduce metallic inks or foiling for a premium look. Metallic accents, such as gold or silver, can enhance the visual appeal and communicate a sense of luxury. —For us, a Gold metallic accent can be considered to provide visual appeal and a sense of luxury.
- Texture with Purpose: Incorporate subtle textures that align with the brand or product theme. For example, a fine linen texture can add a touch of class, while a soft-touch finish creates a tactile and premium feel.- What’s our purpose for the target clients?
Other Suggested Examples:
This article from Publuu suggested some examples below:
- Silk paper is often recommended as a default choice due to its smooth finish, which offers a professional look and feel.
- Gloss paper, on the other hand, provides a shiny and premium quality appearance, making it a great option for showcasing high-resolution photography for customer satisfaction, or creating eye-catching covers.
- Uncoated paper, with its rough texture, adds a vintage touch and imparts a slightly subdued effect on colours, making it popular for achieving a faded and retro aesthetic, particularly in zines.
- “If you need to create a magazine that showcases many photos, you should choose a glossy or matte finish. Glossy paper can add that luxe finish to your magazine, while matte allows the colours and detail on the page to stand out more.” is noted by Seamus Barton in the article.
2. Binding choices
According to Publuu’s suggestion, I believe Perfect Binding is more suitable for our branding and requirements because it can deliver a feeling of professional, high-end. (Also, cost-less)
Perfect binding, on the other hand, is like a softcover book because the individual pages are glued to the spine, which has a square edge. This type of binding is often used for high-end publications, as it makes books look more professional. Some high-end books are saddle-stitched, using thread to bind pages to the spine — but saddle-stitching might be too expensive for most booklets.
While choosing Perfect Binding for our booklet, we also need to pay attention when considering the thickness of the paper:
However, it is important to note that the perfect-bound booklets need to have square spines, and the paper must be at least a certain thickness. For example, 130 g/m2 of paper would require at least 36 sides to meet the minimum thickness requirement. If the paper were thinner, more pages would be needed to make the binding work.
3. Paper Weight and Colours
Thanks for Printingcenterusa’s article sharing, we can consider the paperweight as below:
Paper weight is an indicator of thickness and sturdiness, with higher weights typically indicating better quality. For the interior pages of a standard magazine, 100# gloss text (150 GSM) is a popular standard choice. For covers, a heavier paper, often between 80–100# gloss cover (218–270 GSM), is used to provide durability and a premium feel.
Briefly, to achieve our expectation of high quality and premium feel, we’d consider 150 GSM for interior pages and 270 GSM for Covers.
As per one of the online booklet builders offered by a European printer, there are different paper colours (different white and brown colours) with various paper weights that can be chosen. With this reference in mind, I believe it’ll be a great resource to discuss and try on in the printing shops.
4. Great examples (handy magazines and booklets)
5. Printers based in Vancouver
There’s no need to make the decision immediately but some directions we can consider at this stage:
- To sum up, Matte finishes or Soft Touch Coating with Gold Metallic accents can be the top options and the best consideration for our cover. Some of the pages can also be considered with this setting.
- Furthermore, the inner page
- Question 1: What’s the total weight and the total number of pages? Thick paper adds a sense of luxury and durability, also, if we’d like to choose Perfect Blinding, the numbers of the total page and the weight of each page needs to be carefully considered, e.g. 130 g/m2 of paper would require at least 36 sides to meet the minimum thickness requirement.
- Question 2: Do we want to choose one of the options between Spot UV Coating, touch Coating, and a Gold metallic accent to provide visual appeal and a sense of luxury? Or, none of them can also be a choice!
- Question 3: What’s our purpose in terms of the target clients?
In-Person test — Actual Tactile impression:
Plan: Buy 1–5 preferable magazines/booklets and then go to the Printer shops asking for the same or a similar texture.
On Nov. 24, 2023, I walked into the printers near our office to try the actual texture with the hope of getting a further discussion with the print professionals around Vancouver downtown. Here are some interesting notes and takeaways from this small journey, which might benefit you:
- Zapp Worx Design — The best experience/service I’ve found so far. The owner directly talked with me and showed me different materials they can make which is very professional and kind. They also provided me with some samples they made before for better checking with my client. Their print process is 3 days after the files and quotation are confirmed. I searched their Google review afterwards, people shared that Zapp Worx Design offers great service and reasonable prices, which I think is worth collaborating with.
- PrintPrint — Not bad service, can communicate with the personnel. They lend me a small texture paper sample that provides an easier discussion. Their print process is 3 days after the files and quotation are confirmed. This shop is very close to our office. However, they seem too busy to discuss with clients and have limitations on coated covers that we want to achieve. This print may be considered for other print works, not for the booklet which we want some special print.
- PRINTitGO — No in-person service; only a large amount of print service.
- Gastown Printers Ltd — Have walk-in service, mostly for large amounts of print service.
- Print Time Digital Centre — They said they have in-person service while I called them, but it’s hard to find the right entrance to walk in. (pass)
- Pineapple Prints Inc. — No walk-in service but they run 24/5 and the review says efficient and good service so it could be a great option for other prints.
Haven’t visited but can be considered:
- Samco Printers Ltd. — Has walk-in service and the reviews are great.
- Minuteman Press — Have walk-in service and the reviews are great.
- DigiTech — It’s a bit far so I didn’t go but it can be follow-up.
Takeaways
After discussing these shops, I have an idea in mind that we can go for:
- Cover: Soft Laminating; (optional) Metallic Accents (gold/silver) for the cover title.
- Matte interior pages
- Perfect Binding — with a minimum of 14 pages + cover
Final Decision:
TBD 😝😝😝😝
