Coated and uncoated paper stocks are easily distinguished by their appearance. A coated paper has a shimmer to its surfaces and will feel smooth and waxy to the touch, whereas uncoated papers appear matt and will feel rougher or grainier to the touch.
Coated papers are like a pane of glass whereas the uncoated papers are similar to a sponge. Printed coated papers will appear bright and colourful almost as though the inks were sitting on the surface whereas printed uncoated papers will appear duller and less vibrant where the inks have soaked into the paper's fibres.
Die cutting is a manufacturing process used to generate large numbers of the same shape from a material such as wood, plastic, metal or fabric. If we were to put it simply it is a way of making a hole in paper in a desired shape using the same presses that we use for letterpress printing.
Embossing is to raise an image up above the surface of the paper whereas
debossing pushes the image down into the surface of the paper. Either process can have colour or can be blind i.e. without colour. Both embossing and debossing are
produced on letterpress equipment and require film and metal dies to be made.
The litho-laminating process is a means of creating corrugated board that has a high quality, litho printed surface.
The litho-laminating process can be sub-divided into three main types - inline, offline, and sheet to sheet.
Duplex printing is a feature of computer printers and multifunction printers (MFPs) that allows the automatic printing of a sheet of paper on both sides.
Print devices without this capability can only print on a single side of paper,
sometimes called single sided printing.
Foil stamping, typically a commercial print process, is the application of pigment or metallic foil, often gold or silver. But can also be various patterns or what is known as pastel foil which is a flat opaque colour or white special film-backed material, to paper where a heated die is stamped onto the foil. Making it adhere to the surface leaving the design of the die on the paper.
With a focus on Stock, Substrate and ‘special’ Print Finishes find as many
variants as possible for each of the
following areas of Design:
> Branding and Identity
> Packaging and Promotion
> Publishing & Editorial
> Information & Wayfinding
You should consider production values, scale and functionality in relation to appropriate contexts and target audiences and evaluate their impact on the design decisions that have been made. Wherever possible you should aim to collect physical/actual examples of print as this will help you to evaluate the important tactile, formal and functional elements of your source material.