Coated or uncoated: the choice before all the others

Choosing between them

Photographs and saturated colour want coated stock. Text, texture and anything that will be written on want uncoated.

Uncoated also reads as more premium in certain contexts — architecture, fashion, hospitality — precisely because it looks less commercial. That is a positioning decision rather than a technical one.

Adjusting artwork for uncoated

Because ink spreads, images print roughly ten to fifteen per cent darker on uncoated than on coated. Lighten photographs slightly before sending, and avoid very fine reversed-out text, which can fill in.

The specifications this applies to

For reference, here is how it works out on the products this comes up on most often.

• Letterheads — 210 × 297 mm finished, 3 mm bleed, 300 DPI minimum, from ₹4 per unit with a minimum of 100.
• Standard Visiting Cards — 89 × 51 mm finished, 3 mm bleed, 300 DPI minimum, from ₹2 per unit with a minimum of 100.

Ordering

Every file is checked automatically before printing, so a mistake in any of this is caught while it can still be corrected rather than after a run is on paper.

Standard delivery is free to every PIN code in India — two working days to a metro, up to twelve to the islands — and prices include GST, so the figure on the product page is the figure charged. Add a GSTIN at checkout and the invoice carries it for input credit.

Choosing without seeing it

Paper and finish are difficult to judge from a screen, which is why the descriptions on each product say what a stock is best for, what it is poor for, and what it feels like in the hand rather than only listing a GSM figure.

If a decision genuinely hinges on the feel, order the smallest quantity first. On most products the minimum is 100 units, which costs very little against the risk of committing a full run to a stock that turns out wrong.