I was scrolling through my facebook feed when a post from a design friend stopped me in my tracks. “Dear paper companies – cease and desist showing designers premium / unique papers that when we actually go to use them – you inform us right before press you cannot fulfill an order. I am so over print production.” I cringed, this is the exact opposite reaction every paper company wants a designer to have about their products. As someone who has lived and breathed paper for the better part of my career, I have to wonder why the disconnect between availability of premium papers and designers still happens?
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SPEC
Availability of premium printing papers comes down to one thing – sales. In the world of premium papers, there are three parts to the supply chain: paper mill (manufacturer)>paper merchant (distributor)>commercial printer (paper buyer). Designers, do you see anything missing from the chain? Sure the paper mills spend tons of money marketing to designers, especially when launching new products. The print samples are amazing, and are great tools for inspiring and educating creatives. The problem is the demand for papers used on those design projects is not accurately captured because the designer typically is not the one buying the paper – the printer is.
What’s wrong with that? Well, when it comes time for the printer to purchase the paper for your job, they turn to the local paper merchant. The local merchant holds all power when it comes to paper availability and pricing. The merchant invests a lot of money in inventory (paper) to stock in their warehouse. Having worked for a few merchants as a paper rep, I know they like two things when it comes to inventory: fast turns (sell quickly) and profitability.
Most of the papers designers want to use on projects tend to be the premium papers (think grades like Superfine, Classic Crest, McCoy, anything by French Paper, etc.). While these papers are certainly profitable for the merchant, they don’t sell as fast as coated/uncoated white commodity papers. Walk through any merchant’s warehouse and you will see the majority is going to be coated #3/imports, copy paper and white uncoated offset papers. I get it, but this is where the problem starts. The designer asks the printer to quote a project using paper they’ve specified. The printer sources it from the merchant they have a relationship with. What’s the big deal? Not every merchant is franchised to sell every paper mill’s products – it varies by market. So if the printer you use has a relationship with a merchant who doesn’t stock the paper you want, the printer has two choices: buy the paper the designer has chosen from the merchant who carries it and pay a higher price (because they don’t normally buy from that merchant), or substitute another sheet that is easier to get or costs less or both. This sounds reasonable but beware, offering to substitute a sheet like Endurance for U1X or McCoy is not a comparable substitution. In the end, the merchant re-orders inventory based on their actual sales – not what was specified.
Hence the frustration by the designer. They see all these “fancy, dancy” papers and want to use them. The mills want designers to be inspired by the papers and print promotions and its why they make such beautiful papers. What they don’t want is for designers to feel so frustrated by trying to actually use these papers that they end up loathing print production. It sucks for both the designer and mill. The best way to avoid this scenario: find a paper resource that will work with you ahead of time. By paper resource I mean just that – someone who specializes in paper: this could be the merchant paper rep or the mill rep.
I love my print reps but honestly they don’t know paper like a paper rep does, and I don’t even mean the paper characteristics like opacity, brightness, smoothness, or the myriad of available finishes and their nuances. And while the mill rep is a good resource, they only know what they sell not everything that is available or stocked locally. Really, your local merchant rep is the most valuable paper resource a designer can have. They know what’s stocked – meaning small quantities (like by the sheet). This is really a time saver when working on projects like business cards, letterhead, folders, anything requiring an envelope – in general anything else requiring a small amount. The problem is the merchant rep is compensated by getting the paper order and since most designers don’t actually buy the paper (the printer does), unless you are vigilant about making sure the printer buys from your paper rep, chances are you won’t have a merchant paper rep calling on you for long. This is a problem for many designers – especially freelancers, smaller studios or even those 50 miles outside of a major city (although I get pleas for help from designers from cities like NYC, San Francisco and Chicago – so go figure).
So start with your local paper rep if you are lucky enough to have one calling on you. If not, its important to develop an arsenal of paper resources: subscribe to the paper mills newsletters (they are full of good info), follow them on social media, read their blog posts, visit their websites. Most of the premium mills sell their paper and envelopes online now – French, Mohawk, Neenah, Reich all have e-commerce sites. Yes, they may be a bit more costly than what your printer might be able to source them for, but when you’re talking about 250 sheets, the difference is nominal. And in case you didn’t know, Parse & Parcel offers free paper consultation – just drop us a note. We’ll not only help you get the samples you need, but can help you source the paper you want locally – we’ve got connections. I help a ton of my former design customers find the papers they’re looking for. Sometimes it’s just easier to go to that one trusted resource and let them help you find what you want.
If you’re like me, you value your time and its probably better spent creating than searching for paper availability. Let the pros help narrow the choices for you, then order samples of what you like so you can touch, feel and test the papers to make sure they’re just right.
Jill well stated.
If you have yoru print reps involved from the get go on special projects they can do the leg work with the local paper companies as well. It is a service I offer …
Jill this is very well stated. I tell all my clients if I can be involved from the get go i can do all the leg work so they can continue with their design while I work with the local paper compnaies / reps.
We too consider it our job to do the legwork on paper availability – now more than ever since local merchants have stopped employing “spec” people to educate the local design and print purchasing community.
Hi Jill,
I have worked as a designer in Sydney and London and have seen this problem ruin many would-have-been-great projects. It takes tremendous time and effort to source printers that will use the papers specified.
Although, in Stockholm this problem seems to be non-existent. For more than a decade the paper merchant Antalis, (previously Swedish Paper) has run a showroom in central Stockholm that stocks pretty much every paper in their range. They provide free samples or you can buy larger sheets at cost price. They provide dummies and run paper workshops/education for designers as well as printers. There is also a section where they showcase nicely printed things from printers around the country, so that you can get in direct contact with the right printer. This type of showroom seems to be a one-of-a-kind that should be much more known and used as best practise for similiar solutions around the world. If it works in Stockholm with a population around a million, I cannot see why it wouldn’t in other cities of the same size or much bigger, like London.
I cannot give this place enough credit and I hope they will be able to be around as long as we still print on paper.
The website is in Swedish but I’ve put it through a translator for you guys.
https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&nv=1&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.antalis.com/business/en/sites/SE_Antalis/hem/om-oss/kontakta-oss/medarbetare/butik–dummyverkstad.html&usg=ALkJrhiEC_yMd41dIrsgUDDKLP-VVtxgiA
Niklas – thanks for sharing the info on Antalis, I am a big fan of what they are doing. When I founded P&P, I did so with the idea that paper was meant to be touched, felt, experienced. How can a designer know what to spec if they really have no idea how the sheet will perform?
The idea behind The Parcel was that anyone could experience these papers and samples up close and personal, so each month they can see what is possible.
Later this month we’ll be launching The Sample Studio – a full service place where again anyone can request flat samples, envelopes, mockups and dummies. While we have a physical space based in our hometown of Cleveland, Ohio where we encourage designers to visit and experience paper, not everyone has access to a physical location like this – so the idea of an online resource just seemed like the best way to share what we do with everyone – and make these sample studio resources available to anyone that wants access to them.
That’s it, moving to Stockholm. :^)