Best Paper for Printing Magazines and Mock-Ups
What Type of Paper is Used for Magazine Printing
Traditional Magazines
Traditional magazines are printed using an offset press, usually a web offset. These are high-speed, high-volume presses fed with jumbo rolls of paper. Print runs over a million copies are often run on a gravure press. Magazine pages are typically 67gsm to 104 gsm, while the cover is 185gsm to 216gsm. The paper is coated for offset press use. It is important to note that these papers are unsuitable for high-quality inkjet printing, and the coatings are not optimized for inkjet inks.
Printing Your Own Magazine
You can print custom magazines independently if you have a desktop inkjet printer and the right paper. Choose papers that are about the right weight and thickness. If you don't want to source two different papers, find and use a lighter stock for the interior and cover pages. The results are likely to meet your needs. Most coated inkjet paper in the right weight will be matte-finished in today's market. Matte papers are smooth and non-reflective. When buying paper, make sure it is coated on both sides. This means you can print photo quality and sharp text on both sides of the paper. You may find semigloss or even gloss papers that appear suitable for the project. We recommend getting a sample or buying a small quantity for testing purposes. Many papers labeled for inkjet use have a light coating and may not perform well with your printer.
Red River Paper Products for Magazine Printing
Premium Matte papers are smooth and have no reflection. The lighter version is thicker and heavier than high-quality copy paper. The opacity of lighter-weight papers is not high, so layouts with heavy ink coverage may have a bit of show-through.
Arctic Polar Luster and UltraPro Semigloss are photo weight and much heavier than typical magazine stock. However, for a presentation with a stunning look and feel, consider these two papers.
Last updated: February 21, 2024
