Paper brightness, whiteness and shade are three of the most often misunderstood variables of paper choice. However, they all play an important role in determining the look of your final printed product. We all have a general idea of what the terms brightness, whiteness and shade mean. But there can be quite a bit of confusion as to their technical definitions and how they affect the appearance of your print project. It should be noted that though paper brightness and whiteness are somewhat similar, they are not interchangeable. Paper Brightness Brightness measures the amount of reflectance of a specific wavelength of blue light. Brightness is measured on a scale of 0 to 100 – the higher the number, the brighter the paper. In other words, 95 bright paper reflects more light than an 85 bright paper, therefore appearing brighter. Using the specific blue light to measure this reflection ignores longer wavelengths, …