Paper coating compositions, coated papers, and methods

A method of producing a coated paper or paperboard, comprising:

• coating at least one side of a base paper with a coating composition, where the coating composition includes:
• a binder;
• and
• from about 25 parts to about 65 parts of a hollow polymeric pigment per 100 weight parts total pigment, with the remainder of the 100 parts of pigment being other pigments;
• and
• calendering the coating composition on the base paper to produce a smoothness of the coating on the base paper of less than 1.65 PPS-H5.

A paper coating composition, comprising:

• a binder;
• a first hollow polymeric pigment having a volume median diameter measured by hydrodynamic chromatography of a first predetermined value;
• and
• a second hollow polymeric pigment having a volume median diameter measured by hydrodynamic chromatography of a second predetermined value that is at least twenty-five percent smaller than the first predetermined value.

A coated paper or paperboard, comprising:

• a base paper having a first major surface and a second major surface opposite the first major surface;
• a coating over at least one of the first and second major surfaces formed from a coating formulation having:
• a binder;
• a first hollow polymeric pigment having a volume median diameter measured by hydrodynamic chromatography of a first predetermined value;
• and
• a second hollow polymeric pigment having the volume median diameter measured by hydrodynamic chromatography of a second predetermined value that is at least twenty-five percent smaller than the first predetermined value.