Today, excellent images can be obtained with narrow-format printers that employ either dye- or pigment-based ink-jet inks, when jetted onto coated media. With the considerable interest in archival properties of the resulting prints, the impetus for utilizing pigmented inks has increased, and pigmented-ink technology is evolving rapidly. Furthermore, there is continued interest in microporous receivers, primarily for reasons of print productivity and performance. However, there is not much information in the open literature regarding the design of microporous receivers for pigmented inks.The goal of this work is to determine the relationships between microporous receiver-layer properties and important aspects of print performance. An experimental screening design that involved evaluation of five parameters at four levels in sixteen experiments (Hyper-Greco Latin Square Design) was utilized. Receiver layers were coated at the laboratory scale using silica type, PVOH type, silicasurface treatment, latex type and coating composition as the experimental factors. The layers were then printed with EPSON narrow-format, pigmented-ink printers (2000P, C80) and responses such as visual appearance, color gamut and drytime were measured. Strong main effects were observed, particularly for silica surface treatment and PVOH type (degree of hydrolysis). The silica type was also important. Based on composite measures of the responses, the best formulations were noted.