In the realm of aqueous ink jet media the inherent differences between porous and polymeric, or “dense”, media is well studied and documented. Features of both media types pertaining to ink compatibility, drying time of aqueous inks and image stability have been investigated. Another inherent difference between the two media types is the degree of water resistance each imparts to an image composed of water-soluble dyes. Literature provides evidence that porous media formulations can provide better water resistance to water-soluble dyes than media formulations comprising solely of water-soluble polymers. This paper presents further studies with an objective of explaining the properties that porous coatings have, that provide the better water resistance. Moreover, it is demonstrated how these properties can be engineered into polymer design. By choosing polymer components that influence the polymeric infrastructure it is possible to create a hydrophilic polymer that forms a water insoluble film. This is shown to impart water resistance to water-soluble dyes. It is believed that this new technology challenges previous notions that a hydrophilic/hydrophobic balance is necessary for ink sorption/water resistance. Consequently, the system does not require the use of external cross linkers, a method employed to create such a balance in water-soluble films