Paper guide: stocks, weights & finishes

The four kinds of paper

• •Cardstock — thick and rigid. Business cards, postcards, rack cards, tags, and covers.
• •Coated paper — a smooth surface that holds ink on top of the sheet, so photos and bold color print sharp. Flyers, brochures, and booklet pages.
• •Uncoated paper — natural, untreated paper that absorbs ink. Easiest to write, stamp, and mark up. Menus you annotate, letters, and forms.
• •Specialty — textured, metallic, and other premium stocks for pieces that need to feel different in hand.

How to read paper weights

• •lb text — the weight of 500 sheets of text-size paper. Used for flyers, brochures, and booklet pages (70lb, 80lb, 100lb).
• •lb cover — the same idea, measured on a smaller parent sheet. Used for cardstock (80lb, 100lb, 110lb cover).
• •pt (point) — thickness in thousandths of an inch. 14pt is 0.014" thick; 16pt is 0.016". Used for business cards.
• •lb bond — the everyday copier and letterhead scale (24lb, 28lb).
• •gsm — grams per square meter. The one number that compares every stock fairly, so we list it next to each paper.

Finish is separate from weight

Quick picks

• •Business cards — 14pt matte for a clean, writable card; 16pt for a heavier premium feel.
• •Postcards and rack cards — 100lb cover matte or silk.
• •Everyday flyers — 70lb or 80lb matte text.
• •Photo-heavy flyers — 100lb gloss text for the most saturated color.
• •Menus you write specials on — 70lb uncoated text.
• •Letters and documents — 24lb bond single-sided, 28lb bond double-sided.