Paper Options
A helpful guide to the various paper options available for offset printing, suitable for products like books, brochures, magazines, catalogs, packaging boxes, and board games.
Table of Contents
II. Paper Weight
You can choose from a vast range of different paper options to best suit your print project. Some of these papers are untreated, others are coated on one or both sides with mineral clay or polymers, and others may be colored, textured, metallic, and more. Each with its special uses and particular qualities. In this helpful guide, we'll introduce the most common and useful paper options and describe their best uses to help you understand what's available and choose the ideal paper for your particular project.
Regular Printing Paper
The kind of paper stock that you buy from the stationary store for use in the office or with your home printer is fine for domestic purposes and short-run digital or laser printing of newsletters, updates, correspondence, and so on; but it isn't for high enough quality to work well with offset printing. Most print jobs require either uncoated offset paper or paper coated on one or both sides. Many projects—such as a bound book—will need at least two different kinds of paper for the interior pages and the cover.
Uncoated Paper Options
Uncoated paper is also called “offset” paper or sometimes — misleadingly — “wood-free” paper. It takes print well, but it isn't good for full-color or photographic reproduction as it's too absorbent and the images may look dulled or the ink “bleed” into the fibers making your images seem fuzzy. But for most black-and-white printing and text-only projects, it is efficient and cost-effective. Its slightly rougher surface and high absorbency also make it perfect for any project—such as a workbook, a coloring book, or a diary or journal—in which the end-user needs to write.
Our standard uncoated paper weights—a measure of the thickness of the paper, which we'll look at in a moment—are as follows:
70 gsm / 47 lb 140 gsm / 95 lb
80 gsm / 54 lb 160 gsm / 108 lb
100 gsm / 68 lb 180 gsm / 121 lb
120 gsm / 81 lb 300 gsm / 203 lb
C1S-Coated One Side Paper
In the industry, you'll always hear this paper referred to as “C1S”. It means “Coated on one side”. It's ideal for uses such as folding cartons, for example, in which only one side will be printed and the other left blank for gluing. At the same weight, C1S is more rigid and robust than standard coated paper, which is another quality which makes it ideal for packaging products.
Our standard C1S paper weights are as follows:
200 gsm / 135 lb 300 gsm / 203 lb
250 gsm / 169 lb 350 gsm / 236 lb
Coated Paper or Art Paper
Coated paper, also known as “art” paper, includes both gloss art paper and matte art paper. Coated paper is the best paper option for photographs, images, graphics, and colorful backgrounds, as the coating holds the colors closer to the surface leading to a bright, crisp color reproduction with well-defined zones and boundaries between areas of shade and contrast. Where gloss art paper has a little shine on it, matte art paper feels like silk, which is why it's sometimes also known as “silk paper”.
Gloss and matte art paper standard weights:
80 gsm / 54 lb 200 gsm / 135 lb
105 gsm / 70 lb 250 gsm / 169 lb
128 gsm / 86 lb 300 gsm / 203 lb
157 gsm / 106 lb 350 gsm / 236 lb (gloss only)
Holographic Paper
Holographic paper refers to paper adorned with a design or image, stamped or raised, then coated with a delicate, transparent layer of film. This process yields a distinct shimmer, an iridescent rainbow sheen that becomes apparent when the pattern is observed from specific angles. Its versatility makes it a captivating choice across various printing endeavors, adding a striking and visually mesmerizing touch to projects.
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Vellum Paper
Vellum Paper is a flexible, transparent paper. Found in diverse colors, thicknesses, and occasionally different textures, it stands out, versatile, and boasts numerous uses across printing, customized packaging, and various other paper-centric products.
Special Paper and Other Materials
We also have hundreds of special paper options and other materials, including:
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Textured paper
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Colored paper
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Metallic (gold, silver, and holographic) paper
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Soft-touch paper
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Linen paper
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Parchment paper
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Tracing paper
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Waterproof paper
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Vinyl
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Leatherette
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Cloth
Several of these papers or other materials are great options for making book covers, paper boxes, board games, cards, and for many other products or for achieving special effects, or specific practical uses such as end sheets or tabs.
The printing industry uses several measures of the thickness of paper. The most common are the weights, “gsm” and “lb”. Weight is used as a proxy for thickness. “Gsm” is an abbreviation of ‘grams-per-square-meter'. So, it's a measure of the weight of a sheet of paper with dimensions of one square meter. “lb” stands for pounds and uses the same principle but is expressed in the old measures still used in North America and a few other places. But to help you understand the thickness of the paper options available, here's a handy chart:
Text Paper
80 gsm ≈ 54 lb text paper
100 gsm ≈ 66 lb text paper
105 gsm ≈ 71 lb text paper
120 gsm ≈ 81 lb text paper
128 gsm ≈ 86 lb text paper
157 gsm ≈ 106 lb text paper
200 gsm ≈ 135 lb text paper
250 gsm ≈ 169 lb text paper
300 gsm ≈ 203 lb text paper
Cover Paper
80 gsm ≈ 30 lb cover paper
100 gsm ≈ 37 lb cover paper
105 gsm ≈ 39 lb cover paper
120 gsm ≈ 44 lb cover paper
128 gsm ≈ 47 lb cover paper
157 gsm ≈ 58 lb cover paper
200 gsm ≈ 74 lb cover paper
250 gsm ≈ 92 lb cover paper
300 gsm ≈ 111 lb cover paper
Whichever application or combination of applications you use to design your covers and interiors, we'll need you to export the final files as PDFs. This is straightforward in all design software as it is standard practice when collaborating with an offset printer. So, here's a quick guide to how to export your files as PDFs from each of the applications we've discussed above.
Book Cover Paper
For a paperback or softcover book, the most popular and effective choice is 250 gsm gloss or matte art paper, or C1S paper. If the book is larger than 8.5" x 11", then 300 gsm art paper or 300 gsm C1S paper would be better. If the inside front cover and inside back cover won't be printed, choose C1S paper. If the inside front cover and inside back cover will be printed in full color, go for gloss or matte art paper.
For hardcovers, we recommend a 157 gsm art paper, laminated, and wrapped on gryboard to make the casing, with end sheets to bind it to the block.
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Hardcover Book
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Softcover Book
Book Interior Paper
Again, your paper options depend on the purpose, content, and style of your book along with factors such as size and layout. In most cases, novels, coloring books, and other text-based volumes should be fine with uncoated offset paper for the interior pages. But an art book, coffee-table book, or a photo-essay, for example, would need a heavier paper coated on both sides to give the best reproduction. A comic book with a black-and-white interior could be fine with uncoated paper, but a full-color graphic novel would be best with coated paper for the interior, too.
Coloring Book
Coffee Table Book
