How to Choose the Right Paper Stock For Print

Choosing the right paper stock for print in your small business is important. From the weight of the paper to your choice of finish, your paper choice communicates a lot about your business. For most small businesses, the challenge comes from finding the right balance between what your paper choice communicates and how much it costs.

You might think that choosing the right paper comes from knowing about paper weights and colour options – but more important than the technical details, is understanding what you need from the paper itself.

4 Things to Consider when choosing the right paper for print

1. Cost – What’s your budget? Finding the balance between your budget and your message isn’t always easy, so we recommend that you figure out your budget first and then look at paper types that fit the bill. Otherwise you run the risk of finding a paper that you think is ideal for the job, only to discover that production costs are too high.
    
2. Life Span – How long does your product need to last? Your direct mail flyer probably only needs to see out the week, a textbook on the other hand, needs to have extremely lightweight pages that can take a lot of handling – and a novel would need to be able to be read over and over for many years.  
    
3. Use – What are you using the paper for? Do you need high quality photos included? Perhaps you want lots of colour or do you want just black and white? What you need the paper to do will have a big impact on the type of paper that will work for your project. 
    
4. Message – What kind of message are you hoping to send to your customer? Should your paper stock feel cheap or fancy? Delicate or solid? Do you want to send a message about sustainability and the environment? Knowing what message you want to send will help you narrow down your paper choices. 

Knowing the answers to each of the questions above will help put you on the right path to choosing paper with the right weight, colour and finish for your project. Better still – for everything you need to know about paper choices, speak to your local Kwik Kopy today!