How do you select your paper?

[sputnik]

Hi,

I'm a newbie in the printing world, and came across some issue with one of my teachers.

I have been told that papers are managed according to their weight, so when planning/quoting a brochure, papers are chosen based on the weight. For example, some coated glossy 90 Text for the inside and some coated glossy 120 Cover for, well, the cover.

However, the few print shops I visited all selected cover stocks according to the thickness. So the previous brochure would still have the coated glossy 90 Text inside, but a 12 points coated glossy for the cover.

As my teacher and I couldn't manage to get a real-world answer to this, I'm asking you: Do you select your cover stocks based on their weight or on their thickness?

TIA

 

[rbailleu]

the nice thing about saying 12pt is you know how thick it is with some degree of certainty.
with gsm nobody knows if its a dense or puffy 80#. you know what it weighs but not its thickness.

 

[jotterpinky]

In my experience the decision to market the sheet based on thickness or weight is up to the mill that creates the sheet. Most sheets that are specified by the thickness of the stock are not very dense (being considered "light" or "ultra-Light") stock. However their thickness gives them a similar feel and characteristics to heavier weight stocks. For this reason the mill has chosen to market the sheet based upon it's thickness to give buyers a better idea of the actual "real-world" feel and characteristics of the sheet.

For example a Carolina 12pt C1S sheet may only weight in as a 70# cover sheet but is about the same thickness as most 100# cover sheets and hence behaves more like a 100# sheet on press and when finishing.

 

[Coolio]

Hi Sputnik,

Both of the above answers are correct. I will add my thoughts.
Jotterpinky is right in that the mills market their sheets based on industry standards.
The industry as a whole tends to sell paper by weight. Common "Imperial" basis weights are
Text: 50# - 60# - 70# - 80# and 100#
Cover: 65# - 80# and 100#

To answer your question, when selecting paper for a project we often look at the end use of the product to determine which paper we will use. Here are a few examples.

A high end catalog for an industry selling bath fixtures. I would suggest 80# Cover for the insides and 100# Cover for the cover. Ultimately, this gives a heavier, more luxurious feeling, end product that may suggest value.

A throw away newsletter or advertisement may be printed on 60# to 80# text. The value is not in the product but in the offer. Lighter weight stocks cost less. Also, they weigh less which may affect postage if they are being mailed.

Due to US Postal requirements, postcards must meet a certain minimum thickness to mail. In this case we look at caliper to be sure we are meeting the requirements.

In all of the above situations, the customer budget is the ultimate deciding factor. They may want the higher end feel of a heavy brochure but can only afford less costly paper, so we end up producing on 80# text and 80# cover (as an example).

Some papers, Board Stocks to be exact, are marketed by caliper (.008 = 8pt, .010 = 10pt etc). This is fine but they are still sold by weight.

You may have noticed I stayed away from GSM. Being in the US I don't have enough knowledge to "know" how the gsm of a paper equates to the feel I am looking for.

I hope this helps.

Greg

 

[Bret Hesler]

...
Some papers, Board Stocks to be exact, are marketed by caliper (.008 = 8pt, .010 = 10pt etc). This is fine but they are still sold by weight. ...

As Coolio said, Board stocks are usually referenced by thickness, and I have seen many pieces run with board stocks for covers, usually not more than 12-15 pt. Thicker boards are usually used in packaging and dimensional pieces (tent cards, brochure holders,...)

Most brochures that are not self-covered will use a matching text and cover stock (80# Opus Gloss Text with 80# Opus Gloss Cover) so that the color and finish of the two match.

Bret

 

[sputnik]

Thank you very much for your answers, you all explained what I needed to know.