Paper Buying Guide

Like the quality of your business services/products, the paper you choose says something about your business. But how do you know what the best paper to use is? To ease the headache, we've produced a guide below to perfect your paper game.

Paper Size

Paper sizes are graded from small (e.g. A8) to large (A0) in reverse order. This means A8 is smaller than A7 and so on. Paper sizes, like weights vary for each task at hand.

We've produced a handy paper size guide below:

Size	Millimeters	Inches	Usage
A0	841 x 1189mm	33.1 x 46.8inch	Technical drawings and posters
A1	594 x 841mm	23.4 x 33.1 inch	Flipcharts
A2	420 x 594mm	16.5 x 23.4 inch	Drawings or large tables
A3	297 x 420mm	11.7 x 16.5 inch	Diagrams or large tables
A4	210 x 297mm	8.3 x 11.7 inch	Letters, forms and documents
A5	148 x 210mm	5.8 x 8.3 inch	Menu cards and brochures
A6	105 x 148mm	4.1 x 5.8 inch	Postcards and flyers
A7	74 x 105mm	2.9 x 4.1 inch	Promotional materials such as brochures
A8	52 x 74mm	2.0 x 2.9 inch	Business cards

How to choose paper weight?

When choosing paper for your office, consider what you're going to use it for and who is the end-user. Standard Paper is fine for internal use (80gsm), while heavier paper will add a quality feel to client proposals.

Paper is measured in GSM (Grams per Square Meter). This means how many grams one sheet of paper weighs measuring 1m x 1m. So which is best for your task at hand?

Paper Weight	Use
80-100gsm	Standard office paper - ideal for low quality internal printing, photocopying and faxing.
110-120gsm	Stationery paper for business documents such as letterheads, compliment slips or booklets.
130-170gsm	Most durable paper often used for leaflets, flyers, posters and pages inside brochures.
170-200gsm	Anything above 170gsm is generally classed as card. Great for brochure or magazine covers, high-end posters or impressive double-sided flyers.
200-250gsm	This is going into the heavier card category and makes for a top-quality brochure cover or postcards.
300-400gsm	Now in the board territory, this is the perfect business card weight and can also be used as a brochure cover.
400gsm above	If you're going for gold with your business cards, this thickness provides a luxury finish and definitely gives a feeling of quality.

Other things to consider

	Paper whiteness is normally measured in CIE. The higher the CIE number, the whiter the paper. Standard office paper normally has a CIE between 145 and 153, whereas business paper used for reports and presentations has a higher CIE range of 153 and 165.
	The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international non-profit group committed to promoting the responsible management of our forests. They set standards that ensure forestry is conducted in a way that is environmentally sound, benefits the local community and is economically sustainable.
	Improvements in technology mean that modern recycled paper is practically indistinguishable from standard paper. Collecting and converting recycled paper means it it more expensive, but the use of post-consumer paper means less waste is sent to landfill and the removal of chlorine products from the production process, makes it kinder to the environment.