How to Choose Paper for Your Publication

Your choice of paper is as important as your choice of stories. The look, weight and feel of the paper create an impression in readers' minds about your publication and, in turn, about your business.

Paper Type

High-Gloss Paper
Glossy, high-grade paper is valuable for its ability to display brilliant color and sharp images. It conveys to readers that the publication is slick and expensive, and that your business is successful and attractive. Great for a designer-clothing company, but perhaps not right for a nonprofit hospital.

Matte Paper
Matte paper is less shiny and easier to read. It gives off a warmer, softer look that's often perceived as tastefully understated or appropriately thrifty.

Uncoated Paper
Uncoated paper, the cheapest of the three choices, has a down-to-earth, inexpensive feel. It might be right for a community newsletter, for example.

Paper Weight
The second factor in choosing paper is its weight. Most magazines use 40-50 pound stock paper, but readers may perceive these thinner papers to be a sign of cost cutting. Such paper is sometimes hard to read because of its transparency (a consideration when addressing a senior market, for instance).

Custom publications often use 60-70 pound stock paper, which gives them a more substantive feel, particularly if their page counts are somewhat short. Even thicker paper might be used for a publication attempting to convey prestige or permanence, such as an annual report or a high-quality brochure.

By the way, sizes and weights are based on measures created in the days when paper was made in large, individual sheets. If a sheet of 8 1/2-by-11 writing paper is marked 20-pound bond, for instance, it means that the paper was cut from 17-by-22 sheets, which weighed 20 pounds per ream of 500.