Choosing the Right Paper Card for Your Printing Project

A card is a small piece of paper with a printed message. Traditionally, cards have been sent to celebrate special events and occasions.

A business card can have a significant impact on how your company is perceived. A thin or lightweight card may be taken less seriously than a thick, sturdy one.

Colored Paper

Whether it’s used for important interoffice memos, bulletin board messages or colorful flyers that prompt guests and customers to take notice, colored paper is a practical tool that allows you to highlight your ideas and communicate them effectively. Quill offers a wide variety of colors and styles, including pastels, Paper Card cool tones, primary shades and metallic papers. You can also find options that are acid-free and won’t yellow, as well as options that enable two-sided printing without ink bleeding through the sides.

Some types of coloured paper are tinted uniformly with pigments during the manufacturing process, while others are dyed after manufacture. In either case, they are non-white and typically resemble construction paper. Other coloured papers are coated with special clay that improves the paper’s smoothness and makes it less porous, allowing ink to be printed on it more smoothly.

Colored paper comes in a range of sizes and thicknesses. Lightweight options are perfect for home printers and work great for everyday projects ranging from art and craft work to scrapbooking, note writing and card making. Standard weight and cover paper options are also available for creating unique invitations, business stationery and handouts.

Many packages contain multiple sheets of colored paper, offering a sampler of each shade so you can determine the best one for your needs. You can also find three-hole punched paper that works with binders, and reams that feature 500 or more sheets of varying colors and finishes.

Thickness

The thickness of paper is a vital factor to consider when designing a product. Thicker materials will offer more durability and a better finish, while thinner options can be more flexible and easy to write on. There are several ways to measure the thickness of a sheet, including points and gsm. Points measure the thickness of a sheet in units of 1/1000th of an inch. This means that 8-point paper is eight/1000ths of an inch thick, while 16-point paper is sixteen/1000ths of an inch thick.

Gsm is the most common measurement used to describe the weight of paper. It stands for grams per square meter, and the higher the value, the thicker the paper. This measurement is usually made by weighing 500 sheets of paper (a ream) at its basic uncut size before being cut to letter or legal sizes.

While the gsm value indicates the thickness of the paper, some paper is actually thicker than other papers with the same gsm value because of the type of pulp it is made from and different manufacturing processes such as ‘bulking’ that occur during production. Microns are another measurement used to describe the thickness of a sheet, and these are equivalent to 1/1000th of a millimetre. Papers can also be referred to in terms of their’micron structure’ which refers to the number of microscopic fibrils that are present within the paper.

Gloss

Having your paper coated in gloss gives it an ultra-smooth to shiny appearance. It also offers benefits while printing such as sharper details and less dot gain (premature absorption of ink by the paper Paper Card before it can dry), resulting in rich, vibrant full color print jobs that almost look like they leapt out of your printer. Gloss papers are ideal for presentations, brochures and flyers.

There are many types of glossy paper, and they vary widely in brightness, appearance and cost. The type of glossy paper that works best for your job will depend on a number of factors, including the price, paper size availability and compatibility with your printer. Typically, higher brightness levels are more expensive, but they also provide the best image quality and color resolution.

The texture and feel of your paper also affects its gloss level. A matte or dull-finish paper has a lusterless coating that is a great choice for business cards and postcards, while textured paper has a more natural, tactile feel that makes it well-suited for greeting cards and invitations.

A textured paper can also have a special surface treatment, such as calendering, which creates an even smoother finish that is more reflective and brighter than standard glossy papers. The gloss of paper is measured using a glossmeter, which is used to compare the amount of light reflected from the paper to the amount of light hitting it. The readings from different parts of the paper can differ, depending on its grain direction and whether the glossmeter is being held in contact with it or against it.

Texture

When selecting paper for your next project, it’s important to consider texture. Texture is the pattern of peaks and valleys that form on a sheet of paper. This is a major factor in how the finished print will look, especially with digital printing. The more peaks and valleys, the harder it will be for the ink or toner to cover the surface evenly. This can cause the printed image to look blotchy and splotchy.

There are several platforms that offer different paper textures for various projects. Some are free and others require a paid subscription. Some platforms also offer the option of blending, clipping masks, and layers to create the desired paper texture. These tools help designers and creative professionals broaden their artistic capabilities.

For example, some platforms offer a free wrinkled paper texture that can give your designs an authentic and vintage look. They can be used for creating posters, banners, and invitation cards.

Another popular paper texture is linen. This texture is soft to the touch and looks like a combination of woven fabric and paper. This type of paper is often used for menus, stationery, and any time a designer needs a more refined and elegant feel. While it’s not as smooth as a wove sheet, it’s still an excellent choice for a wide range of applications.