When you’re designing a brochure for your business, you’ll need to choose the optimum paper for printing. Let’s walk you through the options and help you to make the best choice for your needs
What paper should I use for Brochures?
Whatever your business — and no matter what the core purpose or target market for your business brochure may be — choosing the best paper to print brochures on is an important decision. Which paper you use for your brochures has an impact on design, weight, the overall quality of the finished product and the most significant aspect: the customer’s experience and response to your campaign.
Even if you get everything else right, a poor paper choice can make your brochure look “cheap”; the wrong kind of surface texture or coating can lead to the images coming out fuzzy or the text harder to read; and if you get the weight or thickness wrong, it may not fold well or it may tear at the folds. You also need to consider the brochure style and binding. So, a paper that’s too heavy might make a saddle stitched booklet-style brochure too thick, while a paper that’s not heavy enough could make a single-page tri-fold brochure too flimsy.
At QinPrinting we’re experts in brochure printing and will be happy to advise you about the best choices based on your business, your needs, and your budget. But to give you an easy-to-understand overview of what’s involved in how to choose the best paper to print brochures on, you can break the problem down into four factors to consider:
If you get the decision right in all of these four areas, you’ll end up with the perfect paper choice. We should add that it’s worth thinking about paper right at the start, before you begin to design the artwork and create the content for your brochure. The paper you choose will have a significant impact on other factors including the most appropriate printing techniques, the quality of color reproduction, the clarity of the text and logo, the overall durability of the brochure, and how your business’s brand is presented to the buying public. So, whether your business is a new enterprise just building its brand, an established company reaching out to brand-loyal customers and subscribers, a non-profit distributing important information in a clear and entertaining style, a church group, a local store advertising a new product line or special offer, or anything else: choosing the best paper to print brochures on is a decision that will make all the difference to the success of your promotional campaign. Now, let’s look at the four factors one at a time.
Paper weight (thickness) for brochures
In the printing world, we measure the thickness and stiffness of paper by its weight. In most of the world, the units we use are grams-per-meter (gsm) but in the US we use pounds (lb). We’ll give you the weights in both systems, so just pick the one with which you’re most familiar.
If you ask smaller or less expert printers, they’ll often tell you that you must print your brochures on 100 lb gloss or silk text paper. While that can certainly be an excellent choice, we feel it’s unfair to customers to suggest that’s the only reasonable option. It’s touted as a “rule” but really it’s for the convenience of the printer and not necessarily in the best interests of the customer; particularly the customer who needs a professional product on a restricted budget. We put our customers first every time. It’s not just an ethical principle for us—although it is that, too—but also a matter of good business. The more customers we can serve and serve well, the better for everyone concerned.
According to our 30 years and counting of professional experience in the offset printing industry, we know that most brochures work best when printed on paper no lighter than 70 lb (105 gsm) and no heavier than 100 lb (150 gsm). So, there’s a good range from which to choose. You’re not just limited to one option, the most costly at the top end! Also, both text paper and cover paper are good for brochures at these weights and a range of finishes can work great. It needn’t always be a binary choice between gloss or silk; the choice depends on the details of your project and your budget. Let’s look at your options within this range to help you decide which is best suited to your needs.
70 lb text paper
This is the least expensive choice. It’s a fairly thin paper stock similar to the kind of paper you’ll find used for a paperback novel interior. But it takes printed text well, and it’s easy to fold, lightweight, and inexpensive to store and mail out. However, it’s not very durable, and photographs and color graphics may look a bit dull when printed on 70 lb stock. So, it all depends on your campaign. If you’re advertising a local, one-off, limited-time sale, for example, this could do the job well without cutting too deeply into your marketing budget.
80 lb text paper
So, this is just a touch heavier than the previous option. This is a paper weight that still folds easily but stands better in a display rack without curling. And a coated version will print color images with pleasing accuracy and precision. It’s also more durable and so it will usually last longer.
100 lb text paper
100 lb text paper is a bit more costly than the other options but still inexpensive compared with the sense of higher quality and texture that it communicates both to look at and to feel in the hand. It’s robust and gives a better, clearer print result.
80 lb cover paper
Cover paper is more like a thin card stock, so it’s strong and enduring. It’s also ideal for gloss, matte, soft-touch lamination. It doesn’t fold so well as the lighter papers, so a single gate fold rather than a more complex multi-fold or bound brochure style would be your best option. But if you want a brochure that can stand up reliably on display on the trade stand, for example, or that will still look good after it’s passed through several hands and bags, this could be the best paper to print brochures on for you.
100 lb cover paper
This is the most expensive option, so you’ll want this for long-term campaigns, luxury product and services marketing, and other special purpose; or, if you have the available budget, just to make your brochure campaign as stunning and robust as it could be. Any thicker than this, however, and you’re moving into card territory, so we’d recommend this as the highest weight for a business brochure. But if you need a real luxury appearance to your product, a brochure that speaks of reliability, class, and style, this could be a great choice.
Paper finishes for brochures
But when deciding on the best paper to print brochures on, there’s more to it than just the weight. Whatever the weight of the paper you choose, the finish has a vital role to play. Three possibilities — gloss, soft touch, and matte — all offer specific effects and results. Let’s look at each now.
Gloss finish
Gloss coating gives the paper a shiny, reflective, “glassy” finish. It also protects and preserves the paper and the quality of the print for a longer time; even for several years. If you have a brochure design that includes numerous photos and color graphics or where these images need to really “pop” with crystal clarity and warm, vibrant color reproduction, then gloss is an excellent choice of paper finish.
Soft touch finish
A soft touch finish still has a sheen to the surface, but it isn’t as glassy and bright as gloss. It keeps color and images bright and crisp but takes away some of the glare that gloss can create under strong light. So, if you have a significant amount of text, it will be easier to read with a soft touch finish without compromising too much on the quality of your images.
Matte paper finish
Matte lamination paper has an almost uncoated appearance. However, it is actually coated and so it’s more resistant and can reproduce images nicely, although they’ll be somewhat more subdued color-wise than say, silk or gloss. But that could be just the effect you’re looking for when deciding which will be the best paper to print brochures on. If the text content of your brochure is more important than the images, or if your brochure is all text and doesn’t have any photographs at all, or all the images are in black-and-white, then matte is often the best choice. The coating is invisible so there’s no glare or reflection from the paper surface, making lots of texts still easy on the eye. But it does protect the paper and the ink, keeping the printed text crisp and fresh.
Color paper for brochures
While most brochures are printed on white, cream, or off-white paper stock, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t choose colored paper—or textured paper, or any other kind if it’s in keeping with your brand and works well with your overall design. Brightly colored paper could make your brochure stand out from the crowd or help you target the right customers. For example, black or velvet blue over-printed with gold lettering speaks of luxury, rainbow colors could appeal to kids, and an earthy, natural green or brown color could be right for you if you’re promoting eco-friendly products and services.
Best paper sizes for brochure printing
The most popular and useful paper sizes for brochures are 8.5 inches by 11 inches, 8.5 inches by 14 inches, and 11 inches by 17 inches. You can experiment with diverse sizes, but these look good, fold well, and fit easily into brochure racks, stack cleanly on stands, and can fit in briefcases, handbags, and so on.
- Brochures printed on 8.5″ x 11″ paper are about the size of a standard letter, fold well into a tower shape and fit snugly into brochure racks and display stands
- Brochures printed on 8.5″ x 14″ give a bit more room for extra content but can still be mailed out or easily displayed in standard racks.
- Brochures printed on 11″ x 17″ won’t fit in racks but are more impressive for trade fairs and other corporate events.
What is the best paper to print brochures on?
As you can see, while the standard high street printer’s “100 lb gloss text” answer to this question can be a great option, there’s a lot to think about when choosing the best paper on which to print your brochures; and we recommend that you work with a printer offering a wider range of options and who has your interests at heart, not just a quick profit, when making your decision. That said, as a general rule of thumb, for a standard promotional or marketing brochure which has a balance of text content and photos or color graphics, 8.5 inches by 11 inches size 100 lb text stock with a matte finish is a safe bet. But the devil is always in the details, and each project has its own specific needs.
Talk to us. We’re here to help!
If you’re not sure which options would be best for your brochure campaign, the best thing to do is get in touch. Tell us about your brochure idea, who your target audience is, and how you’ll be displaying and distributing your brochures, and we’ll be happy to give you our best advice, based on 30 years of success in the industry. We’re an expert team with a real passion for print and a genuine commitment to treating each customer as an individual and serving you and your businesses needs first. Talk to us! Just give us a call on +86 21 6538 1716 (bearing in mind potential time zone differences) or shoot us an email to [email protected] and we’ll be delighted to help you.
