Paper Weight Guide

Have you ever looked at a package of paper and wondered how to tell if it was the right thickness for your project? Understanding paper weight can be tricky, but it’s important when the quality of your project depends on a particular paper thickness. For example, business cards don’t look as nice on copy paper as they do on a nice heavyweight cardstock. But on the other hand, cardstock will not fold as easily if you’re planning to create a piece of origami art. We’ve created a Paper Weight Guide to help you choose the right paper for all your projects!

 

 

Pounds vs GSM

The first step to understanding paper weight is to understand how it is measured. There are a few ways this can be done. One way is called U.S. basis weight, which is the most common measurement used in the United States and is expressed in pounds.

 

When you see a package of paper marked with a weight measured in pounds, that doesn’t mean the actual weight of the package if you were to weigh it on your bathroom scale. Rather, it refers to the weight of a 500-sheet stack of the paper at its original, uncut size (or “basic size”). Paper manufacturers measure the weight in its basic sheet size before cutting the paper into smaller pieces for consumer use. Where this gets tricky is, different paper grades (book, bond, cover, index, etc.) have different basic sheet sizes. This is why 80 lb. cover is actually a heavier cardstock than 110 lb. index, despite the number of pounds being lower. Also, there are times when the basis weight can overlap, which results in two paper types of different thicknesses having the same basis weight. Just a bit confusing, isn’t it?

 

So if you’re trying to decide between two types of paper with the same basis weight and you want to choose the one that is heavier, check the GSM. This stands for “grams per square meter”, and means precisely what the name suggests. The paper weight is determined by one sheet of paper at a size of 1 meter by 1 meter. The weight of that sheet is then measured in grams. Because all different grades of paper are measured at the same size (1 square meter), it provides a more intuitive system of measurement. The higher the GSM value, the heavier the paper weight.

 

 

Best Uses for Different Paper Weights

Now that you have a better understanding of how paper weights are measured, here is a quick guide we created to help you determine the best paper weight for your projects.

 

 

20lb / 75gsm

24lb / 89gsm

28lb / 105gsm

60lb / 160gsm

65lb / 176gsm

 

67lb vellum / 147gsm

110lb index / 199gsm

80lb cover / 216gsm

100lb cover / 271gsm