When people hear "paper weight," most imagine a rock or some other heavy object keeping their papers from blowing away. In printing, paper weight refers to the weight of paper that you're printing on. <It has nothing to do with rocks!> And since paper accounts for about 30 to 50 percent of your total production costs, it pays to know a little about it.

The printing industry expresses paper weight in pounds. When you hear someone say "70-pound paper," that doesn't mean that a sheet weighs 70 pounds. <Nor does it mean that a sheet holds 70 pounds-per-square-inch of wall-to-wall copy!>

The per-pound designation refers to the weight of a 500-sheet ream of paper in a given size, or basis.

In text weight, a ream consists of 500 sheets of paper, 25 x 38 inches. Cover stock comes in a basis size of 20 x 26 inches. Bond and photocopier papers use a 17 x 22-inch basis. Index stock is 25-1/2 x 30-1/2 inches.

Typically, people pay more attention to the words and pictures printed on the page than to the paper itself. However, paper does make a big difference in the finished appearance of your printed piece. Even without words, it sets a tone about what you have to say. And the paper you choose can certainly have a big impact on how much you pay for printing.

Paper is a whole industry unto itself, filled with its own unique vocabulary words such as strength, smoothness, brightness, gloss, opacity, whiteness, grain, texture, finish, and bulk.

So, which weighs more a 70-pound rock or a 70-pound ream of paper? (Careful. Trick question.)

We're happy to answer your questions about paper, and make specific recommendations for your upcoming printing projects. Give us a call. Or, better yet, stop by Pressto Graphics and take a look at the huge selection of papers we feature.