Here's a list of general printing industry terms and paper weights to aid in making an informed decision on your next print project.

1. Paper weights and general uses. (Book/Text weight : Cover weight : Card stocks)

• Book/Text weights- Refers to paper weights used for the inside pages of booklets, catalogs and magazines.  Most printing is done on book/text weights. For example: Standard Xerox (copy paper) is 20lb Book, letterheads are usually 40-50 lb book and premium letterheads use 70lb book. Book/text weights range from 20lb to 100lb.
• Cover weights - Are much heavier and sturdier than book/text weights and as the name implies, they are used for the "cover" for magazines, booklets, etc.  Cover weights can range from 30 - 120lb. Lower end business cards are usually printed on 80-100lb cover stock while the higher quality cards are printed on card stocks (see below). A 100lb book/text weight is comparable to a 54lb cover weight.
• C1S and C2S are heavy card stocks referred to by "points". Most are 10 pt to 16 pt. The numbers 1 and 2 refers to the coating of either one or two sides. 10 pt CS is comparable to 90 lb cover weight and a 14 pt CS is comparable to 115 lb cover weight and 16pt comparable to 130 lb cover.
  

2. Color Printing Terminology

• 4/4 - Four colors on front and four colors in back. All full color printing is done in CYMK, the four colors to produce the full spectrum of colors.
• 4/1 - Four colors on front and black on the back.
• 4/0 - Four colors on front and nothing on back

• UV Coating - UV coating is a high gloss varnish that protects the print from harmful color fading ultra violet light. It also provides for some protection against moisture. You cannot write on UV coated prints unless it is with a permanent marker such as the Sharpie.

• Aqueous Coating - Aqueous coating is similar to UV coating except it is not as glossy and you can use conventional writing tools (pen, pencils) to write over the paper. Aqueous coating will provide some protection against moisture. You may want to consider Aqueous coating on postcards if you plan on using inkjet printers or handwriting mailing information. With UV coating, you will need to use seperate address labels.

• Bleeds - A bleed is a printing term used to describe when an image is printed to the very edge of paper. Image being any graphic (text, photo, colored background). In order to achieve this flush edge, the image must be placed outside of the final size. This edge is then cut along the final cut size to create this flush edge effect. This requires careful setup according to the various print vendors requirements but usually it is minimum 1/8 inch.

• DPI (Dots Per Inch) - Most vendors will require a minimum of 300 dpi resolution image. Anything less will result in poor image quality. An image that looks good on a computer monitor does not mean it will reproduce on paper with the same results.

• Spot Color Printing - Spot color is exact color matching. This can only be done with a standardized color gamut. Pantone or PMS colors are the standardized set of colors printers and graphic designers use to ensure exact color accuracy. This process is much more expensive to produce. The colors you see on your monitor and what is seen on another monitor can differ significantly. Most vendors are very good at producing colors accurately using CYMK process but there will always be a slight variation from one vendor to another and from one project to another. The only way to ensure exact color matching is to use the Pantone standardized colors and the spot printing process.
  

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