Cascade Print Media, Author at Cascade Print Media

Paper Grades and Weights

Marketing, New, Print Marketing, Tips and Tricks

Paper Grades and Weights

Have you ever heard someone refer to the weight of a piece of paper? When getting printing quotes, do you call out what kind of paper you want, or do you leave that up to the printer to determine? There is no right or wrong answer, but see our tips below on typical paper weights, grades and uses.

Paper Grades:

Bond paper – most commonly used for letterhead, business forms and copying. Weights usually range from 20lb for copying or 24lb for stationary.

Text weight paper – most common in printing. This is typically high quality paper with some surface texture. Text paper can be coated or uncoated and weights are typically 60, 70, 80 or 100

Cover weight paper – used with creative business cards, postcards and booklet covers. These again can be uncoated or coated and weights are usually 65, 80 or 100.

Paper Weights:

Paper weights are based on the weight (in pounds) of 500 standard sized sheets of paper. While there are many different terms and names to call out paper, there are some typical names across brands and companies. You can have a text or cover paper grade, with a same weight, that are not the same type of paper. For example, a 60lb text and a 60lb cover are two different types of paper.

Note that just because someone says “65lb” paper, they are not specifying the type of paper. Paper types need to be called out not only by weight, but also type. For example, “60lb text” or “100lb cover” are what you would see. Often times you can get even more fine tuned with saying “80lb cover uncoated”

Check out our articles here and here for more about uncoated vs. coated stock and more fun facts about paper!

How to Save Time During the Print Process

New, Print Marketing, Tips and Tricks

Looking to speed up the print process? We can help!

While each project takes a different amount of time, depending on the project, there are some things that you can do to help speed up the print process. We go through each project as meticulously as possible to make sure that everything is in order before going to print. We also send a PDF proof with every job, no matter what! That said, there are some things that can help save us (and you!) some time and money on needing to fix files before printing.

Convert all images from RGB color to CMYK – don’t know the difference? Check out our article here
Make sure the final image(s) has a high enough resolution (must be 300dpi or higher)
Make sure you have enough bleed (1/8”) if your printing requires it
Make sure all fonts are included
If images or graphics are being printed, make sure to send us links, as necessary
Make sure the file is in a proper format (Ai, High-Res JPG, PDF, TIF). If the file is too big to send, be sure to ask for our drop box or TFP access folders to drop your files.
Does not require any additional modifications before going to press
Got questions – just ask! We are happy to help!

Direct Mail – The Best Way to Reach Customers

Direct Mail, Eco-Friendly, Marketing, Print Marketing, Promotional Products

2020 has been one for the books, and it isn’t even over yet! Who would have thought that a couple weeks of quarantine, would turn into months of quarantine, work from home, and distance learning for our children? Summer came and went in a flash and much of our regular routines have been stripped away. With the ever-growing use of technology, from zoom to Netflix, digital ads are no longer getting the attention of your customers and clients. How to solve this? Direct Mail! Below are some great tips on how to use direct mail and its benefits

Target: digital marketing often does not go the desired targets, but rather a more general audience. Direct mail can get be nailed down to hit your target specifically to make sure you are getting more bang for your buck. Want to hit only a certain demographic within a certain neighborhood? We can help! Want to only send to certain age groups or employment types? We can help!

Track: did you know that we can monitor who receives direct mail and who is responding or using it? Depending on how your direct mail media is built, we can help track users and responders. This is a fantastic way to measure your return on investment!

Mix: It has been shown that adding direct mail into your marketing mix increases your chances of your target audience remembering your brand and taking action. Direct mail mixed with digital helps to increase brand awareness.

Looking to increase your marketing ROI and attract more customers? Direct mail is the way to go. Contract us today, we’d love to help!

Interested To Know More?

Cascade Print Media voted one of Washington’s Best Companies to Work For

FAQ, Marketing, Print Marketing, Promotional Products

We are so excited to be ranked as one of Washington’s Best Companies to Work For by Seattle Business Magazine. 2020 has thrown us a ton of curve-balls, but we are happy to adapt and change with the ever transforming needs of our customers.

How we do it? Our Employees! We look for the best people during the hiring process – those who are willing to go above and beyond, every day to get the job done. We look for people who are passionate about what the do, and are ready to dive into each and every project with the same enthusiasm as the last! We look for people who want to work hard, and have fun doing it! Thank to you our amazing employees, without you we would not be where we are today. Thank you, thank you, thank you!