Deciding the most suitable board size and the design orientation for your card really comes down to what you plan to use it for and your personal preference for thickness. Are you planning to send gift card inside packaging with your online sales, or do you want to print some door hangers for a door to door promotion? What ever your purpose, it is always best to determine the demographics of your audience and understand the most versatile size and thickness that is perfect to attract the attention of your potential customer. Board weights range from 200gsm to 400gsm where they are often called by the term “system boards”

GSM (grams per square meter) refers to the weight of the board and is generally used as an approximate indicator for the thickness of board. This means higher the gsm the thicker the board. Be aware, that many factors such as moisture, bulkiness of pulp can influence weight and stiffness between board manufacturers. Therefore board thickness may vary between manufacturers compared to others of a similar gsm. As a guide, a commonly used business card board stock will be 300gsm, where a flyer that needs to be a little stiffer than paper is best printed on 200gsm Art board. This is the point of thickness change when moving from paper to board. Promotional flyers with a cello-glaze must be printed on either 200gsm or 250gsm board stock, to maintain stability of surface during the process of cello-glaze.

Commonly used Art board for printing of business cards, postcards and loyalty cards is an uncoated stock that has a natural matt (Satin) feel. Cello glazing is a process where a Gloss or Matt film coating is heat bonded to this uncoated natural Art board surface. Cello-glaze has a smooth and luxurious feel and also enhances the visual impact of your design while increasing the durability of your card flyer. Upgrade your flyer from paper to board stock if you need cello-glazing on your flyer. If in case you need a writable surface with cello-glaze, a Matt cello-glaze coating is the option to select. In contrast a gloss coating will give you a reflective sheen to the surface of your card.

It is always recommended that your card be designed to a standard size such as A4, A5, A6, A7, DL to minimize board wastage and maximize its yield. A custom trim size results in an off-cut waste that will automatically be allocated to the cost of your job. We therefore prefer to minimise your cost by maintain our cards to standard board sizes, while also accommodating any custom card trim size for an additional fee.