Don’t Forget the Paper!

It seems so many new designers and design students neglect to appreciate the significance of paper selection in printed and tactile graphic design. In my opinion, paper accounts for at least half of the piece. Particular types of paper can contribute to an overall tone of voice within a design as well as enhance the audience’s experience and memory of the work.

As many of the pros know, most metropolitan cities will have a third party paper distributor with an incredible sample room for designers. The major company in my city (Cincinnati) is XPEDX. Make friends with these people! At your request, they can arrange for an individual appointment with you where they will answer your questions and offer you advice and even give you free samples. I remember the first time I walked into the sample room at XPEDX, I felt like uhhhh… a drunk guy at a free beer convention? Okay, so I’m not so hot with the similes today—but trust me it’s worth the trip!

I also recently stopped by International Paper’s site and they have this great section on paper just for graphic designers; definitely worth a look!

Check out some of my students’ work from my Advanced Typography critique yesterday. (images below) The assignment was an homage to typefaces and designers. They were super ambitious and made some great stuff.