How to choose the right paper stock, with help from DutchScot, Elana Schlenker and Blok Design

Ask a designer why they love printed matter and there is usually one unanimous answer; the tangibility. Convenient as digital design can be, there’s nothing like holding a finished product in your hands and the sensory, tactile experience of leafing through freshly printed pages. Getting to that point can be difficult though, with so many paper stocks available combined with time and budget restrictions aplenty. That’s why we’re here to address the vital and often under-considered stage that is selecting the right paper. The designers we approached have designed many beautiful printed publications, so we invited them to share what guides their paper selection process. Of course, there is never a straightforward framework or formula. For our respondents – DutchScot, Elana Schlenker, and Blok Design’s Vanessa Eckstein – multiple factors and considerations contribute to their final decisions. “Book design is like music,” explains Eckstein, “it holds its own rhythm, pacing and it is in the subtleties of texture, tone, weight and empty space that you can truly feel it.” For the Founder and Creative Director of Toronto-based Blok Design, choosing the perfect paper comes from connecting with the content of the project itself. “We start every editorial design project with a discovery phase to gain insights and a deep understanding about the book’s true nature and intent.” This then guides the approach, both emotionally and conceptually. “I love when production choices can support and complement a project’s concept,” Schlenker concurs. A Creative Director and Designer based in New York, she begins her process with fundamental questions about the nature of the work she is engaging with. Then she will look for materials that can speak to that. “This might be achieved by sourcing papers that evoke a feeling; are of a certain colour, texture, or weight; or are of a relevant origin or production method.”