Printing Media Sizes
Printing media comes is standard sizes. The size is chosen primarily because of the sizes accepted by the printing machines, both in digital and offset. It is very important to understand the size of the media available because that will help us calculate the number of products we can ‘fit’ on a single sheet.
When designing or creating a print product, the first thing one has to define and specify is the final size of the product. Then one has to calculate the number of such products that can be created from a standard size of paper available for the printer. For example, if the product is an A6 postcard, the total number of cards that can fit in an A3 sheet is 8. To understand this, first, let us understand the types of sizes.
Standard Paper Sizes:
| Size Name | width x height (in mm) | width x height (in inches) | Comments |
| A0 | 841 × 1189 | 33.11 × 46.81 | |
| A1 | 594 × 841 | 23.39 × 33.11 | Use for wide format media and CAD / CAM drawings |
| A2 | 420 × 594 | 16.54 × 23.39 | |
| A3 | 297 × 420 | 11.69 × 16.54 | Most common large size for digital printing |
| A4 | 210 × 297 | 8.27 × 11.69 | Most common size for office printing and reports |
| A5 | 148 × 210 | 5.83 × 8.27 | Common for folded cards |
| A6 | 105 × 148 | 4.13 × 5.83 | Common for invitations |
| Letter | 215.9 × 279.4 | 8.5 x 11 | |
| Legal | 215.9 × 355.6 | 8.5 x 14 | Useful legal and government, what else! |
Paper sizes by type of printing and printing machine
Based on the common sheet sizes, one has to work backward on how many products can fit on the sheet. Hence knowing the final sheet size is very important. The most common paper sizes accepted by printing machines are as follows:
| Type of Printing | Standard Sheet Sizes | |
| Digital Printing | A3, 19.2” x 12.8”, A4 | |
| Offset printing | 18” x 23” and 23” x 36” | Single and double Demy |
| 15” x 20” | Crown |
Screen printing & pre-cut paper
If the paper is already cut to a certain size which is smaller than the available size, neither digital nor offset can be used. For example, if the business cards are already cut before printing, these cards cannot be fed into a digital printer or an offset machine. Hence the only way to print on non-standard sizes is via screen printing.
Large sizes and wide format printing
Wide format printing allows for much larger sizes of end products. The wide format media comes in rolls and they can print on as long a length one wants. The width is restricted, again, to the media roll size or the machine width. Typical wide format printing is in 5 feet length or 3 feet length. So if you need to the huge poster which is 10 feet by 10 feet, we can do by sticking 2 posters of 5’ x 10’.
Media Size, Final Print Size, Final product size
The printing will never cover the complete sheet or media as it cannot print all the way to the edge of the paper. This is because the print machine needs some space to hold the paper and slide it through from the sides. Printers always need a border of a few mm around the design and hence the media or sheet size will always be larger than the print. Further, after printing, the edges need to be cut and some error margin needs to be kept for that as well (covered in bleed and crop marks). Hence the sheet size cannot be completely used and divided into the final print sizes.
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