Paper Size

The standard paper size used in the UK is the international standard: ISO 216. This standard is based upon the German DIN 476 and has been adopted by the UK since 1959. The therory behind this standard is that starting with a 1mSq peice of paper which is known as A0, when the paper is halved by folding along its larger side, you are left with the next paper size down. For example if you were to fold an A0 peice of paper in half you would be left with an A1 sheet. The benefit of having a standard for paper sizes that works this way is that when a brouchure is printed for example, it can be printed in A4 and then folded to become an A5 leaflet. It also makes it easier to scale documents up or down on a photocopier as two A4 documents can be scaled down by half and fit perfectly onto a single sheet of A4 or an A5 document can be enlarged to fit exactly onto an A4 sheet.

A and B Series

In addition to the A series that is common place in the office and at home, there is also a B series. B series papers are more common place in the printing industry and are used for posters and books mainly. The area of a B series sheet is the geometric mean of the successive A series sheet. For example a B1 sheet is between A0 and A1 in size.

Most Popular Papers

The most popular paper size in the UK is A4 which measures 210mm x 297mm. This paper is the number one selling paper in the UK and is found in homes, offices, schools and colleges all around the country. Most inkjet and laser printers are designed to accept A4 as a standard and most computer programmes are configured to use A4 paper as a default. A4 is used in the UK as a standard letter size also and its ability to be easily folded to fit a C5 or DL envelope make it an obvious choice. A3 and A5 papers are popular for more specialised applications and can be great for schools and colleges to provide students with an easy way to create posters and leaflets for projects. A1 and A0 paper is often used in the design environment and printed using a plotter or large format printer. These printers are common sights in engineering and architects offices and the paper normally comes on a roll or packed in single sheets. If on a roll, the plotter will cut the paper to size and this takes away the need to keep loading single sheets.