Phoenix Design Aid (PDAid) always tries to improve quality but always with the environment in mind. Therefore, PDAid has published its own paper guide developed in close collaboration with its printing partners to accommodate customer’s wishes and give a hands-on experience of the most common chosen paper types.

PDAid developed the first edition of the paper guide in 2015. All the feedback from the first paper guide has been positive and showed that the guide is a useful tool. The second and improved edition is released in 2019 and focuses on environmental counselling. This edition includes instructions in the following:

• Eco-labelling and eco-labels
• Common binding methods
• Types of paper folds
• Paper samples
• Short explanation of The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

In short, the environmental counselling is a way to educate the reader about why to choose eco-labelled paper. The overall aim is to have a cleaner environment and greater health, but this is further described on pages 9-11.

Afterwards, the eco-labels are introduced and described on pages 12-13. It has a description of three types of eco-labels (FSC, recycled paper and PEFC). Each type of eco-label is shown with its logo so that it is easy for the reader to recognize it. Furthermore, the guide introduces six common binding methods and nine types of paper folds (pages 14-15).

The main part of the guide is the paper samples. The paper samples include text and photos in both black and white as well as color. In total, there are nine different types of paper showed in 26 different versions. The nine types are: White Offset, Cream Offset, Recycled Offset, Recycled Silk, Silk, Gloss and Matt Coated Text.

The guide ends with a short explanation of each SDG on pages 289-290. Considering the work behind this paper guide, SDG number 12, 13, 14, 15 and 17 are represented in this paper guide. Throughout the guide, SDG icons are shown in the upper corners to illustrate and communicate their relation to the particular topic. Furthermore, it is PDAid’s finest job to advocate for the SDGs as they are a part of everything we do.

The guide is an important tool for PDAid for sales purposes, but it has also proved to be a popular usable tool for clients and therefore is in high demand. Read more about the Paper Guide on page 60-61 in PDAid’s sustainability report.