I had a conversation with a fellow sign-maker recently that turned into a battle of wits. It was fun. No harm, no foul. We were both trying to convince the other of whether width or height comes first in the world of 2D measurements.
Thus, the inspiration for this article.
Whether you’re into a building project and ordering windows, or designing the perfect tradeshow exhibit, providing accurate measurements is manditory.
However, the one thing that plauges the world of measurements is orientation.
Let’s take an 8 foot by 4 foot banner. Which way is it oriented? Landscape or Portrait? Tall or wide? Is that measured east to west, or north to south? There are many approaches to resolving references to orientation. But what indicators are there that will set your perspective in stone? What is the standard?
What comes first?
The Graphics’ industry standard is width by height (width x height). Meaning that when you write your measurements, you write them from your point of view, beginning with the width.
That’s important. When you give us instructions to create an 8×4 foot banner, we’ll design a banner for you that is wide, not tall.
So, who says width by height is “The Standard”? I can break it out by layout programs such as Quark, Photoshop, Illustrator, or Indesign. They all use the width by height order to determine orientation. But, let’s take it down to a more natural level. Which way do you read (assuming you read English literature)? Left to right, first, then down the length of the page.
Not proof enough? Leave a comment. Let’s hear your opinion.
I don’t care what the real answer USED to be…
now that I read this on the i-n-t-e-r-n-e-t, it just HAS to be true.
From now on, it is WIDTH x HEIGHT for me…
Comment by dave — March 29, 2010 @ 4:46 pmuntil I read on Snopes.com that this was just plain malarkey!
I have always found it helpful to just say what I mean and mean what I say. If I want an 8 foot wide banner; “8 foot wide x 4 foot tall” is hard to miss. Then there is always the benefit of a good crude illustration; you know what they say about a picture being worth a thousand…
Comment by that guy — April 2, 2010 @ 11:21 amMost of the sign companies I deal with always measure in “height x width” I don’t understand the logic but it almost seams like it is an industry standard thats only practiced in the sign manufacturing industry. It drives me crazy and gets really confusing.
Comment by Robert — May 31, 2011 @ 7:32 pmWe refer to a vertically oriented letter-size page as an “eight-and-a-half by eleven page”, so there’s further proof.
In my experience, anyone who refers to height first only does so because the height happens to be the longest measurement for that particular instance. Their standard is “say the longest side first”, which is, of course, idiotic.
Comment by Kris Hunt — July 11, 2011 @ 4:48 pmOne does not purchase a 10×8 photo frame, nor write on a 14×11 legal pad, and yet, when it comes to art projects, I have to repeat WXH almost daily… frustrating!
Comment by Rushe — July 11, 2011 @ 5:55 pmAlways WIDTH x HEIGHT
What’s really frustrating, is that I end up beating my bosses and co-workers in the head because they all are too stupid to figure out this simple standard.
Like Rushe stated above. I have always used eight and a half by eleven paper.
Comment by Spanky — September 20, 2011 @ 3:42 pmI’ve never in my life used eleven by eight and a half paper.
I’m working with an Artist in making up a catalog, and I have learned that in the Book world, and Fine Art in particular, the dimensions are always listed as H x W.
Reference the Chicago Style Manual.
I know in the Graphics world we sometimes do not have the image to immediately see, yet we must allow the correct space in the Layout or Design – so that convention (W x H) is important.
Comment by Ron — November 18, 2011 @ 9:54 amMy first reaction was, like several above to point out 8 1/2 x 11 paper. Plus, as a designer, it’s a no-brainer to say that everything is WxH. So I started to write all of the examples I could down on a 3 x 5 card… Oh wait!!! Drat!
I would also point out that TVs are 4×3 or 16×9 ratio, not 9×16.
From now on, I’ll just design everything square, so I no longer have to worry about it.
Comment by Jon — November 28, 2011 @ 5:37 pm