Artwork dimensions - vertical horizontal or horizontal vertical?

MacBoobsPro · Nov 17, 2008

We have a little debate going here regarding correct display of dimensions. I was taught and have witnessed in every other company I have worked for that when listing artwork dimensions i.e. 55mm x 65mm, the first number should refer to the horizontal dimension and the latter should refer to the vertical.

So the above dimensions would create a box 55mm across and 65mm high.

I have some money on this so cast your votes - do it for the boobs!

AdeFowler · Nov 17, 2008

Always H x V. A4 Portrait for example is always specified as 210 x 297. Even page set up boxes have the width first.

MacBoobsPro · Nov 17, 2008

Southernboy said:
Always H x V. A4 Portrait for example is always specified as 210 x 297. Even page set up boxes have the width first.

Thats exactly what I said.

LeviG · Nov 17, 2008

Well I'd say instinctively (maths x by y) and professionally it would be HxV but it doesn't always turn out that way when I'm working on my own. I know when I'm jotting measurements of A size paper I normally work purely in landscape even when needing portrait measurements for example.

snickelfritz · Nov 17, 2008

width is always first.

tobefirst ⚽️ · Nov 17, 2008

MacBoobsPro, I think we should stop talking about which is right, and start talking about what you're going to do with the money you're going to win. That would be far more interesting and would give you more variety of answers. Of course it is HxV.

JasonElise1983 · Nov 17, 2008

width is always first...or atleast should be, but it never fails that i get dimensions from some pub, outdoor company, or website that has them flipped. Sites are usually pretty easy to spot, i mean, 90 x 728 is just not a normal size, but magazines and pubs confuse the hell out of me. I had one give it to me this (or something close to it);

10.5 x 4

well, i build an ad that is 10.5" wide x 4" tall (which totally jacked up my artwork), to be told that it's actually 10.5" tall by 4 COLUMNS wide. What? why would you list columns last?

-je

MacBoobsPro · Nov 17, 2008

JasonElise1983 said:
width is always first...or atleast should be, but it never fails that i get dimensions from some pub, outdoor company, or website that has them flipped. Sites are usually pretty easy to spot, i mean, 90 x 728 is just not a normal size, but magazines and pubs confuse the hell out of me. I had one give it to me this (or something close to it);

10.5 x 4

well, i build an ad that is 10.5" wide x 4" tall (which totally jacked up my artwork), to be told that it's actually 10.5" tall by 4 COLUMNS wide. What? why would you list columns last?

-je

And how wide is one column times 4 plus the margins and gutters?

This has all started because I have recently starting working for a new company and for years they have had the dimensions listed 'backwards' i.e. V x H. Now I've come into the studio and the first thing I noticed was that a lot of clients were sending in artwork in the wrong format. I looked into i all the forms and documentation that went out to clients were wrong.

My boss wasn't so sure as he had been doing like this for years. He checked it with a friendly client of his and the client was probably the only other person in the world that also did it backwards and now there is a debate on what is correct. As I'm younger I obviously don't know what I'm talking about

said the award winning graphic designer with his own company.

The money will go towards helping orphan chickens find a loving family. All £5 of it.

NinerRider · Nov 17, 2008

I know of some countries that out you in jail for the rest of your natural life if you put V before H. Unfortunately, the US is not one of them. I worked with print shops that also use 'm' for thousand instead of 'K'. Being from Europe, I don't get that either.

MacBoobsPro · Nov 17, 2008

NinerRider said:
I know of some countries that out you in jail for the rest of your natural life if you put V before H. Unfortunately, the US is not one of them. I worked with print shops that also use 'm' for thousand instead of 'K'. Being from Europe, I don't get that either.

Oh no 'm' for 1000?

That reminds me of Printing.com that insist on saying 1.5mm bleed is infact 3mm bleed, it ain't... it's 1.5mm bleed!

eleven2brett · Nov 17, 2008

8 1/2 x 11. Thats all there is to it.

heehee · Nov 17, 2008

I always get messed up on that too. I go by W x H.

JasonElise1983 · Nov 17, 2008

MacBoobsPro said:
And how wide is one column times 4 plus the margins and gutters?
.

Exactly, and how wide is a column. I've personally come across at least 4 different column sizes and none of them ever make sense. I always ask the pub to give it to me in Inches. I think it's fine to say 4col. x 12" if you are placing media, but when it comes time to build it, i need inches. Man, i'd take mm, picas, pixels, freakin anything over columns. Oh well, another day another dollar. Gotta get back to work.

-je

SwiftLives · Nov 17, 2008

I read horizontally, so I logically put width before height. That's my way of remembering.

I also tend to put "W" and "H" after my dimensions just to be on the safe side.

MacBoobsPro · Nov 18, 2008

SwiftLives said:
I read horizontally, so I logically put width before height. That's my way of remembering.

I also tend to put "W" and "H" after my dimensions just to be on the safe side.

I (strangely) remember it as 'across the corridor and up the stairs' because the day I learnt about dimensions etc I was in a new building and also had to remember my way to the class room. They both kind of merged into a mental picture of a corridor and some stairs. Synaesthesia and all that (probably).

IgnatiusTheKing · Nov 18, 2008

Width before Height. Both Apple and Adobe list it that way, so it's good enough for me.

Also...I thought the 8.5" x 11" was the best way of remembering it, but I was wrong. "Across the corridor and up the stairs" is clearly superior.

yngwie · Jan 31, 2010

The Museum of Modern Art in NYC lists the Height and then the Width on all there archives!
http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_a...&dd1=0&dd2=0&vw=1&collID=0&OID=110001966&vT=1

snouter · Jan 31, 2010

And call the US paper 8 1/2" x 11" !

There probably is no correct universal answer.

Kwill · Feb 1, 2010

Generally w-h...

However, for large paper rolls, the width is actually the shorter dimension listed as 42 inches x 100 feet.

covisio · Feb 1, 2010

JasonElise1983 said:
width is always first...or atleast should be, but it never fails that i get dimensions from some pub, outdoor company, or website that has them flipped. Sites are usually pretty easy to spot, i mean, 90 x 728 is just not a normal size, but magazines and pubs confuse the hell out of me. I had one give it to me this (or something close to it);

10.5 x 4

well, i build an ad that is 10.5" wide x 4" tall (which totally jacked up my artwork), to be told that it's actually 10.5" tall by 4 COLUMNS wide. What? why would you list columns last?

-je

I worked for a newspaper many years ago and I'm pretty sure we always said 'ten by two' or 'ten by three' meaning for instance 10 cm high by 2 columns wide. Obviously the column is particular to the publication. Column widths were always expressed in picas and points.

I'm not saying it was right or wrong, that's just what I remember.

design-is · Feb 1, 2010

This thread is from 2008...

But yes: x, then y. Horizontal then vertical. Across then up. Down the corridor and up the stairs...

/Doug

IgnatiusTheKing · Feb 1, 2010

covisio said:
I worked for a newspaper many years ago and I'm pretty sure we always said 'ten by two' or 'ten by three' meaning for instance 10 cm high by 2 columns wide. Obviously the column is particular to the publication. Column widths were always expressed in picas and points.

I'm not saying it was right or wrong, that's just what I remember.

Every newspaper ad I've ever designed was described as columns x height, and with everything done in inches.

dazzer21 · Feb 1, 2010

I always work height x width. When you book a press ad, it's always specified that way, ie 25x4 = 250mm height by 4 column width. Carried it over to standard working pretty much all my clients do it that way too.

IgnatiusTheKing · Feb 1, 2010

dazzer21 said:
I always work height x width. When you book a press ad, it's always specified that way, ie 25x4 = 250mm height by 4 column width. Carried it over to standard working pretty much all my clients do it that way too.

Perhaps it depends on location. As I noted above, U.S. newspapers/magazines do width x height. Here's the New York Times ad specs for reference.

macfly81 · Nov 2, 2017

The question was about artwork dimensions not paper or ads or whatever other random things folks are citing, perhaps it was the vagueness of the question that resulted in all the incorrect answers. Im not trying to be pretentious but for 2 dimensional FINE art (at least in the US) height is always first then width, for sculpture, or 2-d work that's got some thickness HxWxD. Every exhibition I have ever applied to requests the dimensions in this format, all museums and conservators of fine art list the dimensions HxWxD, every reputable style guide, guide, catalogue, etc.

Artwork dimensions - vertical horizontal or horizontal vertical?

Horizontal / Vertical or Vertical / Horizontal

Horizontal / Vertical

Vertical / Horizontal

I'm an idiot I didn't know there was a difference

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