Poster sizes in India: A5, A4 and A3 compared

Most people order the wrong size the first time — usually too small. A poster that looks large on a phone screen is a postcard on a wall. Here is what each size actually measures, and where each one works.

The three sizes

Each size up is exactly double the previous one. An A3 is two A4s; an A4 is two A5s. That is what makes them easy to grid together — mixed sizes still line up.

Picking by distance, not by taste

The useful rule is viewing distance. A print reads properly from about four to six times its own height away.

• A5 (21cm tall) — reads from about a metre. Desk, shelf, beside a mirror, or grouped in a grid of six or more.
• A4 (30cm tall) — reads from about two metres. The default for a bedroom wall, and the size most gallery walls are built from.
• A3 (42cm tall) — reads from three metres or more. A single statement print above a bed, sofa or desk.

By room

Hostel or dorm wall

A5 and A4, many of them, no frames. The wall is usually shared or painted a colour you did not choose, and the point is coverage. Twelve to thirty prints in an uneven grid covers a wall without a single nail — most people use washi tape or mounting putty.

Bedroom above the bed

One A3, or three A4s in a row. Hang the centre of the group about 20cm above the headboard — not at eye level, which is a rule for galleries, not bedrooms where everyone is lying down or walking past.

Above a sofa or desk

The group should span roughly two-thirds of the furniture below it. A standard three-seater is about 2m wide, so you want around 1.3m of prints: three A3s, or six A4s in two rows.

Paper weight matters more than people expect

Everything we print is 300 GSM — thick enough that it does not ripple when taped, and does not show the wall colour through it. Thin 100 GSM paper is cheaper per sheet and always looks it, especially with a light behind it.