Format guide
Wanted Poster Sizes, compared
Four A-series formats, one table, and a rule of thumb for each. The short version: A3 suits almost every gift, and if you take the $4.95 download you can decide the size later — or print more than one.
The short answer
If you want one sentence: choose A3. It is the size that reads properly from across a room without taking the room over, it fits above a desk, a sofa or a bedroom door, and A3 frames are cheap and everywhere.
Go down to A4 when the poster is one of several — a set for a team, a leaving present signed by twenty people, something that will sit on a shelf. Go up to A2 or A1 when the poster is the event: a party backdrop, a feature wall, a joke that deserves to be visible from the door.
And remember that with the digital file the decision is reversible. You are buying a print-ready master, not a fixed object. Build the poster first, then decide how big it lives.
Every size, side by side
| Size | Dimensions | Best for | Photo needed | Shipped print |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A4 | 210 × 297 mm · 8.3 × 11.7 in | Desks, shelves, small frames, a group of several posters hung together | 1200 px wide | Shipped print available |
| A3 | 297 × 420 mm · 11.7 × 16.5 in | The all-rounder: living rooms, bedrooms, offices, above a desk | 1200 px wide | Shipped print available |
| A2 | 420 × 594 mm · 16.5 × 23.4 in | Feature walls, above a sofa or a bed, gallery arrangements | 2400 px wide | Shipped print available |
| A1 | 594 × 841 mm · 23.4 × 33.1 in | Statement pieces, party backdrops, large empty walls | 3500 px wide | Not shipped — print the file yourself |
The $4.95 digital file covers every row: you choose the size at printing time, and you can print the same file at several of them. The right-hand column says which sizes we also ship as a premium print — A4, A3 and A2. A1 is a print-it-yourself size: any large-format shop runs it from the same file.
Shipped prints start at $19.99, are produced on 250 gsm matte stock, and arrive in 3–5 business days with free US shipping over $59.
Why the download decides nothing yet
Instant download
$4.95
One 300 DPI print-ready PDF and PNG that covers every size on this page. Print A4 at home tonight, take the same file to a shop for A2 next month, print a second copy when someone asks for one. The size question stops being a commitment.
- One file, any format from A4 to A1
- Reprint whenever you want, at no extra cost
- No shipping window to plan around
Optional upgrade
From $19.99
The shipped print is the version to pick when you would rather not touch a printer at all — the paper, the finish and the packing are handled. It commits you to one size, and it needs 3–5 business days, so it is a plan-ahead option rather than a tonight option.
- 250 gsm matte stock, printed for you
- A4, A3 or A2 — chosen at order time
Choosing by room and distance
Three rules cover almost every wall. They are borrowed from ordinary picture-hanging practice, and they work as well for a joke poster as for anything else.
The furniture rule
A poster hung above furniture should be roughly half to two-thirds the width of what it sits above. Above a narrow desk or a chest of drawers, that is A3. Above a sofa or a double bed, it is A2 or A1. A small poster over a wide piece of furniture is the single most common mistake.
The viewing-distance rule
If the poster will normally be read from more than about six feet away, go one size up. The crime line is the payload, and it has to be legible from wherever people actually stand — a hallway poster gets read at walking pace.
The eye-level rule
Hang the centre of the poster at standing eye level, not centred on the empty wall above the furniture. Posters hung too high are the reason a room can feel like the art is floating away.
The set rule
Making posters for a whole team or family? Use one size for all of them and hang them in a grid with equal gaps. A4 in a row of four or six reads as a deliberate wall of suspects; mixed sizes read as clutter.
Photo resolution per size
Print size is limited by the photo you upload, not by the export. The editor optimizes what it is given and renders at 300 DPI, but it cannot add detail that was never photographed. Use these as minimums for the shortest usable width of the source image.
- A4 and A3 — at least 1200 px wide.
- A2 — around 2400 px wide.
- A1 — around 3500 px wide.
Two practical notes. First, always export from the original photo: images pulled out of a chat app or saved as a screenshot have already been compressed, sometimes to a quarter of their original size. Second, the sepia halftone treatment is forgiving — it converts the image into a dot pattern, which hides sensor noise and mild softness far better than a plain colour print would. The full photo checklist is in the step-by-step guide to making a poster.
Framing, paper and hanging
A wanted poster is one of the rare prints that looks better slightly rough. A simple thin black or raw wood frame suits it; an ornate gilt frame fights the joke. Many people pin it up unframed on purpose, because a nailed-up notice is what the format is imitating in the first place.
- Paper. Matte, always. Gloss reflects and kills the aged-paper effect. Shipped prints use 250 gsm matte stock; if you are printing yourself, anything from about 200 gsm up will feel like a poster rather than a page.
- Frames. A-series frames are sold everywhere online. If you only have a US Letter frame, note that A4 is 8.3 × 11.7 in against Letter's 8.5 × 11 in — a mat solves it more elegantly than trimming does.
- Hanging without a frame. Bulldog clips on a nail, washi tape at the corners, or a wooden poster hanger. All three suit the format better than they suit most art.
- Light. Keep it off a wall in direct afternoon sun if you want the sepia to stay put for years. This applies to any print, not just this one.
Not sure yet what the poster should even say? The inspiration gallery and the gift-idea list by occasion are the fastest way to find a line, and the definition guide explains why each block of the layout is where it is.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best wanted poster size for a gift?
A3 (297 × 420 mm) for most gifts. It is large enough to read the crime line across a room, small enough to fit almost any wall, and standard A3 frames are easy to find.
Do I have to choose a size for the digital download?
No, and that is the point. The $4.95 file is a 300 DPI print-ready PDF and PNG, so you choose the size when you print it — A4 today, A2 later, or both.
What photo resolution do I need for each size?
About 1200 px wide covers A4 and A3, about 2400 px for A2 and about 3500 px for A1. Start from the original photo file rather than a screenshot or a messaging-app copy.
What paper are the shipped prints on?
Premium prints are produced on 250 gsm matte stock and shipped in 3–5 business days, with free US shipping over $59. Prints start at $19.99.
Will an A-size poster fit a US frame?
A4 is 8.3 × 11.7 in, slightly taller and narrower than US Letter at 8.5 × 11 in, so a Letter-sized frame needs a small trim or a mat. A-size frames are widely sold online if you would rather not trim.
Design it first, size it later.
Build the poster in the editor and download a free watermarked preview to check the framing at full size. The clean 300 DPI file is $4.95 and prints at every size on this page.
Start my wanted poster