Understanding and Working With Aspect Ratio | Design Shack

Every image, every canvas, every frame has a shape. And often that shape is a rectangle. Even more common is a rectangle of a particular proportion based on medium.

Understanding aspect ratios can save you time and rework as a designer. Consider all of the common applications of knowing a piece or work or project has the same proportion as something else. It can also help you understand where to crop and what parts of an image or project will have to be dropped or cut our based on medium.

While it may seem like a lot of math and calculating at the onset, many of the projects you work on are likely to use common aspect ratios. Use the checklist above to see what parts and complete designs you can mix and match.