Border Sizing Guide
When ordering giclée prints, border choices affect both the final look of the piece and how it will be handled by framers. Below is a guide to our most common border treatments and how to choose the right size for your work.
Borderless
Image is printed edge-to-edge based on your selected size.
Why Artists Choose It:
- Clean, modern presentation
- Convenient for collectors who plan to use standard-ready made frames
Best Suited For:
- Pre-made frames with no matting
Added Border
Extra white space is added evenly around your image while keeping the image at the selected size. The total paper size increases by the border width you choose.
Example: a 12″x16" image with a 1″ border will be printed on 14"x18" paper.
Why Artists Choose It:
- Industry best practice for fine art prints
- Protects the image area during handling/framing
- Extra space for artist signature and edition numbering
- Gives framers and collectors flexibility for matting and trimming
Best Suited For:
- Traditional framing and matting - extra paper gives matting something to 'grip' to avoid shifting
- Self-matted framing (achieving a matted look with borders, without having a physical mat on top)
- Editioned prints
- Gallery presentation
- Collectors who may reframe down the line
Choosing a Border Size:
We offer border sizes from 0.5" up to 3".
If you are adding a border to accomodate a signature, or to give matting something to 'grip', then 0.5"-1" borders are usually sufficient.
If adding borders to give a self-matted look in a frame, below are some suggestions, proportional to the print size:
- Small prints (up to 16×20): 1–2"
- Medium prints (20×24 to 24×36): 2–3"
- Large prints (30×40 and up): 3"
Included Border
Image and border fit within your chosen print size. Border widths vary from ¼" to 2", depending on the print size and image ratio.
Example: an 8x10 print with included borders may be printed as a 6.61x9.5 image on 8x10 paper.
Why Artists Choose It:
- Predictable, final paper size - easy for collectors
- Useful for when framed size must be exact and image should not/cannot be cropped to fit
- Simplifies sizing for ready-made frames
- Still gives benefit of some buffer space for handling/framing where main image area does not have to be touched
Best Suited For:
- Standard frame sizes
- Situations where cropping is not desired
- Situations where trimming is not desired
What Border Size Will I Get?
Included borders are automatically scaled so the image fits onto the selected paper size without cropping. The width of the border varies depending on the image’s aspect ratio and the selected paper size, typically ranging from ¼" to 2".
Because images come in different ratios the borders may not be perfectly even on all sides.
- Small prints (up to 16×20): ¼" – 1"
- Medium prints (20×24 to 24×36): ½" – 1.5"
- Large prints (30×40 and up): 1" – 2"
