How to Frame an A1 Print: 594 x 841mm, Two Routes, From £65
How to frame an A1 print comes down to one decision: buy it ready to hang in a black wood frame, or take the unframed sheet at 594 x 841mm to a frame you choose yourself. I sell both. Unframed A1 starts at £65 and the framed A1 is £175, and the rest of this is what actually differs between them.
A1 and A2 Sizes and Prices, Framed and Unframed
These are the live sizes and prices across the range. The A sizes and the US inch sizes are separate formats rather than conversions of one another, so pick whichever matches the wall and any frames already in the house.
| Format | Dimensions | Unframed | Black wood frame |
|---|---|---|---|
| A2 | 420 x 594mm (23 x 16 in) | £45 | £125 |
| A1 | 594 x 841mm (33 x 23 in) | £65 | £175 |
| 24 x 18 in | US inch format | £45 | £125 |
| 36 x 24 in | US inch format | £65 | £175 |
One exception worth knowing before you plan a wall. A few of the densest maps are made in A1 only, because the lines will not stay legible any smaller. The Beatles discography map is one of them: it is sold in A1 and the 36 x 24 in US format, and there is no A2 version of it at all. Check the size options on the individual product page rather than assuming the whole range offers both.
What the Black Wood Frame Option Gives You
If you pick the framed version, the print arrives in a black wood frame and is ready to hang. There is nothing to assemble, nothing to measure and no trip to a framer. Black is the only frame colour I offer, which is deliberate: these are dense line drawings with a lot of colour already in them, and a black surround is the one finish that does not compete with the map.
The trade is cost and flexibility. Framed A1 at £175 against £65 unframed is a real gap, and if somebody already has a wall of matching frames, the unframed sheet is the sensible buy.
How to Frame an A1 Print Yourself
A1 is a standard international paper size, so off-the-shelf A1 frames are easy to find and you are not committed to bespoke framing. Three things are worth getting right.
Decide about a mount before you buy the frame. A mount board with an aperture cut into it will cover a few millimetres of the sheet on every edge. On most posters that does not matter. On a discography map it can clip the station labels at the outer edges, which are exactly the bits people lean in to read. If you want a mount, buy a frame sized for A1 plus the mount rather than an A1 frame, so the full sheet stays visible.
Let the paper sit flat first. The prints are Giclée on 230gsm premium acid-free matte fine art paper, which is heavy enough to hold its shape but arrives rolled. Lay it flat under something clean and weighted for a day before it goes anywhere near a frame.
Keep it out of direct sun. Archival, acid-free paper and pigment inks are built to last, but nothing survives a south-facing window indefinitely. The wall opposite the window is almost always the better wall.
How Much Wall an A1 Map Actually Needs
An A1 print is 594 x 841mm, and framed it will be a little larger again. The usual gallery convention is to hang so the centre of the picture sits at about 1.5 metres from the floor, which is roughly eye level standing. That works for most rooms.
These maps are the exception where I would go slightly lower than convention. They are read rather than glanced at, so somebody is going to stand in front of it and follow a line with a finger. Hanging an inch or two below standing eye level makes the bottom third easier to read without stooping, and that is where the later albums usually sit.
Why Density Decides the Size, Not the Room
When I am deciding whether a map can survive at A2, I look at two numbers from my research sheet: how many stations it has, and how many musician lines run between them.
The Fall map is the extreme case, with 31 studio albums and 56 credited musicians, 24 of whom appear exactly once and run as short branch lines. Deep Purple carries 24 albums and 38 credited musicians. ELO is 15 albums drawn as 16 stations, because the Xanadu soundtrack is split in two, with 56 musicians across them. A map like that has a lot of very short lines near the edges, and short lines are the first thing to become unreadable when you shrink the sheet.
At the other end, the Radiohead map runs nine studio albums with five members credited on every one of them. Five long parallel lines and a handful of guests read perfectly well at A2. That is the difference: it is not the size of the room that decides, it is how many one-off credits the band accumulated.
Related Reading
If you have not settled on a format yet, my A2 or A1 art print size guide goes through the choice in more detail. For what the paper and inks actually are, and what archival means in practice, see what is a Giclée print. Browse the whole range in the music wall art prints collection.
Framing Questions I Get Asked
What size is an A1 print in inches?
A1 is 594 x 841mm, which is 33 x 23 in. I also sell a 36 x 24 in US format, which is a separate format rather than a conversion of A1, so the two are not interchangeable.
Do the prints come framed?
Both options exist on every product. Unframed starts at £45 for A2 and £65 for A1. In a black wood frame, ready to hang, it is £125 for A2 and £175 for A1.
Do you sell these on canvas?
Not at the moment. Every print in the range is a Giclée on 230gsm premium acid-free matte fine art paper, and canvas is not currently part of the offer.
Should I use a mount when framing an A1 print?
Only if you buy a frame sized for A1 plus the mount. A standard A1 frame with a mount dropped into it will cover the outer few millimetres of the sheet, and on a discography map, that is where the earliest and latest station labels sit.
Which maps are only available in A1?
The densest ones, where the shortest lines become illegible at A2. The Beatles discography map is the clearest example, sold in A1 and 36 x 24 in only. The size options on each product page are the authority.
Pick the Map First, Then the Frame
The framing decision is the easy half. The harder half is which map, and if you are buying for somebody else and cannot call it, a gift card for music fans lets them choose the map, the size and the framing themselves.
