Materials
- The book you want to measure
- A ruler of sufficient length
- A sturdy, flat object
- A flat surface to work on
This guide is for measuring a portrait book.
Steps
1.
movementLay your book on a flat surface. Line your book up against a wall or a sturdy flat object, like another book or a stiff cardboard box. Start with the longest side of your book lined up against your sturdy object. This will help to make your measurements more precise by minimising movement.
2. Measure the width
With the long edge of your book lined up against your sturdy object, place your ruler down on the flat surface. Then place the short edge of your ruler against the sturdy object, with the long edge flush against the bottom of your book. This will tell you the book’s width.
3. Measure the height
Pick up your book, turn it 90 degrees, place it back down on the flat surface and line up the short edge of your book against your sturdy object. Then place the short edge of your ruler against the sturdy object, with the long edge flush against the bottom of your book. This will tell you the book’s height.
4. Measure the spine
Keeping your book lined up against your sturdy object, set your ruler upright with the shortest edge touching your flat surface and the long edge lined up against the spine of your book. You can then measure from the flat surface up to the top edge of the spine of your book.
However, when printing your book with Mixam, we recommend using our Spine Calculator to calculate the perfect print file size.
Top Tips
To calculate the spine width of your project easily, use our Spine Calculator tool in the Artwork Dashboard of your order.
Once you figure out the dimensions of your project, you can use our instant price calculator tool to see how much it will cost to print.