Hand Lettering Grid Calculator

Guideline spacing from letter height and style.

x-height (mm)

Cap height / x-height ratio

Ascender / x-height ratio

Descender / x-height ratio

Slant angle (°)

Paper height (mm)

Margin (mm)

Tab to move between fields

Row height (mm)

16.8

Rows per page11

Cap height (mm)11.2

Ascender height (mm)12

Descender depth (mm)4.8

Slant guide spacing (mm)0

Cap Line Mm0.8

Waistline Mm4

Baseline Mm12

Descender Line Mm16.8

How to Use This Calculator

Enter x-height (mm), Cap height / x-height ratio, and Ascender / x-height ratio.
Set Descender / x-height ratio, Slant angle (°), and Paper height (mm).
Adjust Margin (mm) as needed.
Review the Row height (mm) result.
Use Rows per page and Cap height (mm) to inform your decision.

How the result changes with x-height (mm)

x-height (mm): Desired x-height (height of lowercase a, e, o, x) in millimeters.
Cap height / x-height ratio: Capital letter height as a multiple of x-height. Typical: 1.3–1.5.
Ascender / x-height ratio: Ascender height (b, d, h) as multiple of x-height. Typical: 1.4–1.6.
Descender / x-height ratio: Descender depth (g, p, y) as multiple of x-height. Typical: 0.5–0.7.
Slant angle (°): Letter slant from vertical. 0 = upright, 5–12° = italic, 20°+ = dramatic script.
Paper height (mm): Paper height in mm. US Letter = 279, A4 = 297.
Margin (mm): Top and bottom margin in mm.

Row height (mm): Total height of one lettering row from ascender line to descender line.
Rows per page: Number of complete lettering rows that fit on your paper.
Cap height (mm): Height of capital letters from baseline.
Ascender height (mm): Height from baseline to ascender line.
Descender depth (mm): Depth from baseline to descender line.
Slant guide spacing (mm): Horizontal distance between slant guidelines at the baseline. 0 = upright (no slant guides).

Identify Input Parameters
4 parameters
x-height (mm) = 8, Cap height / x-height ratio = 1.4, Ascender / x-height ratio = 1.5, Descender / x-height ratio = 0.6 = 7 input(s) provided
Calculate Row height
Row height = ascenderHeightMm + descenderDepthMm
16.8 = 16.8
Calculate Rows per page
Rows per page
11 = 11
Calculate Cap height
Cap height = xHeightMm * capRatio
11.2 = 11.2