Poster Type-Scale Generator
Generate a full modular type scale from a base size and a ratio, for consistent poster and layout hierarchy from caption to headline.
Type scale
| Step | Size |
|---|---|
| -2 | 10.24px |
| -1 | 12.8px |
| Base | 16px |
| +1 | 20px |
| +2 | 25px |
| +3 | 31.25px |
| +4 | 39.06px |
| +5 | 48.83px |
Building a hierarchy that holds together
A poster or lettering layout usually needs several distinct sizes — a headline, a subhead, body copy, and a caption or credit line — and it's easy for those sizes to end up arbitrary if you pick each one by eye in isolation. A modular scale fixes that by deriving every size from the same base and ratio, so the proportional relationship between any two levels is always the same.
Named ratios in this tool correspond to the same intervals used in music theory, which is where "modular scale" tools borrow their names from. A larger ratio produces bigger jumps and more visual contrast between levels; a smaller ratio produces a gentler, more even progression. Try a couple of ratios on the same base size and compare how many steps you actually need before the sizes stop feeling useful.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a modular type scale?
A modular scale is a sequence of sizes generated by repeatedly multiplying a base size by a fixed ratio, the same way musical intervals repeat a frequency ratio up and down an octave. Instead of picking headline and body sizes by guesswork, you pick one base size and one ratio, and every other size in the hierarchy follows automatically — size(step) = base × ratio^step.
Which ratio should I pick?
Smaller ratios (minor second, 1.067; major second, 1.125) produce closely spaced sizes suited to dense interfaces with many hierarchy levels. Larger ratios (perfect fourth, 1.333; perfect fifth, 1.5; golden ratio, 1.618) produce more dramatic jumps between sizes, which reads well on a poster where you want a bold headline and a clearly separated caption with few sizes in between. There's no single correct ratio — it's a design decision about how much contrast you want between levels.
Why do the steps go both up and down from the base?
The base size is usually your body text or a reference size. Steps up generate headline and display sizes; steps down generate captions, footnotes, and fine print. Generating both directions from one base keeps the whole hierarchy mathematically consistent instead of picking each size in isolation.
Do I have to use every generated size?
No — most designs use a handful of the generated steps (say, base, +2, and +4 for body, subhead, and headline) rather than all of them. The scale is a menu of harmonious options to choose from, not a requirement to use every value.
Educational tool only. Sizes are exact powers of your chosen ratio, rounded for display — treat the scale as a starting menu of harmonious sizes, and adjust to taste for your specific layout.