Mat Setbacks and Weighting
Weighted and Centered Mats
Unless you indicate otherwise, we will cut a centered mat window. This means that the window will be centered in the middle of the mat.
We can however, create a weighted mat border on request. The most common weighted mat design has a bottom border about ½” wider than the top and sides. A weighted mat border is also called a “drop”. Weighting mats helps to counteract an inherent human visual perception problem. If a picture is placed directly in the center of a mat that has equal width borders, the human eye will perceive that the picture sits oddly below center and it will therefore look top-heavy. A weighted mat compensates for this illusion and better balances the presentation.
It has also become quite popular to weight your mat with a much wider border, so that the window is placed obviously higher in the mat. This is an aesthetic choice and can work well to set off a smaller piece of artwork.
