How to Display Certificates on a Wall

Displaying a certificate well comes down to five decisions. You need a frame that matches the document’s actual size, a window mat that holds the sheet away from the glazing, glazing that filters ultraviolet light, a wall that is not in direct sun, and a hanging height and spacing that treat the group as one block instead of a scatter of frames. Conservators add a sixth. If the document matters, hang a copy and store the original flat and dark.

The measurements below come from preservation bodies, university registrars and museum installation guidelines, so they can be checked. Nothing here requires a professional framer, though the harder parts, hinging and deep mats for embossed seals, are worth paying one for.

Step 1: measure the document, not the frame

There is no standard certificate size, and there is no standard diploma size either. Each institution picks its own, so the only reliable measurement is the one you take with a ruler. These are the sizes most documents land on.

Two details change the frame you buy. An embossed or foil seal is a raised element, and raised elements need a deeper mat so nothing presses on them. Temple, for one, embosses its university seal in gold foil on card stock. And a horizontal document in a portrait frame is the most common framing mistake of all, so check the orientation before ordering. More on what those elements are and why they are there in diploma seals and what paper diplomas are printed on.

Step 2: turn the document size into a frame size

A frame sold as “11 × 14” refers to the opening, not the outside. With a window mat, the frame opening is the document plus twice the mat border:

Frame opening = document size + (2 × mat border). Working backwards from a frame you already own, mat border = (frame opening − document size) ÷ 2.

Two conventions are worth knowing. Framers usually cut the bottom border slightly deeper than the top so the document does not appear to sink, and the table above assumes equal borders. The mat window is normally cut a little smaller than the sheet so it overlaps and supports the edges. If you want those edges visible instead, NEDCC describes the float mount, where the sheet sits on folded “v-hinges” on top of the backing board.

The window mat and the backing board should be the same size and fit the frame with 1/16 to 1/8 inch of total play, according to NEDCC’s framing leaflet. Four-ply board is often enough. Thicker mats are needed for large sheets, for sheets that ripple, and for documents with seals or other raised elements.

Step 3: use materials that will not damage the document

Most of the damage framed documents suffer is caused by the frame. Poor-quality boards and tapes release acidic gases and oxidise, which leaves paper embrittled, stained and discoloured. NEDCC’s guidance for works on paper is specific about what to use and what to avoid.

Two rules sit behind that table. The document is mounted on the primary backing board, never on the back of the window mat, and it is never adhered directly to the board. And every conservation adhesive is chosen for reversibility, which is the reason to reject the self-adhesive tapes sold in art shops. They may look clean for a year or two and then refuse to come off at all. The same logic rules out lamination, which cannot be undone.

Step 4: choose glazing that filters UV

Ordinary glass and ordinary acrylic do not block ultraviolet radiation. For anything you care about, NEDCC advises choosing a product with a high UV-filtering capacity, at least 99 percent. Tru Vue Conservation Clear glass and Acrylite OP-3 acrylic are the two it names. The trade-offs between the materials are practical:

Whichever you choose, the glazing must never touch the document. A window mat provides that gap. Without one, use spacers of rag board, acrylic or aluminum, arranged post-and-lintel style (top piece resting above the sides, bottom piece below) so that nothing can fall inward if the adhesive holding a spacer fails. If moisture condenses inside the frame, a document touching the glazing can stick to it permanently.

Step 5: pick the wall by its light, not its view

Light damage is cumulative and irreversible. A faded document does not recover in the dark, and it keeps fading each time it goes back on display. NEDCC’s exhibition guidance puts most collection material at 50 to 150 lux for three to four months without visible fading, and gives useful reference points. 50 lux is roughly a living room in the evening, standard office lighting is around 400 lux, and direct sunlight measures 30,000 lux.

Ultraviolet is the more damaging part. Where no UV meter is available, NEDCC advises assuming that sunlight, fluorescent lamps and quartz-halogen lamps exceed the recommended maximum of 75 microwatts per lumen and that displays under them need filtering. In a home or office that translates into a short list:

• No wall that gets direct sun at any hour. A frame opposite a south-facing window is still receiving reflected daylight all day.
• UV-filtering glazing anywhere with daylight or fluorescent lighting, and UV film on the window if the room has a lot of glass.
• Not above a radiator, a heat vent or a working fireplace, and not in a bathroom or a kitchen. NEDCC’s environmental guidance points to a comfortable, stable room, typically 64 to 72 °F, and warns that wide fluctuations in temperature and relative humidity damage collections in their own right, and that damp conditions invite mold while dry ones make paper brittle.
• Lights off when the room is empty. Exposure is light level multiplied by time, so dim light for years does as much damage as bright light for weeks.

The same leaflet is blunt about the general case. Nothing made of paper, wood, leather or textile should ever be on permanent display.

Step 6: lay out the group before you drill

A wall of frames is read as a single shape, so the outline of the block and the gaps inside it do more work than the individual frames. Two rules cover most cases. Keep one consistent gap throughout, and align something, either the tops, the center line, or the outer edges of the block.

Museum and gallery practice gives the height. Minneapolis College of Art and Design’s installation guidelines set the standard hanging height at 58 inches to the middle of the work, described as standard eye level. Colgate University’s gallery preparator starts every install from a center line 58 inches off the floor. Most design guidance uses 57 to 60 inches, so anywhere in that band is defensible, as long as you use the same figure for every wall in the room.

A worked example, six 11 × 14 frames in three columns and two rows with a 2.5-inch gap:

A gap of 2 to 3 inches suits document-sized frames, and wider gaps make a small grid look accidental. Mixed sizes work when one line is held, usually the top edge of the top row or the horizontal center line of the block. Cut paper rectangles the size of each frame and tape them up before anything goes into the wall. If the certificates arrive over years, plan the final grid now and leave the empty positions. Adding one frame is easy, and re-hanging eight is not.

Step 7: hardware and the height of the nail

The height you calculated is where the middle of the frame goes. The hook sits higher than that. MCAD’s guidelines put it as a formula. Take half the height of the work, add 58, then subtract the drop of the hanging hardware when it is pulled taut. For a single 11 × 14 frame whose wire pulls up to about 1.5 inches below the top edge, the hook lands at (14 ÷ 2) + 58 − 1.5 = 63.5 inches.

• Two hooks, not one. Two hooks set an equal distance either side of center stop a frame from pivoting every time a door closes, and they halve the load on each fixing.
• Match the fixing to the weight. Picture hooks and wall anchors carry a rated weight on the packet, so weigh the finished frame and stay well under it. Glass glazing is the usual reason a frame is heavier than expected.
• Into framing where you can. A hook fixed into a stud beats any plasterboard anchor. Where there is no stud in the right place, use an anchor rated for the weight in place of a bare nail.
• Public rooms need more. Colgate’s gallery staff favor picture hangers with two or three nails for extra security and secure some pieces to the wall so that an accidental bump cannot bring them down, which is sensible in a waiting room or a corridor.
• Check it with a level after hanging, and again a week later, because wire stretches and settles.

Office walls and home walls are different problems

In a workplace the display is doing a job, so consistency carries it. Use one frame profile, one mat color, one gap, aligned edges. The wall behind the desk is what appears in video calls, so measure what the camera actually sees before committing, because a grid centered for a standing viewer often sits too high in frame. That wall is also frequently the one with a window opposite it and fluorescent tubes overhead, which is the lighting combination the 75 µW/lm guidance is aimed at. Where several people share an office, hanging each person’s certificates as a matching column keeps the wall legible.

At home the constraints are humidity and heat as much as light. Hallways and interior walls are usually the best-behaved spots. Bathrooms, kitchens and the wall above a fireplace or radiator are the worst. Stairwells look generous but take strong daylight from above, so they need UV glazing.

Should the original go on the wall?

The preservation answer is no, and the sources state it directly. The US National Archives writes that “the best protection from light is to display copies of the originals and keep the originals in a box”, noting that color scans and photocopies work well. NEDCC makes the same point from the other direction. Very sensitive or fragile material should be displayed only as facsimiles, and nothing organic belongs on permanent display.

None of that is an argument against displaying anything. It is an argument for separating the two jobs the document is doing. The original is the record. It is what a registrar reissues, what an employer’s verification service is checked against, and what should be stored flat, dark and dry. The wall copy is decoration, and decoration can be replaced. If the original has already been lost or damaged, the route back is the issuing institution. See replacing a lost diploma and how to request a copy of a diploma, and for what an official document contains, what a college diploma looks like and what a high school diploma looks like.

A replica display copy from ValidGrad

Frequently asked questions

How do you hang certificates on a wall?

Frame each one with a window mat so the glazing never touches the paper, decide the outline of the whole group first, then hang from a center line 57 to 60 inches off the floor. 58 inches is the figure museum and college galleries use. Fix the hook at half the frame height above that center line, minus the drop of the wire when taut, and use two fixings per frame so it stays level.

How do you display certificates at home?

Choose an interior wall out of direct sunlight, away from bathrooms, kitchens, radiators and fireplaces, and use UV-filtering glazing if the room has much daylight or fluorescent lighting. Keep one consistent gap between frames, usually 2 to 3 inches for document-sized frames, and treat a mixed collection as one rectangle instead of hanging each piece where it fits.

What is the etiquette for displaying diplomas in an office?

There is no formal rule, but the workable conventions are straightforward. Display the credentials relevant to the work being done in that room, use the same frame and mat for all of them so the wall reads as a set, and hang them where a visitor can read them from a seated position, without crowding the wall behind the desk. Clinical and professional offices often display licences because the licensing board requires it. That requirement comes from the board and not from etiquette, so check the rules for your own occupation. Membership certificates sit outside that test. A Mensa certificate records admission to a society and not training for the work, so it usually belongs on a personal wall and not a client-facing one.

What size frame do I need for a certificate or diploma?

Measure the document. An 8.5 × 11 inch certificate matted into an 11 × 14 frame gives borders of about 1.25 inches at the sides, and an 11 × 14 diploma in a 16 × 20 frame gives about 2.5 inches. A4 documents are 8.27 × 11.69 inches and will not sit correctly in an 8.5 × 11 frame. Sizes vary by institution. Temple and Northwestern print most diplomas at 8.5 × 11 and Florida State at 11 × 14, so measure rather than assume.

Can I laminate a certificate to protect it?

No. Lamination is irreversible, and the whole basis of conservation framing is that every material and adhesive used can be undone later. A matted frame with UV-filtering glazing gives better protection than lamination and leaves the document intact. If you want something you can handle freely, display a copy instead.

Sources

• Northeast Document Conservation Center, Preservation Leaflet 4.10: Matting and Framing for Works on Paper and Photographs (revised 2019), the source for mat board and backing materials, hinging, spacers, glazing and UV filtering.
• Northeast Document Conservation Center, Preservation Leaflet 2.4: Protection from Light Damage, the source for lux levels, the 75 µW/lm UV maximum and cumulative damage.
• Northeast Document Conservation Center, Preservation Leaflet 2.1: Temperature, Relative Humidity, Light, and Air Quality, on room conditions and the effect of fluctuation.
• US National Archives and Records Administration, Displaying Family Papers and Photographs, on display copies, mat board, hinging and UV glazing.
• Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Installing Artwork and Media Guidelines (2023), the source for the 58-inch center line and the hardware-height formula.
• Colgate University, Building an Exhibition, from the Inside Out, on the gallery center line and hanging hardware practice.
• Temple University Office of the University Registrar, Diploma contents, on sizes, card stock and the embossed gold foil seal.
• Northwestern University Office of the Registrar, Diploma FAQs, on diploma dimensions by degree.
• Florida State University Office of the University Registrar, Diploma information, on diploma dimensions.
• ISO 216, international paper sizes. A4 is 210 × 297 mm.

Related reading includes framed college diploma display for frame styles and diploma-specific options, achievement certificates for what these documents record, and the certificate timeline hub for how long the credentials behind them take to earn.