Semi-Log · 1 Decade on A2 · Landscape

About this template

Semi-logarithmic paper with one logarithmic decade on the vertical axis (1, 2, 3, … 10) and a linear horizontal axis. Exponential phenomena plot as straight lines on this paper - a fact that made it indispensable to electrical engineers, biologists and economists for most of the 20th century. See also: A short reading list on technical drawing standards can help you put any of these grids in their historical and standards-based context.

Best used for

• Plotting exponential growth and decay curves
• pH titration and chemical-kinetics curves
• Frequency-response Bode plots (with log scaled appropriately)
• Cost-curve and learning-curve analysis

Why A2 in landscape

Architectural pin-up size - large enough for a complete floor plan at 1:100, still pinnable to a studio wall without sagging. The landscape orientation gives you 594 mm of horizontal run and 420 mm of vertical, which suits wide subjects - site plans, sequence diagrams, multi-column layouts - where the eye reads left-to-right. Trim and bleed allowances on consumer printers will normally remove a 5 mm strip from each edge; this grid is generated to remain measurable even after that trim, with no critical content placed inside the printer-margin band.

Standards and lineage

Formal definition in ISO 31-11:1992 mathematical signs and symbols. The A2 sheet itself follows ISO 216, and the title-block conventions assumed by this template come from ISO 5457:1999 - the international standard governing how technical drawings are framed, dated, and signed. Background reading: See our scale-and-projection guides for a deeper dive on how all the standards in this lineage interact in practice.

A short history of this grid

Semi-log paper was patented in the 1890s and became the standard medium for electronic-engineering frequency plots before the digital oscilloscope made paper-based plotting obsolete.

Printing notes

For accurate output, print at 100 % scale - never "fit to page", which silently shrinks the sheet by 4–6 % and breaks every measured cell. Use a laser printer if the grid will be traced over with ink, since inkjet inks bleed through technical pen and pencil. If your printer cannot handle the full A2 sheet, scale the SVG to the next-smaller paper size before printing - every GridCraft grid is delivered as vector artwork so it scales cleanly. The downloaded SVG carries the physical sheet dimensions in millimetres, so a compliant print driver should print at 1:1 by default. Our how-to-print guide walks through the calibration test in 30 seconds.

Designer's note

Specialty grids reward the discipline of choosing the right sheet for the right drawing. A Semi-Log · 1 Decade on A2 is not a one-size-fits-all sheet - it's a calibrated tool for a specific class of problem. Use it where the page suits the drawing; reach for a different sheet when it doesn't. The catalogue is large precisely so you don't have to compromise on the projection, scale or sheet size.