The making of Rostomer height chart

The original idea from the studio's pool “brain.”

Let's get to it!

Kerning and juggling text blocks around in the most nerdy way.

Art director: Need to be able to put Rostomer on the wall at the proper height without any measuring tools.

Art director: It's too confusing.

Thinking of characters to measure up to.

Alexander Pushkin 166—167 cm (5′5″)
Alexander Suvorov 185 cm (6′1″)
Boris Yeltsin 187 cm (6′1″)
Vladimir Putin 170 cm (5′7″)
Dmitry Medvedev 162 cm (5′4″)
Ivan the Terrible 178 cm (5′10″)
Leo Tolstoy 181 cm (5′11″)
Mikhail Kutuzov 174 cm (5′8″)
Nicholas II 168 cm (5′6″)
Peter the Great 201 cm (6′7″)
Semyon Budyonny 169 cm (5′6″)
Yuri Andropov 182 cm (5′11″)
Yaroslav the Wise 175 cm (5′9″)

Advisor: Range them by height instead of by alphabet.

Dmitry Medvedev 162 cm (5′4″)
Alexander Pushkin 166—167 cm (5′5″)
Nicholas II 168 cm (5′6″)
Semyon Budyonny 169 cm (5′6″)
Vladimir Putin 170 cm (5′7″)
Mikhail Kutuzov 174 cm (5′8″)
Yaroslav the Wise 175 cm (5′9″)

Advisor: Add Brezhnev, Monya and Khryapa, Stalin. Ditch Andropov and Yaroslav the Wise.

Dmitry Medvedev 162 cm (5′4″)
Joseph Stalin 163 cm (5′4″)
Alexander Pushkin 166—167 cm (5′5″)
Nicholas II 168 cm (5′6″)
Semyon Budyonny 169 cm (5′6″)
Vladimir Putin 170 cm (5′7″)
Mikhail Kutuzov 174 cm (5′8″)
Leonid Brezhnev 176 cm (5′9″)
Ivan the Terrible 178 cm (5′10″)
Leo Tolstoy 181 cm (5′11″)
Alexander Suvorov 185 cm (6′1″)
Boris Yeltsin 187 cm (6′1″)
Peter the Great 201 cm (6′7″)
Sergey Monya 202 cm (6′7″)
Viktor Khryapa 204 cm (6′8″)

Editor: Don't you find Monya & Khryapa not really fitting in?

Project manager: I thought they were just a tall tale.

Advisor: We need guys soaring over 2 m (6′7″) and Peter the Great alone is simply not enough.

Typesetter: Maybe these dudes would do: Rachmaninov 198 cm (6′6″), Nikolai Valuev 213 cm (7′), Wladimir Klitschko 199 cm (6′6″), Vitali Klitschko 201 cm (6′7″).

Advisor: Let's take Rachmaninov 198 cm (6′6″) and Valuev 213 cm (7′).

Dmitry Medvedev 162 cm (5′4″)
Joseph Stalin 163 cm (5′4″)
Alexander Pushkin 166—167 cm (5′5″)
Nicholas II 168 cm (5′6″)
Semyon Budyonny 169 cm (5′6″)
Vladimir Putin 170 cm (5′7″)
Mikhail Kutuzov 174 cm (5′8″)
Leonid Brezhnev 176 cm (5′9″)
Ivan the Terrible 178 cm (5′10″)
Leo Tolstoy 181 cm (5′11″)
Alexander Suvorov 185 cm (6′1″)
Boris Yeltsin 187 cm (6′1″)
Peter the Great 201 cm (6′7″)
Rachmaninov 198 cm (6′6″)
Valuev 213 cm (7′)

Art director: Check and double-check all the numbers.

Designer : It's better to stay away from celebs living before nineteenth—twentieth centuries. There's no sure anthropometric data on them online, we'd have to contact their biographers or historians.

Dmitry Medvedev 162 cm (5′4″)
Joseph Stalin 163 cm (5′4″)
Alexander Pushkin 166—167 cm (5′5″)
Nicholas II 168 cm (5′6″)
Semyon Budyonny 169 cm (5′6″)
Vladimir Putin 170 cm (5′7″)
Mikhail Kutuzov unknown
Leonid Brezhnev 176 cm (5′9″)
Ivan the Terrible 178 cm (5′10″)
Leo Tolstoy 181 cm (5′11″)
Alexander Suvorov unknown
Boris Yeltsin 187 cm (6′1″)
Peter the Great unknown
Rachmaninov 198 cm (6′6″)
Valuev 213 cm (7′)

Designer: What if we take our contemporaries whose height is known more or less.

Yuri Gagarin 165 cm (5′5″)
Steve Jobs 188 cm (6′2″)
Vladimir Mayakovsky 189 cm (6′2″)
Marilyn Monroe 166 cm (5′5″)
Ernesto Che Guevara 174 cm (5′8″)
Woody Allen 165 cm (5′5″)
Thomas Edison 178 cm (5′10″)
Nikolai Valuev 213 cm (7′)
Stephen King 195 cm (6′5″)
Quentin Tarantino 189 cm (6′2″)
Albert Einstein 175 cm (5′9″)
Bruce Lee 168 cm (5′6″)
Vladimir Putin 170 cm (5′7″)
Maria Sharapova 188 cm (6′2″)

Advisor: Let's cut all prehistoric subjects of unknown size and replace them with our native contemporaries: Yuri Gagarin 165 cm (5′5″), Vladimir Mayakovsky 189 cm (6′2″), Maria Sharapova 188 cm (6′2″).

Dmitry Medvedev 162 cm (5′4″)
Joseph Stalin 163 cm (5′4″)
Yuri Gagarin 165 cm (5′5″)
Alexander Pushkin 166—167 cm (5′5″)
Nicholas II 168 cm (5′6″)
Semyon Budyonny 169 cm (5′6″)
Vladimir Putin 170 cm (5′7″)
Leonid Brezhnev 176 cm (5′9″)
Ivan the Terrible 178 cm (5′10″)
Leo Tolstoy 181 cm (5′11″)
Boris Yeltsin 187 cm (6′1″)
Maria Sharapova 188 cm (6′2″)
Vladimir Mayakovsky 189 cm (6′2″)
Rachmaninov 198 cm (6′6″)
Nikolai Valuev 213 cm (7′)

Advisor: Let's get rid of Sharapova, it gets too crowded.

Dmitry Medvedev 162 cm (5′4″)
Joseph Stalin 163 cm (5′4″)
Yuri Gagarin 165 cm (5′5″)
Alexander Pushkin 166—167 cm (5′5″)
Nicholas II 168 cm (5′6″)
Semyon Budyonny 169 cm (5′6″)
Vladimir Putin 170 cm (5′7″)
Leonid Brezhnev 176 cm (5′9″)
Ivan the Terrible 178 cm (5′10″)
Leo Tolstoy 181 cm (5′11″)
Boris Yeltsin 187 cm (6′1″)
Vladimir Mayakovsky 189 cm (6′2″)
Rachmaninov 198 cm (6′6″)
Nikolai Valuev 213 cm (7′)

Art director: Remove Medvedev and Stalin.

Yuri Gagarin 165 cm (5′5″)
Alexander Pushkin 166—167 cm (5′5″)
Nicholas II 168 cm (5′6″)
Semyon Budyonny 169 cm (5′6″)
Vladimir Putin 170 cm (5′7″)
Leonid Brezhnev 176 cm (5′9″)
Ivan the Terrible 178 cm (5′10″)
Leo Tolstoy 181 cm (5′11″)
Boris Yeltsin 187 cm (6′1″)
Vladimir Mayakovsky 189 cm (6′2″)
Rachmaninov 198 cm (6′6″)
Nikolai Valuev 213 cm (7′)

Typesetter: Now we are coming up too short. Can I add Fedor Shalyapin?

Advisor: Yes.

Art director: Yes.

Yuri Gagarin 165 cm (5′5″)
Alexander Pushkin 166—167 cm (5′5″)
Nicholas II 168 cm (5′6″)
Semyon Budyonny 169 cm (5′6″)
Vladimir Putin 170 cm (5′7″)
Leonid Brezhnev 176 cm (5′9″)
Ivan the Terrible 178 cm (5′10″)
Leo Tolstoy 181 cm (5′11″)
Boris Yeltsin 187 cm (6′1″)
Vladimir Mayakovsky 189 cm (6′2″)
Fedor Shalyapin 193 cm (6′4″)
Rachmaninov 198 cm (6′6″)
Nikolai Valuev 213 cm (7′)