Harmony · Front view · Facial Thirds
Top Third
The height of the forehead as a percentage of the full face.
What is measured
The calculation
Hairline-to-brow height ÷ hairline-to-chin height × 100
Front view / Measurement guide
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Why it matters
The forehead frames the eyes and changes how height is distributed across the face. A larger upper third can make the same eyes, nose and jaw occupy a smaller share of the overall outline.
- Lower: the forehead takes up less of the face height.
- Higher: the forehead takes up more of the face height.
Where the idea comes from
Classical proportion
Facial thirds grew out of artistic proportion canons and later anthropometry: the measurement of human form. Farkas and colleagues tested those rules in 1985. FaceIQ uses photographed brow landmarks to divide the face. [1]
A worked example
If the forehead spans 60 units and the full face 180, the top third is 33.3%. Keeping the full height at 180, a 66-unit forehead would be 36.7%.
Example values explain the calculation. They are not a target range and are not measurements of the schematic above.
Research & further reading
The sources below explain the history or related evidence. FaceIQ’s score weights and reference ranges are model settings; these papers do not collectively validate the scoring system.
[1] Farkas et al. · 1985
Vertical and horizontal proportions of the face: revision of neoclassical canonsTested nine traditional proportion rules against measured faces. Useful history for facial thirds and width comparisons; classical rules are not universal targets.