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NEW PROCEDURE

Posters are now printed at the print shop, visit their Web site for more information.

TIPS ON PREPARING YOUR POSTERS FOR PRINTING, for reference only.

Posters:

The University community can print posters up to 41 inches by 51 inches in full color at the university's Print Shop. All posters must be created through PowerPoint, for the poster printer will only print using the PowerPoint application.

Creating a Poster

• Poster size can be no larger than 51" x 41"
• Adjust the size of the poster to the paper, by going to Design/page set up/custom size
• Arrange elements in the Poster to look good at 100% view
• Save as a .ppt or .pptx (no other format)
• Take a USB flash drive or CD containing the poster file to the Print Shop for printing!
  
• You are solely responsible for content and layout

Troubleshooting

• Check the dimensions on 3 folds, there are several kinds
• PowerPoint doesn't print to the edge, for our largest posters, the actual paper size will be 52" x 42" 
• Make sure that your poster is no more than 51 inches MAXIMUM length and no less than 12 inches MINIMUM length
• Double check your font size and spelling, especially names, non-English words & scientific terms
• Extremely saturated backgrounds have a tendency to cause the poster to wrinkle regular paper and will be charged an ink fee. Media Services determines if the poster's content warrants the fee.
  

Cost

Contact the Print Shop for poster printing pricing schedule.

Why does it have to be PowerPoint?

It can be very tricky to print a poster from most applications, and nearly impossible to print from MS Publisher. We instruct users to create their poster using PowerPoint, because it's easier for them to create a document that provides the results they expect. While we can print from MS Word and most other applications, the results may not be what you expect. And because of the extra time needed to setup and troubleshoot these applications, such documents will take longer to process and print.

Other Considerations

The size of the print is worthy of consideration. The largest document we can print from PowerPoint is 41 X 51 inches, on paper that is 42 X 52 inches, because our printer won't print to the very edge.

When we print a graphic poster-size, it will generally be pixelated, if you look at it closely. Is this okay? It generally is, but there's always a possibility someone will look at it closely and be unhappy with the results. If it will be examined from far away (a few feet), this should not be a problem.

Another thing to consider is the purpose. If the document is just a temporary reference, high quality is probably relatively unimportant. On the other hand, if it will be in the public eye, framed, a high quality (and cost) print is desired.

While we don't have the capacity to mount posters on foamcore or any other medium, that might be the desired outcome, where the job would be outsourced to Express Printing or other company.

Our poster printer doesn't handle saturated colors very well, as bands often occur in heavily saturated areas. This can generally be overcome by printing on glossy paper, as the special surface allows for heavier concentrations of ink. But it is costly!