Poster Printing:

Owned by Shawn Liner
Last updated: Nov 15, 2023
3 min read

The tech department has a poster printer. It can print up to 44" wide and over 100ft long. But there are some things that make life easier when printing posters. 

  • Payment:

    • Poster printing is NOT part of your copy allowance. The poster printer is "self-sustaining" and must be paid for with a PO. 
    • Cost
      • Paper: $1/square foot
      • Vinyl: $2/ square foot
      • plus grommets. 
    • For our most common size, 24"x36" this translates into
      • $6 for poster paper
      • $12 for vinyl.  (this is heavy outdoor rated vinyl that will stand up to rain etc for a couple of months)
    • We can also add grommets for $0.50 each. 
    • There are ways of reducing the price by reducing the print quality. But this isn't usually what is wanted. Contact helpdesk with any questions. 

  • Who can print and for what?

    • Students and Faculty can print for school related items. 
      The price we charge is as low as we can to replace supplies. We are not ready to do a printing business. 

  • What can you print on?

    • We can print on poster paper and vinyl. 
    • The vinyl is rated for outdoor display for 6 months. (In my experience the ink will fade visibly in a couple of months)

  • Get high-res images:

    • You want any images you print to be as high resolution as they can be. This article on our kb will show you how to find those
    • A rule of thumb is 300 pixels per inch for a "great" quality print. 
    • Example if you want too print 24in by 36in (a common poster size). Then you would want a picture that is 
      • 24in * 300pixels/in = 7200 pixels
      • 36in *300pix/in = 10800 pixels
      • this would be 7200x10800/1000000=78Mpixels. 
    • Note: you won't find pictures of this quality. So the answer is "more is better". 
      • Really a bottom limit would be 50pixels per inch. So roughly 1/6 of that "good"
      • that would be 1200 x 1800 = 2MP 
      • Or combine several smaller images to create your own work. 

  • Get Legal images:

    • This article on or kb will help you find images in the creative commons licensing. These are legal for us to print. 
    • We do NOT print images that are watermarked. 

  • What sizes do we print?

    • Short answer: 
      • The most common size you see around campus is 24" by 36"
    • Long Version 
      • For "small posters" consider using the copiers
        • They can print 11x17 for $0.01 for BW and $0.05 for color. (based on our contract)
        • This same poster would cost $0.50-$1.50 on the poster printer. 
      • A very common thing is to poster print "normal pages" (That is 8.5x11). There are two easy sizes to go from there
        • 28x36 
        • 36x47
      • Technically we can print any length up to 100ft with at least one dimension listed below
        • Poster Paper widths
          • 24"
          • 36"   (so 24x36 or 36x72, etc)
          • 44"  
        • Vinyl:
          • 24"
          • 36"
          • 42"
      • To be honest...
        • We can print other sizes, but any size that doesn't have one of those dimensions will require us to cut one side. This will not have quite as clean of an edge as a factory edge will. 
        • I don't recommend this unless it is really needed. 
    • Banner Stand
      • There are common poster/banner stands that the marketing team uses. 
      • They use vinyl and grommets to stand on their own. 
      • Posters for these need to be 24" wide and between 63-71" wide. 
    • Street Sign
      • The banner stand out by the streen is 42" x 98"'
      • Canva can do a max of 83.328. So, if you want 3'x8' then 31"x83" is about as close as you can get and the ratio will be right. Then we can enlarge it but keep the shape. 
  • What program do I create the image in?  
    • Publisher
      • create a new publication of any size
      • "Page design", Size, "Create New Page Size"
      • choose layout type "one page per sheet"
      • set the width and height as desired and click "ok" (Our most common size would be 24" wide by 36" tall)
      • Design your slide, save it, email it. 
    • Powerpoint
      • Most people are familiar with this
      • It's easy to move images around 
      • You can make almost any size
        • open a new presentation
        • Design, "slide size", "custom slide size"
        • Change the size to match what you want.  
        • How most common size is 24in wide by 36in tall
        • Choose "ensure fit"
        • design your slide. 
    • photoshop
    • canva
    • Word: (At the bottom of this list for a reason. It's maximum page size is 11x17")
      • we can blow up 8.5x11 to pretty any size....
      • this isn't the best option becuase you can lose resolution and end up with a grainy poster. 
      • It "should" stay the same proportion
        • So, this could be 28x36" pretty easily (36/11*8.5=28)