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School of
Biological Sciences

UCI

Poster Printing

There is a normal "next day" turnaround for poster printing.
Rush service may be available for an additional charge.

Posters are printed on Epson Stylus Pro 9600 wide format printers with Epson 7 color, pigmented UltraChrome Inks. We use ILFORD Heavyweight glossy photo paper . You can choose from either 36 or 42 inch wide contiguous roll paper to achieve a wide variety of poster sizes.

All posters are printed with 1/2" white border unless otherwise specifed by the customer.

General guidelines for preparing files for poster printing

Please call ImageWorks for specific information regarding your poster project.
As each image file is unique, and contains specific information generated by your individual graphics application and hardware (often without your knowledge), some of our recommendations may not initially work for you. Therefore, we at ImageWorks will troubleshoot files on an individual basis. We accept Mac and PC files on CDs, flash drives and Zip Disks. Floppy disks are only accepted with PC files.

Image Resolution:
We have had good results printing posters using a resolution of 150 ppi. Anything larger than 150 ppi does not significantly improve image quality, but does result in excessive file sizes. The whole subject of resolution can be rather complicated and often confusing. The simplest way to approach any resolution issue is to “Work Backwards”. That is to say, start at the finished output size and work from there forward. Lets say that you wish to use a 4x5 photograph on a poster, and the photograph will actually end up being 8 X10 inches on that poster. When you scan that photograph, set the output size to 8 X 10 and the resolution to 150 ppi (about 6Mb). It is better to scan at a slightly higher output size to allow for cropping.

Image File Formats (bitmaps and vectors):
Bitmaps refer to pixel based formats such as Photoshop, TIFF and JPEG. These images are made up of tiny pixels of information, each having it’s own value of density and color. More pixels in a given area will result in better image quality and “higher resolution”. More pixels also result in a larger file size. Bitmap images are best suited for photographs and artwork containing a lot of detail and subtle shading. Since bitmap images are made up of an exact amount of information, enlargement will result in a loss of quality.
Vectors refer to shapes, and are used by drawing programs such as Adobe Illustrator and PowerPoint. A vector is the mathematical formula used to create a specific graphic. It contains information such as shape, fill color, stroke etc. Vectors are best suited to text, graphs and illustrations that contain limited detail and shading. There are no pixels. Vectors are not resolution specific, and can be scaled up or down without loss of quality. The computer simply takes the information and draws the shape, fills the color, etc. In theory, our poster printing software accepts most common formats (EPS, PDF, TIFF, JPEG, GIF). The TIFF format is robust and has a minimal amount of issues. One drawback of using tiff is the large file it creates. We recommend that your TIFFs be "Saved As" or Exported to Tiff format with anti-aliasing on (150 ppi at final size). Another good format is PDF.

Inserting Images:
Use the "Insert Image" function, which is available in most applications. Avoid using "Copy and Paste" and "Drag and Drop". These methods sometimes omit necessary information used in the postscripting process. Please keep in mind that if you have difficulty inserting an image, there may be an incompatibility, which could result in missing information in the final poster.

Charts and Graphs from other Applications:
Because of several formatting issues, we recommend that you convert charts and graphs to image files such as TIFFs or JPEGs before inserting them into your poster. Make sure the resolution is set to 150 ppi at the output size, and that anti-alias is on.

Font issues:
When we open your file for printing, special fonts you used to create your document that are not embedded in your file, will not print correctly. As we did not create your poster, there is no way for us to know exactly how it is supposed to look, and many scientific equations are impossible for us to understand anyway. Do not use hot keys to insert symbols. If you stick to common cross platform system fonts like Arial and Times New Roman, many font problems can be eliminated. Most vector based applications allow you to embed necessary fonts in the post scripting process. This would be an advantage of saving a file as an EPS (encapsulated postscript). Another option is to save your document as a Tiff, rasterizing your file to final size with a resolution of 150 ppi.

Color:
It is important to note that printed colors will be less vivid than those that you see on your computer monitor. As a rule, dark colors will print darker. Solid black or dark backgrounds make the surface of a poster more susceptible to scratching and make fingerprints more noticeable.

Application Specific Information

PowerPoint:
We do not recomend using PowerPoint for posters. However, we understand that it is a common application
and we will work with you to make your PowerPoint poster looks its best. Be aware that PowerPoint will
degrade the quality of your placed images, printed colors will be less accurate and certain PowerPoint styles and effects will not print properly.
1. Create your poster to actual size. Use Page Set-Up (42 X ?) or (36 X ?). This way you can view your file at actual size (100%) to verify resolution and quality. Unfortunately, PowerPoint has a size limit of 56” X 56”, so if you want one dimension to be larger than 56” you will have to go through a scaling process (call us for instructions).
2. Overly complex posters created in PowerPoint can have display and printing issues. You will have less problems if you use less layers and keep your design simple. Please try Adobe Illustrator for more complex designs.
3. Try to use only system fonts. Arial and Times New Roman are reliable fonts.
4. Make sure that any bitmap (pixel based) images contained in your file are scanned to a high enough resolution (150 ppi at final size). Resolution higher than 150 ppi will result in excessive file sizes.
5. Solid black or dark backgrounds make the surface of a poster more susceptible to scratching and make fingerprints more noticeable.
6. Do not use the transparent or semi transparent setting in the fill options window. Please try Adobe Illustrator if you need transparency.
7. Do not fill objects like graph bars with patterns. If you must fill graphs with patterns, please do so outside of PowerPoint and insert the graph as an image.

Canvas:
1. Create your poster to actual size. Use Layout/Document setup (42 X ?) or (36 X ?). This way you can view your file at actual size (100%) to verify resolution and quality. Use RGB color mode.
2. Try to use only system fonts. Arial and Times New Roman are reliable fonts.
3. Make sure that any bitmap (pixel based) images contained in your file are scanned to a high enough resolution (150 ppi at final size). Resolution higher than 150 ppi will result in excessive file sizes.
4. Solid black or dark backgrounds make the surface of a poster more susceptible to scratching and make fingerprints more noticeable.
5. Save your file as a TIFF or PDF.

Illustrator:
1. Create your poster to actual size. Use Document Set-Up (42 X ?) or (36 X ?). This way you can view your file at actual size (100%) to verify resolution and quality. Use RGB color mode.
2. To avoid font issues, try to use only cross platform system fonts. Arial and Times New Roman are reliable fonts.
3. Make sure that any bitmap (pixel based) images contained in your file are scanned to a high enough resolution (150 ppi at final size). Resolution higher than 150 ppi will result in excessive file sizes.
4. Solid black or dark backgrounds make the surface of a poster more susceptible to scratching and make fingerprints more noticeable.
5. Save your file as normal Illustrator file - "file_name.ai" or as a PDF.

Photoshop:
1. Create your poster to actual size at 150 ppi. Use Image Size (42 X ?) or (36 X ?). This way you can view your file at actual size (Print size) to verify resolution and quality. Use RGB color mode.
2. Because this is a pixel-based program, you can use any font you choose, and we will not have font issues.
3. Make sure that any images contained in your file are scanned to a high enough resolution (150 ppi at final size). Resolution higher than 150 ppi will result in excessive file sizes.
4. Solid black or dark backgrounds make the surface of a poster more susceptible to scratching and make fingerprints more noticeable.
5. Save your file as a normal Photoshop file - "file_name.psd" or as a PDF.

MS Word and Excel:
Although not recommended as page layout programs, we can print single page MS Word and Excel files as posters. Font, image and resolution issues apply as with other application files.

Poster Prices

Prices effective 08/01/07

There is normal next day turnaround for poster printing.
Rush service may be available for an additional charge.
To calculate poster pricing please use the following equation:
((W" x H") ÷ 144) x (per sq ft $)=poster price