Poster Printing

AL provides a complimentary printing service for students, faculty, staff who need to print a poster or other wide format print job for professional events, meetings, or other activities. Following is a summary of the policies and procedures to request, create, and submit large format print jobs for printing.

Please note that this is a free service and participants are expected to adhere to the policies as outlined. If you cannot meet the required deadlines or follow the procedures, you may be charged for your print job ($8 per square foot) or you may have to find an outside printing service for which you or your grant will have to pay. Information about alternate online and local services are provided later in this document.

How do I use this service?

To submit a print request, please complete this online form to add your job to the calendar. Ideally, you should submit this form AS SOON AS you are notified that your poster has been accepted to the meeting or as soon as you know that you will need to print a poster. This allows staff to plan accordingly and make arrangements for any planned absences. Notice of at least one week is required.

When do I need to submit my file?

Allowing adequate time will help to ensure that we can print your poster successfully. Therefore, if you have already completed the request form at least a week in advance and have not heard otherwise, you will need to submit your poster to Katie Kline (kkline@umces.edu) before noon on the last business day prior to departing for your conference via email. For example, if you are leaving on a Friday, your file must be submitted before noon on Thursday. Be sure to plan ahead. Printing is not available outside of normal business hours. Business hours are Monday through Friday between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm when the lab is open. Use the following table as a guide:

Day of Departure from Frostburg	File Submission Deadline
Sunday	Before Noon of Previous Friday
Monday	Before Noon of Previous Friday
Tuesday	Before Noon on Monday
Wednesday	Before Noon on Tuesday
Thursday	Before Noon on Wednesday
Friday	Before Noon on Thursday
Saturday	Before Noon on Friday
Holiday	Before Noon of Last Business Day Before Holiday

Please note that prints can take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours to complete depending on file size and demand. The print process includes set up, quality checks, buffering, printing, drying, and trimming. We can sometimes have four or more posters to print before the larger, common meetings like ESA and AGU. Furthermore, like any mechanical device, the printer can sometimes break and require repair. In these cases, someone will communicate with you about the situation, but it’s always best to leave as much time as possible to account
for unforeseen circumstances.

What print sizes can AL accommodate?

There are two widths of paper available at AL, which in the case of landscape orientation files is the poster’s height: 36 inches and 42 inches. We can accommodate a variety of widths depending on the graphics program that you use to publish your poster. The longest width available in PowerPoint is 56 inches. Therefore, the largest poster that you can create in PowerPoint is 42 by 56 inches. Other graphics programs, like InDesign and Illustrator, provide more flexibility for the longer side allowing you to print a landscape orientation poster as wide as 60” or 72” or more. Common sizes include: 36×48”, 42×55”, 42×60”, and 42×72”.

Although sizes smaller than 42” or 36” on the shortest side can be used, they will require trimming. Your poster will look the best and require fewer post-printing modifications if you choose one of the available paper widths for at least one of your poster dimensions, but be sure to also consider the conference poster requirements.

In what format should I submit my poster file?

AL can print native files from Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Publisher, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively, you may want to generate a PDF of your poster for submission, though this is not required. Generating the PDF ensures that no shifting of information, layout, fonts or symbols will occur. This shifting can sometimes occur when the native file is opened on a different computer or operating system, though this seems to occur less often than it did 5 or 10 years ago.

To create a PDF from PowerPoint, which is the program with which this issue is most likely to occur:

Select File > Export.
Click Create PDF/XPS Document, then click Create PDF/XPS. Note: Do NOT choose the “Create Adobe PDF” option. This will create a low quality file that won’t print clearly.
In the Publish as PDF or XPS dialog box, choose a location to save the file and enter a File name if you’d like to use a different name. Check to be sure that the file is optimized for Standard and NOT Minimum size.

If you have any doubts about the size or quality of your file, create a PDF and confirm at 100% magnification that colors, fonts, and images look perfect on your screen. Another trick is to upload the PDF to http://pdf-analyser.edpsciences.org/, which will give you a listing of the resolutions of all images contained, plus will flag any fonts you’ve used but weren’t embedded in the PDF. If you own Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can get the same information by running a preflight diagnostic.

The following are the two most helpful tips that can be offered for a successful poster preparation experience:

Allow adequate preparation time – posters always take longer than you expect that they will. Take into consideration that co-authors might need to review your poster and they could be in different time zones.
Provide adequate white space on your poster – never take text and graphics to the absolute edge of your document. This will prevent the potential for important content to be cut off and/or requiring adjustments or reprints in order to get it right. To avoid a cluttered poster, give your content some breathing room.

Additional poster preparation tips are found on this page.

Alternative Printing Options

If for some reason, our printer is down, you’ve missed the deadline, or you need to make a last minute reprint outside of normal business hours, you still do have some options, which are summarized below. Because things can change, it is recommended that you contact vendors as soon as possible to ensure that they can still meet your requirements.

Frostburg State University

FSU has large format printing capabilities in their Printing Services department and will invoice the lab for the job. Their turn-around-time is typically longer than AL’s. Learn more from their web page.

Lavale CVS Pharmacy

You can submit a file online with CVS and pick up the print job (usually within a few hours) from the CVS Pharmacy in Lavale in sizes up to 24×36” for about $30. Visit the website to learn more.

UPS Store – Cumberland, MD

The UPS Store located at 725 Park St Cumberland, MD has the capability to print large format posters of the 48”x36” size on glossy photo paper for about $75. Their phone number is: (301)724-4200. Additional information can be found on their website.

Staples – LaVale, MD

Staples located in LaVale, MD has the capability to print large format posters of the 48”x36” size with same day pickup if the file is received by 2 pm and the poster picked up 30 minutes before store closing. Their price for a 48”x36” poster is about $100 Their phone number is: (301)729-7840. Additional information is located on their website.

FedEx/Kinkos

There are no FedEx copy and print services available locally, but there are locations in Hagerstown, MD, Greensburg, PA, Monroeville, PA, Winchester, VA, Frederick, MD, among others where one could coordinate a pick up of a printed poster for about $90 on their way to a conference. The largest size that they offer is 48”x36”. Learn more about Copy/Printing Services at their website.

Online Services

If you’ve been the victim of unforeseen circumstances or just dropped the ball, it’s unlikely that you could meet deadlines with an online printer and have the poster shipped to you in Frostburg before you have to leave for your meeting. Online Services could be an option, though, if you arrange for shipment to your conference location/hotel. Here are a few sites that offer online ordering for poster printing some of which offer same day shipping if you meet their cutoff: