The Printer

The School of Computing’s poster printer is an HP Designjet Z5400 PostScript, capable of printing on rolls of paper up to 42 inches wide.

Paper

The school regularly stocks glossy paper rolls in widths of 24 inches, 36 inches and 42 inches.

File Types

We have experience printing Microsoft PowerPoint, Portable Document Format (pdf) and OpenOffice/LibreOffice Open Document Presentation files. Your uploaded file must have one of the following filename extensions: ppt, pptx, pdf or odp.

Time Required

Though we will print a poster as soon as we reasonably can, we ask that you give us two working days from the time of your upload to produce your finished poster. This should allow us time to schedule some printing time, and to deal with problems that arise occasionally (sometimes with the design of the poster, sometimes with the printer). More lead time may be required for printing multiple posters, as for a conference. If you know that such an event is coming, please speak with your technical support staff about it well in advance.

Submitting Posters

Here is a link to the Poster Upload page. Please do NOT send posters by email.

Cost

Cost is calculated at $2.50 per square foot. Tube containers are available in 42-inch lengths at $7.50 each. (Note: We have a small number of tubes remaining but they are no longer available to us for purchase, so will be discontinued once the current supply is exhausted.) All prices are subject to change without notice.

Getting Started (Microsoft PowerPoint)

A PowerPoint poster is, in essence, a one-slide slideshow with non-standard dimensions. The program’s Page Setup dialogue lets you specify the dimensions of the slide/poster, at least one of which should be close to (but not exceeding) 24 inches, 36 inches or 42 inches. You reach the Page Setup dialogue by way of the Design menu in versions of PowerPoint from 2007 onward, and by way of the File menu in older versions. Having thus specified your poster’s size, delete the existing text boxes (“Click to add title” and “Click to add subtitle”) and start adding your own elements. Here is a template for a poster measuring 24 inches wide by 36 inches tall: poster24x36blank.pptx.

Common Pitfalls

  • Submitting posters late. (See “Time Required,” above)
  • Neglecting to make one of the poster’s dimensions (close to but not exceeding) 24 inches, 36 inches or 42 inches;
  • Failing to take into account the resolution of bitmaps (of, for example, the Queen’s coat of arms), which may look fine in miniature on a screen, but highly pixelated when printed out;
  • Using non-standard fonts;
  • Submitting posters that are “object-rich” (see “Avoiding Problems With ‘Object-Rich’ Files,” above);
  • Submitting posters by email instead of using the Poster Upload page.

WARNINGS

  • The ink used by our poster printer is water soluble and will smudge easily when touched.
  • Posters printed on our poster printer have been known to fade considerably over time.

Contact

Questions about poster printing should be directed to posters@cs.queensu.ca. Do not send posters to this address; use the Poster Upload page instead.