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Printing large-format documents

Introduction

The Epson 9800 large-format printer is an expensive resource to operate and should be utilized for academic purposes only. Please use your best judgment when using this resource for your needs or for those of your students.

The procedure below outlines the main points of how to have a large-format document printed. Due to the highly specialized nature of this professional printer, ITS staff will be printing all posters. To make efficient use of staff-time, we currently plan to print posters once a week. To insure that you receive your poster within a week’s time, please submit posters at least 7 days in advance. To make special arrangements for a class or a group of students that will need to have posters printed at around the same time, please let the ITS Helpdesk know in advance so the necessary preparations can be made.

Poster printer procedure

  1. The paper roll for the Epson 9800 printer is 44 inches wide, so you must format the Page Setup for your document accordingly. PowerPoint is commonly used to build posters since it supports an intuitive interface for creating and moving text blocks and graphics. Please use one of the templates listed below to create your poster.
  2. When your poster is ready, you must convert it to a PDF. This helps avoid font or platform incompatibilities that can occur as you move a document from your computer to the computer on which the poster will be printed. After reviewing the instructions below, contact Arno Damerow at arno.b.damerow@lawrence.edu or ext. 6710 if you have questions.
  3. Proof the PDF of your poster (spelling, etc.) very, very carefully! Reprinting a poster because of a typo is a costly mistake.
  4. When your poster is ready to be printed, submit your proofed PDF to ITS. In the near future, a web form will be online through which you can upload your PDF (check back in late September). In the meantime, email your poster to helpdesk@lawrence.edu and indicate the course number or symposium that the poster is being printed for.
  5. Your poster will be printed within 7 days, and you will be contacted by email when it is ready to be picked up.

Poster templates

The office of instructional technology has created the following poster templates to help you get started. If you have difficulty downloading or opening these templates, please contact the Helpdesk at ext. 6570.

 
PowerPoint
Illustrator
36-inch tall by 44-inch wide
41-inch tall by 56-inch wide

How to convert a document to a PDF

If you are using a Mac to build your poster, your computer has everything it needs to create a PDF. If you are using a Windows computer, you need the full version of Adobe Acrobat to do the conversion. Adobe Acrobat is installed in the Humanities Computing Lab (Main Hall 108). Both Mac and Windows instructions are available in this 3-page PDF:

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