How to print your poster

The one rule: print at 100%

Your PDF is already the right size, so tell the printer not to change it. Choose Actual size or 100%, and the same paper size as your poster. “Fit to page”, “Shrink oversized pages” or a smaller sheet make everything smaller, text included.

If you print from	Choose
Chrome or Edge	More settings → Scale: Actual size
Adobe Acrobat Reader (free)	Page Sizing: Actual size
Preview on a Mac	Scale: 100%
A phone or tablet	A computer instead, if you can: phones often shrink the page to fit

Then check the paper size in the same window, for example Letter or A4.

At home: Letter and A4

• Paper: matte photo paper or light card, about 150–200 gsm (65–75 lb cover), feels much nicer than copy paper and doesn’t curl.
• Quality: choose Best or High.
• Borderless printing: leave it off. Borderless printing enlarges the page and cuts bits off the edges.

Most home printers can’t print right to the edge of the paper. On a white or cream poster you won’t notice. On a colored poster you’ll see a thin white border around the color, which looks neat, especially in a frame with a mat.

Bigger sizes: at a print shop

Any print or copy shop, office supply store, photo lab or online poster printer can print your PDF. Upload or email it, or take it on a USB stick. Schools can usually print 11 × 17 in on the office copier.

What to ask for:

Ask for	Why
Print at 100%, actual size, on paper of your poster’s size	The PDF is already exactly that size
No trimming	The PDF is already the finished size
Matte or silk (satin) paper, 170–250 gsm	Less glare than gloss, so it’s easy to read across a room
Colors as they are	The PDF uses standard screen colors (RGB), which print shops convert every day

Bleed: bleed is extra picture beyond the edge, which shops use to print color right to the edge of the paper. Our PDFs don’t have it. On a white or cream poster it doesn’t matter. For a colored poster, you can choose:

• With a thin white border: print at 100% with no trimming. Easy, and it looks neat in a frame.
• Color right to the edge: ask the shop to enlarge it very slightly (about 2%) and trim the edges. The poster’s margins leave room for that, so nothing on it is cut off.

Print it yourself, or buy it printed?

A printed poster bought from a classroom supplier arrives ready to hang, often laminated, but in one size and design, with shipping to wait for. A printable PDF costs less, prints at the size your wall needs, and you can print it again when it fades or tears. Where to print it depends on the size and how soon you need it:

Where	Best for	Good to know
Home printer	Letter, A4 (and 11 × 17 in or A3 on a larger printer)	Cheapest and quickest; a thin white border around colored posters
School copier	11 × 17 in	Usually free for teachers; plain paper, so laminate it for the wall
Print or copy shop	A3 to 24 × 36 in	Often ready the same day or the next; ask for 100% and no trimming
Online poster printer	A2 to 24 × 36 in	Often cheaper for big sizes, but delivery takes several days

Sizes and frames

Every size is a standard frame size, so you can buy a frame off the shelf.

Poster size	Where to print	Frame
Letter (8.5 × 11 in)	Home	8.5 × 11 in, or 11 × 14 in with a mat
A4 (210 × 297 mm)	Home	A4
11 × 17 in (tabloid)	School copier or print shop	11 × 17 in
A3 (297 × 420 mm)	Print shop, or an A3 home printer	A3
A2 (420 × 594 mm)	Print shop	A2
18 × 24 in	Print shop	18 × 24 in
A1 (594 × 841 mm)	Print shop	A1
24 × 36 in	Print shop	24 × 36 in

Which size reads across the room?

Sign makers use a rough rule: letters about 1 in (25 mm) tall can be read from about 10 ft (3 m) away. No poster lets the back row read every small word, so aim for the headings and the main pictures (the keyboard, the circle, the staff) to read from where people sit, with the details there for anyone who walks up.

Where it hangs	How far people are	Size
On a desk, a music stand or in a binder	Arm’s length	Letter or A4
Beside the piano or in a practice room	A few steps	11 × 17 in or A3
A studio wall, or the side wall of a classroom	Across a small room	A2 or 18 × 24 in
The front of a classroom	From the back row	A1 or 24 × 36 in

Smaller sizes hold fewer sections, so the text stays the same readable size: from A2 up you get the whole poster.

Laminate or frame?

• Laminate it for a classroom, or anywhere hands, tape and pins get at it. It lasts for years, wipes clean, and you can write on it with dry-erase markers. Ask for a matte laminate: gloss reflects the lights and is hard to read across a room. Home laminators usually take up to A4 or A3; print shops laminate the bigger sizes.
• Frame it for a studio, a practice room or a gift. A frame protects it just as well and looks better on a home wall. Every size here fits a standard frame (see the table above).
• Plain paper is fine for a poster you’ll replace each term. Put it up with removable poster strips, so the paper doesn’t tear when it comes down.

Lamination can’t be undone, so check the print first: the colors, and that it printed at 100%.

Colors and dark posters

Colors on paper never match a screen exactly, and they vary between printers, papers and print shops. Dark backgrounds are the most sensitive: they use a lot of ink and can print darker than they look on screen.

Before a large print, print a small test first: the same PDF at “Fit to page” on Letter or A4 at home shows you the colors (only the size is wrong). Matte paper helps dark colors look even. If you’d like a lighter look, a white or cream page is the safest choice.

Is the text too small?

If the text looks smaller than you expected, the poster was almost certainly printed at “Fit to page” or on a smaller sheet. Print it again at 100% on the right paper size. The poster maker checks every poster’s text size before you buy, and says when it prints small.

Questions

Email support@trebly.fun and we’ll help. What you can do with the posters is in our poster terms.