Poster Printing

ITS’s goal is to provide a service to Clark faculty, staff, and students at a reasonable price that allows us to continue to offer that service. Our charges cover the cost of consumables for printing large format posters. Our costs include the ink and paper, as well as the replacement of print heads and ongoing maintenance. We do not charge for the staff time it takes to print posters or for the printer.

The most accessible and universal software for preparing your poster is Microsoft PowerPoint. It is installed on all computers in the general purpose computing labs.

University Communications maintains a Graphics Standards web resource with information about the use of the University logo, logotype, and mark and brand.

Since the font you use must also be available on the machine printing the poster, in general, we recommend using the core Microsoft fonts. They are Andale Mono, Arial, Arial Black, Comic Sans MS, Courier New, Georgia, Impact, Times New Roman, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Webdings, Adobe Minion Web. If you choose to use a font not in this list, we cannot guarantee that the final output will be what you expect it to be.

Academic Technology Services does not proof content before printing. Please proof your work carefully before submitting a print request.

• Proof your work carefully, word by word, line by line.
• Don’t rely solely on spell check. It’s worthwhile to have several people proof your poster before submitting it for printing.
• Mistakes submitted for printing become your responsibility. If we have to print a poster a second time because of an error on your part, we will charge for each print.

• Event coordinator / contact person’s name, phone number and email address
• Name and contact information of the person who will receive the final invoice (if different from the event coordinator)
• Event title
• Event Date
• Submission deadline – When are students required to submit their posters for printing? Please read the FAQs below for guidelines
• The estimated number of anticipated participants
• A list of those students’ names – This information may be provided at a later date, after contacting ATS with your request, but should be sent before the submission deadline
• Any other relevant information that may impact the timely production and delivery of your poster

Please contact Academic Technology Services with your request at least 2 weeks prior to your event. This will allow ATS time to make any arrangements necessary to assist you.

Your deadline should be 8:00 a.m. at least 3 business days before the event. For larger events, such as ClarkFEST, your deadline should be at least one full week in advance, as there may be additional delays due to the volume of requests.

Students will need to know the official title, date, and submission deadline for your event. Students will also need information regarding any poster credit for the event – the amount of the credit, and what the credit may be used towards (see below for more information.)

Participants may submit their completed posters to Academic Technology services through our poster printing submission survey. Please instruct event participants to read the submission guidelines carefully before designing their posters. We also strongly encourage students to download a PowerPoint poster template (also available through the previous link) to avoid any issues with incorrectly formatted posters.

During submission, students should choose the appropriate option for “What is this poster for.” If your event is not listed as an option, participants should choose “Other” and enter the name of the event into the text field. For payment type, choose “Event Credit.”

If an event credit is applied, the value of the credit and what will be covered is at the discretion of your department, but should be clearly communicated to event participants and Academic Technology Services. A standard 48”x36” matte color poster with average ink usage costs $25. Many event organizers choose to cover the cost of a standard poster, but do not cover “extras.”

Additional expenses may include:

• Poster tubes – $5 per tube
• Glossy paper – costs twice as much as matte paper
• Ink surcharges for ink heavy posters – can range from $5 to $25 depending on the poster

As a final consideration, the department should decide how to handle unused credit for less expensive posters – can the remaining credit it be applied towards an “extra”?

For example, if the department offers a $25 credit, and a student prints a smaller poster that costs $12.50, can the student purchase a poster tube ($5) using the remaining credit?

After the event, the appropriate contact person will receive a consolidated invoice for the total cost of posters for the event. We can also provide a detailed breakdown of costs associated with each poster and participant if necessary. The appropriate staff member will then complete an interdepartmental requisition form covering the total cost of the credit, which can be mailed or delivered to Academic Technology Services c/o the ITS Help Desk in the Academic Commons.