Frequently Asked Questions

UW Poster serves the University of Washington faculty, staff and students; UW affiliates; city, county, state and federal agencies; and hospitals and institutions that serve the University’s mission to the community. Due to state regulations, we do not provide services for personal business use or to the general public.

We are open during quarter breaks unless otherwise noted on the front page. We are closed on weekends and UW-scheduled holidays.

Please e-mail the poster shop to check if after hours pick-up is available.

1. A link to our order form can be found at the top of the website: https://posters.hsa.washington.edu/product/poster/
2. Select the material. We print on matte, semi-gloss, and travel fabric. If you need view a sample of each material, please stop by our poster shop in T-271.
3. Select the size. We offer a selection of standard sizes for all of our printable material. If you have a specialized size not listed in the drop down menu, please select “Custom Size”. You’ll be able to input the width and height so we will be able to print you poster at the accurate size.
4. Enter the correct quantity.
5. Select if you would like a trim edge (we will add a 1/2″ border around your poster) or borderless (no border).
6. Select if you would like a poster proof. They are printed on economy matte sized to 17″ on the longest edge.
7. Select if you would like a poster tube. We use telescopic poster tubes size with the minimum height of 36″. These tubes can be extended to accommodate larger posters.
8. Upload your PDF. Please note you can only upload one PDF per order.
9. Click on “Add to Cart”.
10. If you are uploading multiple PDFs, please click on the “Order Posters” link and go through steps 2-9.
11. When you’re ready to check out, click on “Proceed to Checkout” at the bottom of the cart page.
12. Enter the required billing details and select if you are picking up at the poster shop or if you need to have it campus mailed. If you need to sent it through campus mail, please provide a box number that we can send it to.
13. If the order needs to be rushed, please indicate it in the “Additional Comments” box.
14. At the bottom, please indicate if you will be paying with a UW Worktag or Credit Card. If paying with a worktag, please put in your worktag information in the box below. For credit card payments, you will pay with your credit card at the time of pick-up.
15. Click on “Place Order.”

Please note: For custom-sized orders, our site is unable to display the correct pricing and will display as $0.00. We will calculate the price manually upon recieving your order. If you are placing a custom-sized poster order, please include in the “Additional Comments” the UW Worktag being used.

We will note our current estimated turnaround times for poster printing on the front page of our site. Unless otherwise stated, there is no time difference between the different material types.

We will notify you via email once your poster is ready for pick-up.

Proofs: Proofs will usually be available no later than the next day. We will notify you via email when it’s ready for review. This is the time to make changes or corrections to your poster and submit a revised file. OR, approve the proof for printing “as is”. (Another proof may be recommended for the revised file.)

To revise your file or order information go to Revise Order. Fill out the necessary information and upload the revised file. Any order details (size, trim, etc.) can be added to the special instructions.

You will receive a confirmation email of your order revision.

Once you have reviewed your proof and confirmed to “Go Final”, the order cannot be revised. To confirm your order status, you can check the My Account page.

Orders that are checked out as a guest cannot be tracked at this time. If you have an account with us, you may check on the status of your order by accessing the My Account page.

• We can ship rolled proofs and posters to UW mail stops via UW Campus Mail. We are unable to ship out posters via USPS, UPS, or Fedex.
• If you send a courier to pick up your order, please notify us in advance.

We recommend a paper proof due to the variables of how your colors will print out versus what you see on your computer screen, as well as it’s often easier to notice spelling, data, or graphical errors. Printing it out on your own printer is not equal to printing it out on our system. If you really need to skip the paper proof step, make a PDF of your original file and review it carefully before sending it to us.

When reviewing you poster proof, please keep in mind the following points:

• Does your poster layout print out as expected?
• Are there any typos or errors on your poster?
• Do the colors look right?
• Are the images clear and presentable?

Proofs are $10 with a UW Worktag ($12 for CC payments) and are printed on economy matte paper.
If you are ensuring color accuracy for the final print, you can request a poster proof on the chosen material that you’ll use for your final poster.

When you’re short on time, you may need to forgo the printer proof process. Printing a proof is not neccesary to the poster printing process, but it does help to ensure that you’re presenting the best poster possible.

However, keep in mind the following if you decide to skip the poster proof process:

• There may be spelling or data errors that show up on the final poster.
• There may be formatting or graphical issues with the poster design.
• Images that are low quality may appear pixelated because they were not sized for print.

It is not the responsibility of UW Poster to proofread your poster prior to final printing.

Computer monitors and printers are all calibrated differently, so the color on your computer monitor may NOT match the color on the printed proof or final poster.

Each material we print on varies a bit in how it reproduces color. Checking color is one of many good reasons to request a paper proof.

• Materials. (Matte is the least expensive option, semi-gloss is in the middle ground, travel fabric is the most expensive option.)
• The size of poster, determined roughly by square inches.
• Any additional add-ons (proof, poster tube).
• Posters that are expedited/rushed are subject to an additional +50% fee.
• Payment method (UW Worktag or CC. CC payments incur an extra 15.6% UW institutional overhead fee and a 10.1% sales tax.)

• UW Worktags
• Credit cards. Most major credit cards are accepted. Non-worktag payments will have both a 15.6% UW institutional overhead fee and 10.1% sales tax added.