Frequently Asked Questions

Poster production 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.

• Open during quarter breaks
• Closed on weekends and UW holidays

1. Order online at posters.hsa.washington.edu. Select your product, enter the materials/size information and upload your file.
2. Make sure the shopping cart is empty before you start. This may require deleting your browser cache and starting over.
3. After entering information about your poster, you will be directed to the checkout page. Enter your account information or login to an existing account.
4. Click submit. When your proof is ready you will receive an email. If you did not select a proof you will be notified when your order is ready to pick up.

No access to a computer? Come to UW Poster T-271 in Health Sciences Center T-wing and use one of our lab computers to order online.

If you’re part of a Group Order, select your group from the available products on the Order Poster page. You will need a password to access the order form.

Posters take 3 to 4 days to produce, depending on the services and materials required. Turnaround times are determined once we know the scope of your order.

For a proof: Proofs are available and are usually printed on economy matte paper. 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.)

Once the proof has been approved, the turnaround times are as follows:

• Matte: 1-2 business days
• Semi-gloss: 1-2 business days
• Travel Fabric: 2-3 business days
• Peel & Stick:  2-3 business days (large volume may require additional time)

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, lamination, trim, etc) can be added to the special instructions.

You will receive a confirmation email of your order revision.

You can only revise your order when it is at the “Proof Ready” status. Once you have reviewed your proof and confirmed to “Go Final” and order cannot be revised. To confirm your order status, you can check the My Account page.

If you are experiencing problems with passwords not being recognized, please submit your order via email to uwposter@uw.edu. Be sure to include such information as size, quantity, paper choice, mounting or lamination, BUDGET NUMBER or other payment method, proof requirements, and your contact information.

Or bring your file on removable storage media to room T -271 in the Health Sciences Building.

We recommend a paper proof due to the many variables in poster files, and it’s often easier to notice errors in print than onscreen. 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 view it carefully before sending to us. The finished poster will usually look just like the PDF.

You will find out–

• Does your file print out as expected?
• Are there any typos or errors on your poster?
• Do the colors look right?
• Do you like how the poster looks on the material chosen? (can be changed)

Proofs are $10

• There may be unexpected errors or problems that show up on the final poster.
• We cannot guarantee the printed outcome of posters that have not been proof-checked by you.
• If you really must forgo the paper proof, improve your odds by submitting a carefully reviewed PDF.

• The payment method—credit card payments incur extra costs.
• The material selected.
• The size of poster, determined roughly by square inches.
• Whether proofs are required.

• UW budget numbers
• MasterCard, or Visa. Non-budget number payments will have both a 15.6% UW overhead fee and 10.1% sales tax added.

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

• Poster and all elements in the poster should be RGB–not Adobe 98.
• Work with a high-quality, calibrated monitor.
• Our staff can make some color adjustments based on your proof.
• Color matching to a sample may incur a fee and depends on workload demands.

• 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.

• Whenever possible, submit a PDF file. Use ‘Safe As’, not ‘Print As’, so that your original design’s aspect ratio will be preserved.
• Microsoft PowerPoint: PDF
• Adobe Photoshop: PDF, PNG, TIF, JPG (flattened the final file)
• Adobe Illustrator: PDF, EPS or PS (with bounding box if background is white)
• Other programs: PDF, TIFF, JPG, PNG made at the full size of the final poster
• Microsoft Word: DOC, DOCX, PDF

* Software capable of displaying a PDF is required for viewing or printing this document. Adobe Reader is available free of charge from the Adobe Web site at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.

• Contact uwlogos@uw.edu.
• Some departments have their own logos. Contact those departments for their logos.
• Use a high resolution file and ‘insert’ it. Don’t copy and paste.

• All fonts that come with Windows XP, Windows 7, 8, 10, Microsoft Office, and Mac OSX.
• For other fonts, save the file with fonts embedded, or make a PDF or EPS file with fonts outlined in curves or paths (depending on software).
• Make a graphic of the text and insert it into your file.

• Download templates for posters, banners and flyers off of the UW Brand Website. A variety of designs are available.

•  Additional resources can be found on our Design Help page >

• Usage, longevity, durability, amount of ink coverage, photo reproduction, size, and budget all contribute to your choice of material.
• Regular Materials are good for conference posters.
• Specialty Materials are for outdoor, and other uses.

‘Borderless’ means we will trim the poster to just  inside the edge of your original design. For this reason, fine border lines risk being trimmed away. A 1/2″ border means we will add 1/2″ (approximate) to your design when we trim the finished poster.

All permanent or temporary signage affixed to walls on corridors, hallways, common areas or stairwells must be approved by HS Building Management.  It is the responsibility of the requesting department to obtain approval BEFORE installation.

Any Peel & Stick signage produced by UW Poster & Photo intended for these types of areas must be installed by HS Building Management staff.  To aid in compliance, this service is provided without additional charge. Use the following web form to request review and approval of UW Poster & Photo produced Peel and Stick signs.

Request Peel & Stick Post or Sign Installation