The Center for Social Science Computation and Research

Poster Printing Services @ CSSCR

*** As of July 1, 2025, we have a new procedure for submitting poster printing requests ***

Please read the following instructions before submitting a poster request. Our service has limitations on size and color use that must be followed. Once you have verified your eligibility to use the service and you have created your poster following the guidelines, use the link below to submit your request.

Who can use this service: CSSCR offers poster printing services at no cost to students, faculty, and staff in one of our member departments and schools. Additionally, students taking a course offered by one of our member departments and schools can print a poster for the purpose of a class presentation in that course.

When to submit: Posters should be submitted at least one working day (24 hours) in advance of when you need to pick it up. For example, if you submit the request on a Friday afternoon, it will be ready by the same time Monday afternoon. This timing assumes you have followed the guidelines below. If not, there may be additional delays.

Poster Sizes: Posters can be printed in either landscape or portrait orientation. Standard poster sizes are

  • 36″x24″
  • 36″x40″
  • 36″x42″
  • 36″x48″

The standard size for course posters is 36″×24″ (either landscape or portrait). Smaller dimensions can be specified.

For the Undergraduate Research Symposium, the specified standard size 32″x40″. Because our printer paper is 36″ wide, posters will be printed to size on a 36″x40″ page. Trimming or folding will be required to reduce one side to 32″. Smaller sizes that fit within the same 32″×40″ footprint are acceptable. For example, the poster can be sized to 32″x36″ and no trimming will be necessary.

Some academic conferences specify a size other than one of our standard sizes. We can accommodate custom sizes provided one dimension is no larger than 36″. Some trimming or folding may be necessary.

If you use PowerPoint to create your poster, be sure to set your canvas to the desired dimension from Design → Slide Size → Custom Slide Size…

Terms: CSSCR absorbs the cost of these posters. To keep this service free and available to as many students and researchers as possible, we ask that you abide by the following terms:

  • We cannot produce posters for other personal, non-academic professional, or commercial reasons. Posters must be used to communicate academic work at local, regional, national meetings, or for course projects that include a poster presentation.
  • If you are an instructor in one of our member departments or schools and would like to include poster presentations as part of your course, please contact us in advance (CSSCR@uw.edu) to work out logistics for courses involving more than 20 posters.
  • We WILL NOT print posters with a color background. Posters should be set against a solid white background, or a light gradient. No full color or photographic backgrounds.
  • Allow at least one working day for your poster to be printed. There may be many students trying to print a poster at the same time as you, and printing posters takes some time. Therefore, try to complete your poster early, and get it to CSSCR for printing as soon as possible.
  • Exercise prudence in using blocks of solid colors. Ink is the most expensive consumable when making posters. For large titles, consider using solid letters on a white background instead of a white letters on a dark background block. A rule of thumb is, if the text color is white, we probably will not accept the poster. For example, the following image shows an unacceptable (top) and an acceptable (bottom) alternative for a title block:

Example of an unacceptable and an acceptable title block for a poster

Example of an unacceptable and an acceptable title block for a poster

Likewise, subheading blocks should follow the rule of thumb. The right version is correct:

Example of an unacceptable and an acceptable header block for a poster

Example of an unacceptable and an acceptable title block for a poster

  • Bold fonts should be used for emphasis of particular items, rather than for all text in the poster.
  • We ask for both a .PDF and either a .ODP or .PPTX file when submitting. Having two formats has been helpful in dealing with bizarre formatting issues that have otherwise prevented posters from being printed in the past.


How to submit: Submit your poster printing request using this form.

Poster resources: