Getting Signs Printed (at Kinko's, Staples or your local print shop)

[NOTE: Please try to not use (FedEx)Kinko's, it is not equality-motivated and has not taken many steps as a company. Please see HRC's Buying For Equality 2009 guide (http://www.hrc.org/buyersguide2009/hrc_buyersguide_09.pdf) to find a more equality driven company.]

Getting signs & posters printed today is easier than ever with the array of print options available to you. All you need to remember is a couple of details & you'll be marching with the best looking signs this country has ever seen!

Poster size is proportional to the size of your digital file/image
Your final requested poster size needs to be proportional to the document size of your poster file. Consult the diagrams at the UW Posters page (http://www.uwposters.com/size.html) for more information.

Getting the Most out of your Digital File/Image
EPoster.com recommends the following technical settings and practices:

Photos from digital cameras: Save in JPG format. The more megapixels, the better, but this is determined by your camera model.

Photos from flatbed scanners: The best possible quality is obtained by taking the desired print size and multiplying by 300 pixels per inch. For example, if you intend to order a 20" x 30" poster, the best possible quality is obtained if you have a 2000 x 3000 pixel file. Uncompressed, this is 162 megabytes. With JPEG compression, it could be about 8 megabytes. This may be too large to be manageable. Cut back on your resolution to get a manageable file size, but no further. The consequences, in terms of quality, for skimping on megapixels, are significant. However, the consequences of selecting a higher JPEG compression ratio are usually very minor.

Combinations of photos and text or line art: Again, we recommend starting with as many megapixels as possible, but compress aggressively with JPEG.

Just text and line art: We recommend GIF, BMP, or PNG
1. Use RGB, not CMYK. If you don't know whether your files are CMYK or RGB, they're probably RGB, and you're OK. CMYK is interpreted differently by various file format converters.
NOTE: Most print shops (and DigitalRoom.com, referenced below) use CMYK rather than RGB. Check with your printer of choice to determine which color format is right for their printing services!

2. Don't expand your files (e.g., to 300 pixels per inch) if you don't have to. Our equipment will determine if your files need to be expanded, and do so by pixel interpolation. If you're making a montage or creating a poster with line art, then you probably do need to create your file at 150 to 300 pixels per inch, at the size you will be having it printed. But if neither of these is true, and your file is smaller, you don't need to make it larger.

3. Check your aspect ratio (the ratio of pixels wide to pixels tall). If, for example, you have a file with a 4:5 aspect ratio and you want to make a 20 x 30, something will have to be stretched or cropped to make it fit. There for the poster will be printed to the closest size. You can crop the file yourself before uploading it to us or leave the cropping to our system. To fit the image for a 20 x 30 poster, if the image is not wide or tall to fit, the poster maybe a 17 x 33 poster. We custom size to the shape of the image as closest to the poster size ordered.

4. Don't be misled by an out-of-calibration monitor. If you take a relatively new monitor and use the default settings, you're probably in good shape. If you use a monitor calibration program, make sure you test the calibration. Some monitor calibration programs do more harm than good.

NOTE: Your screen resolution doesn’t accurately reflect your image resolution because monitor displays usually have about 72 to 116 ppi. To view print resolution of your image, zoom in up to 300-400%.

5. Use the best file format. In most cases, JPEG compression (.JPG files) works best. We're happy to receive large TIF files, but if you have problems in uploading, consider sending us compressed files. If even one packet gets lost, the entire upload is ruined. Most upload problems happen when customers are sending many and/or large files.

Avoid GIF files for photographic images, if possible. GIF files create the image out of just 256 colors, and usually (but not always) minimize the color problems by dithering (oscillating) between colors to simulate in-between colors. However, when GIF images are expanded, for large prints, they can look very noisy. Worse yet, if you do editing, in Photoshop or Paintshop, on GIF files, any modifications will have to be created out of the 256 colors already there.

Change your files, in Photoshop, to TIF or JPEG before you start editing. TIF and EPS image formats are highly regarded as "lossless" because of their accuracy and quality.

If you convert (e.g.,) Word files to PDF, be sure to check the conversion closely. If the images are large and/or complex, mistakes may occur. Even for simple files, symbols may convert to "?". For larger files, characters or even portions of lines may get truncated. Often the problems are not obvious until you look closely.

6. If you think your upload time might exceed 15 minutes, upload your files one at a time. This is particularly important at times when the internet is quite busy. If just one packet gets lost, the entire upload is ruined and must be repeated. If you have been having upload problems, usually just waiting until the internet is less busy will produce better results.

7. Check the file edges. We sometimes see files with discontinuities at the edges. This often results from Photoshop operations which start with the identification of a box which is intended to cover the entire file, but doesn't. The result is a 1-3 pixel band at the file edges. Our policy is that if the edge discontinuity is less than 1/32" (and the print is ordered 'cut to size'), we cut off the discontinuity, even though that results in a slightly undersize print. However, if the discontinuity is more than 1/32", or if the print is ordered with a border, then we have no choice but to leave it there.

Recommended Image Dimensions for Printed Sizes
DigitalRoom.com offers the following chart to help you determine the proper dimensions of your image at your desired print size and in their recommended resolution of 300 dpi.


Print Me, Baby!
EPoster.com - http://www.ephotoposter.com/
FedEx Kinkos - http://www.fedex.com/us/officeprint/storesvcs/osg/index.html
Staples - http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/programs/copyandprint/indexb.html
Digital Room - http://www.digitalroom.com/Poster-Printing.html
Don't forget the Yellow Pages - Search & Find Local Print Shops in your area! - http://www.yellowpages.com/

Good Luck and Happy Printing!
If you have any other questions, please message me AmiDenise. I'm happy to help!

--AmiDenise

Original Post:
==========
I believe the idea was that Kinkos can have a graphic/sign in their system that anyone could access across the nation. For example, if there was a Join The Impact graphic/sign "on file" with Kinkos, then someone in any city could go to Kinkos and get signs printed out and add their city name to the "template".

The idea is for people that have submitted signs or logos or whatever artwork is made available (on this site) others can click on it, know what sizes are offered and then have it waiting at Kinko's or other printing locations and pay for it and boom....on the way to the protest!!

It would be great if someone could check on this as a possibility and then update this page!