Where
Where to get a poster printed
In short
For same-day printing use a walk-in shop: Staples or FedEx Office in the US, or a local print or copy shop anywhere else. For better paper at a lower price per print, use an online lab: Pixartprinting in the UK and Europe, CEWE and Saal Digital in Europe, Bay Photo in the US. A local framer often prints and frames together for less than doing both separately.
Same day, walk in
| Where | Region | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Staples | US | Poster printing while you wait. Ask for matte, not glossy |
| FedEx Office | US | Large format up to 60 × 90 cm, same day |
| Local print or copy shop | Anywhere | Usually does A3 on the spot; ask what stock they carry |
| Ryman, Prontaprint and similar | UK | Varies by branch; call first for anything above A3 |
Two things to do when you walk in: take the file on a USB stick as well as emailing it, because shop mail filters are unpredictable, and say no to auto-enhance. Some machines apply sharpening by default, which on line art produces hard, slightly jagged edges.
Online labs
Cheaper per print, better paper, two to five days.
| Lab | Region | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Pixartprinting | UK / EU | Cheap at large sizes, good matte stock |
| CEWE | EU | Reliable consumer lab, frequent offers |
| Saal Digital | EU | Strong fine-art paper options |
| Bay Photo | US | Professional lab; giclée and canvas |
| Printful | Global | Print on demand, will ship framed |
| Shutterfly, Vistaprint | US | Convenient, adequate; not fine-art quality |
A local framer
Frequently the best value and the least obvious option. A framer will usually print and frame in one job, and because they are already handling the print they will mount it properly and cut a mount to fit.
Ask for a price on “print and frame, 30 × 45 cm, premium matte, thin black frame”. In most towns this comes in below the cost of an online lab print plus a shop-bought frame, and the result is better.
Rough costs
Prices vary by country and by year, so treat these as orders of magnitude rather than quotes.
- A3 / 30 × 45 cm matte: the price of a couple of coffees at a walk-in shop
- 50 × 75 cm matte: two to three times that
- 60 × 90 cm: meaningfully more, and worth a proof first
- Fine-art giclée: two to four times the equivalent matte print
- Off-the-shelf frame: cheap at standard sizes; a custom frame is three to five times more
Order a proof for large prints
At 50 × 75 cm and above, ask the lab for a small proof before the full run, or print an A4 section at home first. What you are checking is not colour but line weight: whether the smallest labels are as crisp as you expect at that scale.
This costs almost nothing and it is the only way to catch a problem before you have paid for a large print.
What to send
- The original 300 DPI PDF, unedited
- sRGB colour profile
- No border, unless you want one, say which
- The exact size in cm or inches, not “A2-ish”
If a printer asks for CMYK, let them convert it. A black-and-white line drawing converts cleanly, and converting it yourself is where blacks go grey.
International orders
If you are buying a printed poster from abroad rather than printing a file locally, budget for customs delay. This is the main reason a digital file beats a posted print for a gift with a date attached, the comparison is here.