The Poster Shop at GroundWorks

The Poster Shop at GroundWorks, a service of the Digital Media Commons, is a facility for printing large-format color academic posters, such as those for class presentations or professional conferences.

Hours
9:00am to 4:00pm Monday through Friday

Cost
$11 per linear foot (plus any applicable taxes), which helps to cover the cost of supplies, equipment, and administration. Increments of a foot are rounded up to the next one half foot. 

Methods of payment
- We accept all major credit cards.
- We can charge a university account, but you must provide particular information to do so. Please see our "How to Pay" page for details.
- We cannot accept cash.

Location
First floor, in GroundWorks; enter from Central Collaboration Area

Contact
groundworks@umich.edu, 647-5739

The Printer
The Poster Shop is equipped with a Hewlett-Packard DesignJet 5500PS inkjet printer, which prints on 36" wide, roll feed, high gloss photo paper. The DesignJet's high resolution color output, combined with glossy paper, produces near magazine quality output that is ideal for class or conference posters.

Creating a Poster
Suggestions and guidelines for how to create a poster are available here.

Printing Your Poster
Important things to know before coming to the Poster Shop to print are available here

After you send your print job to the print server, the GroundWorks Consultant will show you a preview of your poster on the print server's display monitor. Carefully review the image to ensure that all of your images are there and that there are no problems with your text. If you agree that this is the image you want to print, then the consultant will send it to the printer. Once the printing begins, it outputs at about 5 minutes per foot. Stick around and watch the first 5-6 inches come out of the printer, again to ensure that it looks the way you expect. After this point, you'll be responsible for the cost of the print.

The procedure is strictly "first come, first served," from the time your file arrives in the print server queue. Be prepared by planning to print a couple of days ahead of your deadline. This will provide you with enough time to troubleshoot or re-create your poster in order to print it properly. The GroundWorks consultants make their best effort to print your file, however, technical problems can occur and we can not guarantee results in every circumstance.