Does Anyone Have Ideas About Where To Get Posters Made?

[Tom Scharpling]

It's for a secret project that you will be hearing about soon enough once the m*rathon kicks in.

I need to get some nice posters printed up. They should look nice but not break my bank.

Idears?

Tom.

[dania]

Outsourcing to Chicago is probably not an option, but if it is:

www.thebirdmachine.com

[Martin]

A-HA!

[Miss]

hahaha crimestick couldn't resist!

[erika]

If the images don't bleed over the sides of the paper and you want a white background, you can get really nice results from like a Minute Man press or most small local places.

If you want posers that have full color backgrounds that go to the edges, you could try somewhere like this: http://www.greenerprinter.com. My brother's using them for his wedding invites and they seem to make decent stuff for a decent price.

Cost mostly depends on whether you do bleeds (because then the paper needs to be cut) and also how many posters you want.

[Tom Scharpling]

To lend some clarity to the search, I will say this.

I am hoping to make that amazing Best Show poster that Brian Weaver did part of the WE DID IT AGAIN fun pack.

It will be coming out of my pocket however. So I want to find the perfect balance between cost and beauty.

So all advice is appreciated. Because it will be worth it in the end - we can all benefit from this!

Tom.

[masterofsparks]

My wife's an art director, so let me check with her and see if she has any idears.

[wwwes]

The fact that the background is white helps a great deal in terms of cost. But I second Erica's recommendation (barring the perfect solution which I am sure will follow) for Minuteman Press. When I'm getting something done in town, I have a local printer I know that I give a lot of business to. Local print shops are awesome if you find somebody you know. But I've had good experiences with Minuteman when I've had to print stuff for a client in NJ.

Can you get any credit for being a non-profit? If you DID go to a place like Minuteman, maybe that would help. Or a local place that would give you a discount for getting a bit of free advertising on the air.

[masterofsparks]

My wife found a couple of online sites that can do it fairly inexpensively and will even give you an instant quote when you input your specs (this poster will run 4 color process (4/0)). Price varies depending on size, quantity, turnaround time and shipping. Here are the sites she found:

http://www.uprinting.com/Offset-Posters-1824.html

http://www.printingcenterusa.com/brochures/posters-quote.html

Hope this helps!

[God Stewart]

If the poster thing proves to be too expensive, there should be a ton of places that will do cheap runs of 11" by 17" nice color prints. It would be more of a broadside than a poster, but you may even get better quality.

[Julie]

Find a printmaking student and have them make the posters. It's cheap (maybe free).

[Martin Edison]

Hey Tom,

I can get price quotes from some printers if you give me the size of the poster
and quantity. As far as printmaking goes, this poster has at least 10 spot colors.
I screenprint and that's a lot of screens to make. Having all those colors line up can
get tricky too. Your best bet would be either digital or offset printing.

Let me know if I can help.

...Martin

[erika]

As far as printmaking goes, this poster has at least 10 spot colors.
I screenprint and that's a lot of screens to make. Having all those colors line up can
get tricky too.

Not to mention like 10 times the price of doing a small run of regular 4-color prints...

[Sarah]

I've asked the managing editor of Columbia University Press for suggestions, and she's checking with the art department there.  Something useful may or may not come of this.  I'll let you know.

[Sarah]

I'm posting consecutively just to be sure this doesn't get lost:  Columbia uses JA Digital.  I have no idea about prices; I just asked where they would get a small run of four-color glossy posters printed.

Anyway, there you go.