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Which is the best program to use? The best program to use is the one that you are most familiar with. Putting your presentation together should be fun and easy... so use a program that you are familiar with.
PowerPoint Tips
Should I leave a margin around my poster? - No, use all the space on the document. Don't worry about margins. Our printers will set the margins for you. This way you will get the maximum coverage on your poster.
Can I use the transparency option? - It is not a good idea to use the transparency option to adjust a background color. It looks great on the screen, but it turns into a pattern, either dots or a grid pattern when converted to a PDF.
also...Using transparency to adjust your color - Don't do it! This trick is for the screen only. When you adjust the color using the transparency option to lighten your fill color it will look great on screen, but when printed it will print the original color selected, which will be much darker than you expect.
Aligning your text boxes? - Go to the Draw toolbar and select Draw, Align or Distribute, and select how you would like them aligned, i.e. right, left, top, bottom, etc... Also, it is a good idea to check the size of your boxes especially if you are stacking them you want them all to be the same width. How? Right click and go to Format Texbox and click on the size tab. If you try to do this by eye you can get close, but most of the time the boxes are off just enough so when you print they are not aligned properly.
Gradients...should you use them? - If you are using a high-end graphics program that will give you high output resolution, using two colors and you know what you are doing then yes. If you are the average user using PowerPoint, no. Gradient color looks great on screen, but when put to print from PowerPoint, not so hot. Using gradients with PowerPoint can result in what is called banding. This is where you can see the transition is color as a band instead of a smooth transition. If you must use Gradient color use two colors instead of one faded color. This will give you better results in print.
When Proofing! - Look at your document as large as you can at least 100%, 150% or more. This will pick up little details that you can't see when it is shrunk to your screen size.
Canvas X Users
When saving your canvas presentation as an image to use in another program or you are saving as a PDF document from Canvas it is very important to increase your resolution output to at least 300 pixels/in. This will ensure a better quality, clearer image or PDF document. If you are ever in question about how an image will print look at it on you computer magnified to 200% or more to see the magnification of pixels. This will tell you how sharp your lines are.
Please e-mail us any questions you may have about how to make your presentation better for printing info@universityposterprinting.com.