We often get phone calls from research poster presenters who want to know which laminate they should use, and when they should just go with a paper poster. The first question we always ask is “Are you going to use your poster more than once?”
If the answer is no, then there is no reason to laminate. Our paper posters are made of 45# matte paper that's more than twice the thickness of standard copier paper. They will make you look good, and easily last the few days of a conference.
If the answer is no, then there is no reason to laminate. Our paper posters are made of 45# matte paper that's more than twice the thickness of standard copier paper. They will make you look good, and easily last the few days of a conference.
If the answer is yes, or if you want to hang it in your lab afterwards, then you want to consider laminating it. The gloss and matte laminate is applied over our 45# paper adding 5mil plastic laminate to both back and front. The gloss laminate is the most commonly used for research posters. Gloss laminate will make your colors vibrant but you may have glare trouble if the poster is placed above your eyes. Matte laminate has a frosted look that will attenuate glare, and should be used when that's an issue.
Research posters are printed with dye-based inks and after a year (or less if exposed to sunlight) the inks will start to fade. If your poster will hang in your lab or office for some time, ask us about using UV inks. We have ten-year-old posters hanging in our office that were printed with UV inks and were laminated and they still look great!
