Most research posters are printed the night before a flight, rolled into a tube, carried through two airports and pinned to a board for a ninety-minute session. Afterwards, the better ones go back to the department and hang in a corridor for years. That second life is where an uncoated poster tends to fail: curled corners, finger marks on the results panel and colours that wash out under corridor lighting and window light.
For university and hospital print units
In-house reprographics teams print large volumes of posters on tight turnarounds, usually on pigment or dye-based plotters. Offering a coated option for posters that will be displayed long term is a simple way to add value. Colourjet is a solvent coating that protects prints from water, chemicals and abrasion, with integrated UV inhibitors against premature fading. It is applied as part of Landor Liquid Lamination, which adds a protective layer for durability and lightfastness.
Ink type matters. Coatings that suit pigment prints may behave differently on dye-based output, so check our notes on dye inks and pigment inks, and test on your standard poster paper before offering the service widely. Solvent coatings do not suit every substrate or ink.
Which posters are worth coating
- Posters going on permanent display in departments or research centres
- Open day and outreach material that is reused year after year
- Posters taken to several conferences in a season
- Clinical or lab-area displays that get splashed or wiped
A one-off poster for a single session rarely needs it. Spend the time on proofreading instead.
Rolling and travelling
Let the coating dry fully before rolling a poster, and use a tube wide enough that the print is not tightly curled. Allow extra time in the schedule; a poster coated in a hurry and rolled too soon can pick up marks that are impossible to fix at the venue.
Fabric posters are popular with travelling researchers because they fold into a suitcase. Phototex is a printable self-adhesive woven fabric, so it suits a slightly different job: a poster that will be stuck to a wall in a corridor or seminar room and later removed in one piece without damaging the paintwork. It can be repositioned, reused and fitted without specialist installers. Use it indoors only, and check the venue allows adhesive display before taking it to a conference.
Small runs and individual researchers
If you only coat the occasional poster, an aerosol may be the practical choice. ClearJet aerosol coatings come in gloss and semi-gloss; for dense data panels and small text, the semi-gloss option tends to be easier to read under bright lights.
Running a campus print service and thinking about adding coated posters? Talk to us on 01252 624 411, or drop us a line through the contact page.