There’s nothing so familiar as boarding a flight to go to a conference and seeing a half dozen passengers get on board with elongated tubes filled with posters. But now there may be a more convenient alternative, and an environmentally friendly one too. Cameron Brick, a graduate student at UCSB, explains more:
 
Dear SPSP colleagues,
There is a new trend at science conferences: printing your poster on fabric rather than paper. There are several companies: Spoonflower is the cheapest I’ve found at $25/poster. Not only is that much cheaper than paper, but the product is the size of a t-shirt and can go in your luggage. It does not need ironing or any special treatment. The picture below shows my SPSP poster, and it will look even better when hung with tacks. How is the image quality? I don’t have photo images, but the university logo and the interaction graph, looking closely, are plenty high-resolution for me.

 

Image of a man's hand holding a rolled up poster
Spoonflower offers three shipping options: about 10 days ($3), guaranteed 10 days ($15), or rush: about six days ($25). It’s getting late for SPSP, but you could have it shipped to your hotel.
Spoonflower does not accept PPT files, so you’ll need to export to PNG and use a graphics program to boost the DPI before you upload your image file. Make sure to select the fabric type “Performance Knit.” Also note the image is printed on a yard, and depending on your canvas size, you may need to trim the printed fabric with scissors. Last, remember that this poster is now a quality piece of fabric like any other: start rocking a conference scarf, perhaps? You’re welcome to come see my poster too at the SPSP meeting in Austin: F344, Sat,. Feb. 15, 12:30-2:00pm.
 
 
Happy printing,
Cameron Brick
University of California, Santa Barbara
http://www.cameronbrick.com