How to print a poster at home
Every LearnPosters chart is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter. Print it at Actual size on Letter, or Fit to page on A4 — the same file, no separate download. Colour is optional: nothing on any sheet is distinguished by hue alone, so greyscale and draft mode lose nothing but the colour.
Six steps for getting that right, then the questions people ask most.
1.Download the PDF
Open any poster and press Download PDF. The file is vector, around 40 KB, and needs no account.
2.Choose the paper you actually have
The sheets are laid out for US Letter. On A4, set your print dialog to Fit to page — A4 is narrower and slightly taller, so fitting keeps the margins even.
3.Turn off Shrink to fit if you want full bleed
Fit to page leaves your printer's unprintable margin as white space. That is usually what you want on a wall chart; choose Actual size only if you intend to trim the edges.
4.Print in colour or greyscale — either works
Colour on these charts carries emphasis, never meaning. Nothing is distinguished only by hue, so a greyscale or draft-mode print loses nothing but the colour.
5.Go bigger at a copy shop
Because the artwork is vector rather than a photograph, the same file prints sharp at A3, A2 or A1. Hand the copy shop the PDF unchanged and ask them to scale to the sheet.
6.Put it where the work happens
Above the desk, on the fridge, beside the piano. A poster in a drawer is a leaflet; the whole point is that it is glanceable from where the problem is being solved.
US Letter and A4, side by side
| Paper | Size | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| US Letter | 216 × 279 mm | Actual size |
| A4 | 210 × 297 mm | Fit to page |
| A3 | 297 × 420 mm | Fit to page, 141% |
| A2 / A1 | 420 × 594 / 594 × 841 mm | Copy shop, scale to sheet |
Printing questions
- Can I print a US Letter poster on A4 paper?
- Yes. Set your print dialog to Fit to page and print the same file — there is no separate A4 download. A4 is 6 mm narrower and 18 mm taller than US Letter, so fitting keeps the margins even and costs you nothing at the edges; the artwork is vector, so scaling it does not soften anything.
- Do I need a colour printer?
- No. Colour on a LearnPosters chart carries emphasis, never meaning — nothing on any sheet is distinguished only by its hue. A greyscale print, or a draft-mode print on a school photocopier, loses the colour and none of the content. That rule is checked on every poster before it ships.
- How do I print one of these bigger than A4?
- Hand the unchanged PDF to a copy shop and ask them to scale it to the sheet. Because each poster is drawn as vector geometry rather than photographed, A3, A2 and A1 come out as sharp as Letter — there is no resolution to run out of. A3 at home is Fit to page at roughly 141%.
- Why is there white space around the edge of my print?
- That is your printer's unprintable margin, and Fit to page preserves it deliberately. On a wall chart it is usually what you want. Choose Actual size instead only if you intend to trim the edges, and expect the outermost few millimetres to be clipped.
- What paper should I use?
- Ordinary printer paper is fine and is what these are designed for. Heavier stock — 120 gsm or above — hangs flatter and survives a classroom wall longer, and matte beats gloss for something read across a room under overhead light.
- Do I need an account or a licence to print these?
- No account, no email and no watermark. Printing for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group is covered; reselling the files or prints of them is not.
Ready to print one? Browse the full catalogue · what you may do with the files