CorelDRAW® 12 lets you create high-quality posters of various sizes—from small and medium-size ones to huge posters of 150 by 150 feet. To complete your poster project successfully, you need to consider the following:

• Page size and orientation
• Nudge distance and drawing scale
• Reproducing colors accurately
• Graphics
• Proofing and printing

Page size and orientation

First you need to set up the drawing page by specifying page size, orientation, and units of measurement. To do this, click Layout, Page setup. On the Size page of the Options dialog box, choose a portrait or landscape orientation, specify the width and height of your poster, and choose a unit of measurement (for large posters, choose feet). You can also click Add Page Frame to add a rectangle the size of your page that you can later fill and use as background.

Nudge distance and drawing scale

The nudge distance is the increment by which you move an object using the arrow keys on your keyboard. The default nudge distance of 0.1 inch is not the most efficient setting for a large poster and may need to be adjusted. Click Tools, Options. In the Document list of categories, click Rulers, and type higher values in the Nudge, Micro nudge and Super nudge boxes. The micro nudge value lets you move an object in fractions of the nudge distance; the super nudge value lets you move objects in multiples of the nudge distance.

For posters larger than the CorelDRAW maximum page size, you need to adjust your drawing scale. For example, for a poster larger than 150 by 150 feet, you need to set the drawing scale to 1 inch = 1 foot. To adjust the drawing scale, click Edit scale on the Rulers page, and in the Drawing scale dialog box, type values in the Page distance and World distance boxes.

Reproducing colors accurately

To make sure that colors in your poster are reproduced accurately in the final output, you need to choose the proper color management settings.

If you are planning to print the poster to a desktop color printer, it is important that you select the proper color profile for the composite printer in the Color management dialog box. Consult the printer manufacturer or the ink supplier to determine the correct color profile.

If you intend to save your poster as a PDF, EPS, or TIFF file and have it professionally printed, it is important to choose the correct color profile for the separations printer. Consult your service bureau or print shop to determine the correct color profile.

To choose a color profile, click Tools, Color management. Click a profile name under the Separations printer or Composite printer icon, and choose a color profile from the list box.

Left: Composite printer icon. Right: Separations printer icon.

Graphics

Avoid using low-resolution bitmaps. Although they may appear fine on-screen, they will appear pixelated when printed.

To import a graphic, click File, Import, and choose the graphic you want. Click the drawing page to import the graphic at its original size, or click and drag on the drawing page to resize the file. When you resize a bitmap, watch the status bar to make sure that the resolution remains acceptable—300 dpi should work fine. If the resolution drops much below 300 dpi, you need either to resize the bitmap, or to scan it at a higher resolution.

Depending on the size of your poster, you may need to adjust the resolution at which drop shadows and interactive transparencies are rendered. The default resolution is 300 dpi, but for posters with an output line screen of 130 lpi or lower, you need to adjust the value. The rendering resolution should be set to 1.5 to 2 times the output line screen. For example, if you are working on a large poster that will be output at 90 lpi, the rendering resolution should be set to 180 dpi. Higher values will unnecessarily slow down the application, so you should pay special attention to this setting when working with large media.

To change the rendering resolution, click Tools, Options. In the Workspace list of categories, click General. In the Rendering resolution area, type a value in the Resolution box.

You can change the rendering resolution on the General page of the Options dialog box.

Proofing and printing

Always proof your poster before printing a color copy. You can do this by printing down a scaled-down black-and-white copy of the poster. Click File, Print. On the Layout tab, enable the Fit to page option.

The Fit to page option on the Layout tab of the Print dialog box lets you print a scaled-down copy of your poster.

You can also print any large poster on regular-size paper piece by piece, and then assemble all pieces to create a full-size copy of the poster. To print a large poster on multiple pages, click File, Print. On the Layout tab, enable the As in document option, and then enable the Print tiled pages check box.

Click Print preview in the Print dialog box to see how your large poster will print on regular-size paper. This example shows a preview of a 3- by 4-foot poster to be printed on letter-size paper.

If you are sending the poster to a print shop, you may want to check which file format the shop prefers to work with. Nowadays, many printers prefer to work with PDF files. To publish the poster to PDF, click File, Publish to PDF. In the Save as PDF dialog box, choose PDF for prepress from the PDF style box.