Gloss above, Matte below

We are often asked whether matte or gloss lamination is better for a poster. The honest answer is you probably cannot go wrong with matte lamination, but gloss has its advantages too.

As you can see from the photo at the right, glossy lamination can give you trouble with glare, and matte lamination eliminates glare almost completely. In fact, the new matte lamination we started using a few years ago is so good that you’ll have a hard time telling it’s not paper.

On the other hand, glare is not usually a problem in a poster session. That’s because the lights are up high, and the poster is at eye level or below. The path of the light is not to the poster and then your eyes- the glare is directed to the floor. We make a lot of gloss laminated posters, and people are delighted with them. I also like the “wet” look that a glossy poster has because it gives the colors a lot of pop.

Lamination protects your poster too. We laminate both sides, and leave a 1/8″ sealing edge all around to give you a moisture seal. If you are going to hang the poster in your lab afterwards, lamination is an excellent idea.