A2 poster printing

At 420 × 594 mm (42 × 59.4 cm), an A2 poster covers the area of four A4 sheets. That is enough to be recognised from a few metres behind a shop window or on a sports hall wall, while still fitting the standard A2 snap frames found in receptions and entrance halls. Retailers, event organisers and clubs choose it when an A3 would go unnoticed.

Start in the poster configurator set to A2: it begins on 100 g glossy coated stock, printed on one side, with no finishing, and you can order from a single copy. Every change shows up at once in the price in CHF, and several copies cost less per poster. The decision that matters most is the paper.

Photo paper or poster paper: the key choice in A2

For A2, the configurator lists more than 40 materials. In practice the choice starts with one question: should the poster shine behind glass, or go up in numbers?

• Photo paper (190 g glossy or matt, 235 g glossy) gives photos depth and lies flat in a frame. Glossy makes colours pop; matt stops the street being reflected twice, first in the window and then in the poster.
• Poster paper (115 g, also PEFC) is thin and light. It is made for the poster round before an event: twenty or so copies for the village shop, the bakery, the town hall and the noticeboards.

Backlit film is designed for frames lit from behind, such as a lightbox that keeps catching the eye after closing time. A2 also takes offset paper, the natural-look papers (cream, linen, recycled, grass) and 840 g cardboard, and many papers come in a PEFC or FSC® version.

Shop window, event, snap frame

• In the shop window: the butcher's game season, winter fashion in the neighbourhood boutique, Sunday opening in December.
• Event poster: the village fair, a brass band concert, a night of amateur theatre, put up in the village shop, the sports hall and the school.
• Snap frame: at a company reception, in a hotel lobby, at the entrance to a gym, wherever the image changes every month.

Behind glass and from a few metres away, nobody reads a paragraph. An A2 poster carries one main message and one image; customers discover the rest inside. More ideas for windows and shop floors are on our page about printing for retail shops.

Finishes that stand out in a window

A window poster competes with the goods on display and the reflections of the street. This is where finishes that catch the light make sense: gold or silver hot foil for the festive season, an opening or an anniversary, or a partial glossy UV varnish that picks out only the logo or the headline. In A2, the configurator also offers a high-gloss varnish on the front and matt or glossy lamination, which makes a poster that is often swapped between frames more durable. Not every finish works with every paper: the configurator shows the possible combinations.

In a window or a snap frame, printing the front (4/0) is enough; double-sided printing (4/4) is also available.

Your A2 file and the snap frame

The finished size is 420 × 594 mm. Decide on portrait or landscape at the outset: a layout turned round later rarely works. A full-bleed photo needs 4961 × 7016 pixels to reach 300 dpi at final size; vector text and logos stay sharp regardless.

The profile of a snap frame covers a narrow strip along the edge. Keep the date, address and logo away from the edge and check the safety margin in our poster print templates, which also show the bleed. The printing glossary explains both terms. We check every file before production. Our range also includes snap frames.

Smaller or larger than A2

For a notice at eye level on a noticeboard, read up close, an A3 poster is enough. If it has to work from further away, at an entrance or in a hall, move up to an A1 poster. See how A2 sits among the other formats in our guide to print sizes.

Shipping within Switzerland is CHF 7.00 per order, or free once your order reaches CHF 100; the 8.1% VAT is included in the prices.