Poster, framed print or canvas: what you get

Every piece we sell is artwork generated for one room, and it comes in three forms. Here is what each one is made of, how sharp it prints, and which suits which wall.

The short version: a poster is the lightest, and fits frames you already own. A framed print arrives ready to hang, behind plexiglass. A canvas has no glazing at all, and looks the most like a painting.

The paper

Posters and framed prints use the same paper: 200 gsm (80 lb) matte fine art paper, uncoated and 0.18 mm thick. Grams per square metre is a measure of weight, and 200 gsm is noticeably heavier than an ordinary poster, so it lies flat and does not crease easily.

Uncoated means no sheen. Light falls on it without glare, so the colours read the same from any angle. That is the trade-off against glossy photo paper, which has richer blacks but reflects every window in the room.

The printing

Posters and framed prints are printed in 12 colours. An ordinary printer mixes everything from four inks — cyan, magenta, yellow and black. Twelve widen the range of colours the printer can reach, and it shows in smooth gradients, deep shadows and saturated colour.

Canvas is printed in four colours. On a woven surface that matters less: the texture of the canvas softens fine detail anyway, so the extra inks would show less.

How sharp is it?

Every artwork is generated at 3584 × 4800 pixels. Before anything is printed, the shop checks it has at least 150 pixels per inch at the size you ordered, and will not print below that rather than send you a soft print. In practice:

• A4 and 30×40 cm: about 300 pixels per inch or more — as sharp as print gets at arm's length.
• 50×70 cm: about 170 pixels per inch as a poster or framed print, and about 150 as a canvas, whose picture also wraps round the sides. A 70 cm print is looked at from a metre or more away, where that is sharp.

Is it giclée?

Yes. Our print partner, Gelato, prints these posters with 12-colour giclée technology — giclée being the fine art form of inkjet printing, with many inks laid down in microscopic droplets.

What giclée cannot add is detail the file does not have. The finest giclée work starts from files at 300 pixels per inch, which our A4 and 30×40 cm prints meet and our 50×70 cm prints, at about 170, do not. At the distance you look at a 70 cm print from, that difference is hard to see. Canvas is printed with a different, four-colour process, and is not giclée.

The framed print

• The same print, in a wooden frame 12 mm wide and 22 mm deep, made from FSC-certified pine.
• Four colours: black, white, dark wood and natural wood.
• Plexiglass, not glass. It is lighter and does not shatter, so it is safe in a child's room or a hallway and survives delivery. Like glass, it can catch the reflection of a window opposite.
• It arrives with a hanging kit, ready for the wall. At 50×70 cm it weighs about 1.6 kg (3.5 lb).

The canvas

• Cotton-polyester canvas on an FSC-certified wooden stretcher, about 3 cm deep.
• Printed round the edges. About 3 cm of the picture continues onto each side, so the canvas needs no frame and looks finished from any angle. It also means the front shows a little less of the artwork than a poster of the same size.
• No glazing, so no reflections at all.
• Hanging kit included. At 50×70 cm it weighs about 1.2 kg (2.6 lb).

Which one for your room

• A bright window opposite the wall: a canvas, or an unframed poster. Neither reflects.
• A frame you already own: a poster. A4, 30×40 and 50×70 cm are standard frame sizes, so it fits most ready-made frames.
• A child's room, a hallway, anywhere it might get knocked: a framed print, since plexiglass does not shatter, or a canvas.
• One statement piece above a sofa or a bed: the largest size, 70×50 or 50×70 cm, as a framed print or a canvas — or two side by side. See how high to hang art for the spacing.
• The look of a painting: canvas.

Made to order

Nothing is printed until you order it. Each piece is printed at the facility nearest you and delivered free. Because it is made to your choices, it cannot be returned for a change of mind, but a print that arrives damaged or with a print fault is covered — see the refund and returns policy.