Printing City Roads Posters at Home and Online
Once you have the perfect layout in City Roads, the final hurdle is printing. This tutorial walks through equipment, paper choices, and file prep so your minimalist map art looks as sharp on paper as it does on screen.
1. Download Smart Exports
- Home printers: download PNG at 300 DPI with the “High-Resolution” toggle enabled.
- Professional labs: export SVG to let technicians resize without rasterization artifacts.
- Merch platforms: generate both PNG and SVG, then upload whichever format the vendor prefers.
2. Choose the Right Paper Stock
| Finish | Why it Works | Recommended Weight | | --- | --- | --- | | Matte cotton | Avoids glare on dense street grids | 230–300 gsm | | Satin | Keeps blacks rich for night-mode posters | 200–260 gsm | | Canvas | Great for large art installations | 280+ gsm |
Stick to neutral white or soft ivory bases so subtle road colors remain visible.
3. Calibrate Color
- Enable “sRGB” inside City Roads before exporting.
- Print a 4x6 inch proof to verify blacks, grays, and accent colors.
- If tones look dull, increase street contrast inside the editor rather than boosting saturation post-export.
4. Frame Without Warping
- Let prints rest for 12 hours before framing to prevent curling.
- Use spacers inside frames so glass never touches the ink layer.
- For borderless looks, mount on foam board with archival spray adhesive.
5. Automate Team Orders
City Roads exports include deterministic filenames: cityroads-{location}-{theme}.svg. Use them with Dropbox/Drive automations so marketing or workplace teams can submit batches directly to their preferred printer.
Troubleshooting Quick Reference
- Lines look fuzzy → re-export SVG and convert to PDF before sending to the vendor.
- Colors shifted warm → disable “vivid” print profiles on consumer printers.
- Poster cropped incorrectly → keep aspect ratios consistent (3:4, 2:3, square) between City Roads and the print template.
Printing should be the easiest part of your creative workflow. Follow these steps and every City Roads render will leave the printer tray ready for your wall or packaging tube.