5 Steps to Great Banner Design

The adoption of digital banner printing for vinyl banners has opened up a whole new sphere of possibilities for what can go on a banner. Gone are the days of simple text and in its place is full color digital printing.

There are five elements that go into creating a great vinyl banner.

1.Banner material

2.Size

3.Fonts

4.Contrast

5.Graphics

Part 1 — Material

Banner material falls into one of three (3) general categories; lightweight, standard and heavyweight. Lightweight banners are generally 10 ounces and are great for indoors and short-term outdoor use. These are great for birthday parties, office celebrations and the like. This banner will not be outdoor durable over any length of time.

Any banner that is around 13 ounces is considered a standard weight banner. This banner is not only the standard for outdoor use, but is a terrific option for short term, multi year use banners. For example, if you have an annual winter clearance sale, this type of banner can be used for many seasons to come.

Heavyweight banner is 17 ounce and above. This is really only needed for extreme outdoor conditions and is generally not need for any other purpose. Be wary of a banner printer pushing this weight on you for a normal banner application.

Part 2 — Banner size

The old axiom bigger is better doesn’t always work with banners. You need to have a banner that is in keeping with the location it is being installed. If you have a 20 foot tall wall, then you can have a larger banner. The banner needs to stand out and sell your product.

A good rule to go by is that you sould use 1″ of letter height for every 10′ of viewing distance. For example, if your banner is going to be seen from around 100′, then you need letter of no less than 10 inches. You should also look to have about the same amount of white space around each line to make it readable.

Part 3 — Letters

The fonts that you use are critically important. Your font should be readable yet consistent with your brand image. The absolute worst thing you can do is to use a script font and use all capital letters. This is unreadable at any distance. If you want to employ all caps, be sure to use a sans serif font that is clean and readable. Other than that, feel free to be as creative as you want with fonts. There are some amazing ones out there that can greatly enhance your designs.

Part 4 — Contrasting color

The first is font contrast and the second is the contrast of the banner and its background. These are the two contrasts that you need to be aware of.

black on yellow white on yellow yellow on black black on white

There are many great combinations of colors that you can use. You need your text to explode off the page to grab the attention of the reader. The correct combination of colors can do just that.

Why would you place a tan banner against a tan wall in your retail establishment? The banner is lost in a sea of tan, when what you want is for the banner to pop against its background.

Part 5 — Digital graphics

Images are what set modern banner printing apart from the days of old. The ability to digitally print the banner has given your designer the freedom to use a wide variety of web 2.0 style clipart and graphics and should guarantee you and original banner design. Of note: If you intend to supply your own digital files, make sure the bitmaps images have sufficient pixels to scale up to the size you plan to print.

In conclusion

Now that you have some basic understanding of what goes into a great banner design, your should be able to tell your banner printing supplier exactly what you want.

The Author: Michael Pingree has been in the sign industry since 1993.. His website at oregonbannerprinting.comoffers a simple online banner design tool to create professional looking full color vinyl banners quickly and easily from the convenience of your computer. Be sure to check out our options for saving you moneyand our wide selection of banner displays.