In a previous blog post, we highlighted the benefits of using pull-up banners; an excellent marketing tool allowing you to quickly bring attention and awareness to you and your brand. As a cost-effective and durable option, custom banners remain popular for very good reason. It can be a little daunting, however, when it comes to your design. To help simplify the process, we have shared what we believe to be the key elements, considerations that will turn your pull-up banner from good to outstanding.
Application
Before you begin designing your banner, you need to think about how and why your banner will be used. Firstly, think about what message you’re trying to convey. Are you trying to build company awareness, inform your viewers of a new product, or entice people to your stand at an event? You may even be trying to replicate an office feel while on camera but working from home...
The answers to these questions will lead you to think about what content you wish to include, for example images of new products or information about your company.
Next, consider how your custom banner is going to be viewed. How close will people be? How long are you expecting people to spend looking at your banner? These answers inform design elements such as the font size and how much text to include. If, for example, you want your banner to catch the attention of passers-by, it is better to have large font, short captions and perhaps more imagery rather than lots of smaller text that can’t be easily read.
Once you have a strong idea of your banner’s uses and positioning, you can start to think about the general design itself.
Size
At Evans Graphics we offer a number of different sizes for our pull-up banners. Our standard banner is 800mm wide and 2000mm long.
Logo and Branding
As with all marketing collateral, it is imperative that your audience associates your custom banner with your company. For this reason, we recommend putting your logo towards the top of the banner, roughly at eye level, as this is often the first place your audience will look. Follow this with the key message just below, ensuring the most important information is conveyed clearly and is accessible to passers-by.
Your company information should also be present on your roller banner, for example a company website or contact details. People usually look towards the bottom of a banner for this kind of information, and a text size of around 36 is often sufficient.
Images
Images on your pull-up banner can be one of the most important aspects of your design. Not only is it vital to have eye-catching imagery, the image type and properties are equally as important. We ask that your images are at least 300dpi to keep their sharpness, and to combat any pixilation that may happen when images are made bigger. Images will also need to be saved and exported using a CMYK colour profile. We do this to ensure that the images in the banner will match as closely as possible to your on-screen design.
Text
As previously mentioned, you need to bear in mind how the custom banner will be viewed as this will affect your content. Are people going to be stood directly in front of your banner at close range? If this is the case, you can use a smaller font than if your banner is going to be viewed from further away. Generally, banners are used more for imagery than for sheer volume of text. This is because you usually only have a couple of seconds to grab your audience’s attention and too much text can prove off-putting.
When using text, it is important to use clear fonts. Not only does this make your banner look neater, it also means people are able to read it quicker; something imperative to the effectiveness of your pull-up banner. As a general rule of thumb, we say non-serif fonts are best practice as they are easy on the eye.
Font sizes are also an important factor for your banner. Again, you need to keep in mind how your banners will be viewed, but typically your main copy should be around 72 points and headings should be somewhere between 150 and 300 points. It is also worth mentioning here that italics are discouraged due to how difficult they are to read from afar.
Material
Settling on a material for your printed custom banner is arguably the most important factor. The most commonly adopted substrates for this kind of work are vinyl and mesh. Vinyl banners - or PVC banners as you may know them - are often printed brighter and clearer. Refreshingly, this does not come at the expense of durability - as this variety is proven to last the course, even when placed outside.
Mesh banners are equally as strong, despite being very lightweight. These lend themselves to large scale advertisement with little in the way of text. While a little difficult to erect, they are ideal for external display.
You can learn more about vinyl banners and mesh banners alike by reading this article.
Colour
Colour has an important part to play in the efficiency of your custom banner. Colours that are too bright or contrasting may distract the viewer from your content, whereas colours that are too dull don’t make for very eye-catching designs.
Creating a banner design which is somewhere in-between – for example a white background with boldly coloured titles – often seem the safest and most effective in practice. It is also essential to bear in mind that contrasting colours, for example yellow text on a white background, will put people off reading your content. Think about trying to incorporate your branding colours, this will help people associate the banner with your company.
A key piece of advice for designing your banner is to play around with it! Make a few options and see which works best for you. If this all still seems a little intimidating, our team is here to help. We also offer art-working templates for you to work with, ensuring sizing and dimensions are correct.
To read more about our pull-up banner products, click here.
