Tips for Good Banner Design

An effective banner is measured primarily by readability and ease of comprehension of the message.  Before you design or order a banner, be sure you consider these tips to make the final product the most effective and your investment worthy.

TIPS

Keep your color selections simple
Too many colors or graphics will make the image hard to read and confusing to the viewer.  If you look at banners as you move around the city, you'll start to notice that the promient colors are red or black on white.  Yellow is also very common, combined again with either black or red.

Simplify the message
Keep the message to as few words as you can possibly muster and still make the banner do its job.  For an event, as an example, the title of the event, date, time, and website are just about all you might fit so that a driver or passer-by has time to read and comprehend it.  Don't try to get ALL the info on there - there's just no time for the viewer to take it in, and a cluttered banner is an invisible banner!

Distance Determines Size
The size of your banner should not be determined by your budget, but by the viewing distance from the typical reader to the banner.  If you have a 50' reading distance from a banner, you'll need letters that are 10" tall or so in order to make the banner useful at all.   Before you order, ask about reading distances and letter size, so you can be sure your investment isn't wasted.

Letter Style - Clean and Easy
Many come to us with banner designs completed, ready for us to print.  Some designers like to see a complicated but expressive style of lettering  being used.  They avoid block fonts because they are "boring" to them and don't give the right expression to the message.  We try to guide our clients that good design, above all, does the job and block or Roman style lettering is the most legible on the market.  Boring?  Maybe!  But I'll take a boring banner that is legible any day over one that is expressive, but hard to read!

Hang it right!!
There's nothing sadder to a sign maker than to see a product like a banner designed well, purchased in the right size, and then hung up so badly that the entire thing sags and sways in the wind -- completely impossible to read and giving the impression of incompetence or neglect.  Ask us for advice or help with your installation before you order -- make sure the product you are buying will work in the situation you have for it.  Additionally, we are happy to offer installation services ourselves, which ensures you a clean, durable installation and a message that isn't lost!


Next time you are planning an event or opening a business, consider banners as the ideal solution for your quick-service, inexpensive sign needs.  But also consider getting the most from your money by allowing the sign experts to guide you!

You can call us with any banner design or fabrication questions at 502-585-4099 or sales@signaramadowntown.