Making a large banner or billboard is serious business. It is expensive as it requires a lot of ink, expensive printing material, and the service of a professional printer who is used to providing large-format printing services. The costs add up, and any small mistake can be amplified into a costly one for your business to bear. Before you go about launching a large banner campaign, these are some considerations to keep in mind to minimise mistakes:
1. Remember that design is everything.
If you are going to print on a large banner or billboard, there are some important design rules that you must follow. Every small detail in the design matters as it will be magnified and put on display for the world to see. If you are going to have a very large print such as a billboard or banner hanging down the side of a building, opt for a vector image rather than a bitmap image such as pictures. Vector graphics are less likely to break out into visible pixels when enlarged. Be careful when picking a font. A font that is too close together will end up making the words look fuzzy and hard to read, whereas a font that is too thin will look unnoticeable due to too much space. When designing the layout of the graphics, opt for a clean, easy-to-read look as people won’t have time to digest too much when driving by.
2. Know which settings you require.
It is important to know the technical details of the settings you need for large-format printing. Most banners are at a range of 100 display pixels per inch, as opposed to 300 dpi used in traditional offset printing. You may need special software or a special version of image-processing software to deal with large-format images. Remember that most of these files can be data-intensive and quite large. You will also have to decide on whether to use RGB colours or CMYK colours, which have pros and cons that you should research.
3. Don’t skimp on quality.
Another big decision that you have to make is regarding the material that your banner is going to be printed on. Usually, a mesh material is used for the printing. It is recommended that you choose the best quality material that fits your purpose. A poor-quality material will not last long in the outdoors, and it will take away from the overall message of your ad. If you are going to hang it indoors where it can be viewed up close, opt for the finest quality. But if it’s going to be hung outdoors, you require something light and weatherproof.
4. Find a good printer.
Last but not least, you need to find a printing company that does large-format prints. They need to understand your requirements, and they should have experience in doing quality prints so that they can anticipate any errors that may arise from your design or specifics.
Large-scale prints can be a very effective method of advertising. But they do not leave any room for mistakes. Make sure that your business makes the best use of the limitations by knowing exactly what to look out for.
