Congratulations, you're responsible for ordering a banner.
Or several. Lucky you, you found this quick guide!
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| What does Godzilla think about banners? |
Don't throw money away on a poor banner choice.
Here's a quick guide to get exactly what you need,
no more and no less.
What will be covered:
In this very brief overview, we'll show you
•WTH are promotional flag banners?
•how to figure out the best bang for your buck if you have to order a banner.
•how you can save big if you need to use a banner for a repeating monthly or annual event.
•display options.
•corporate branding and Godzilla's scornful gaze.
•go green(er) by planning ahead to reduce landfill issues.
•discover what others have found out about multi-use banners.
Skip to the part you need to find out more about, or send for information below for a company that we recommend for Smart Banner Tech at a very competitive cost.
Banner Basics
Fabrics:Choices are Reinforced Vinyl, Cloth and Mesh.
•10oz is the cheapest, lightest weight reinforced vinyl for temporary use outside (longer use indoors)
•13oz is the most popular weight medium-use banner.
•Heavyweight (where available) is 16-22oz reinforced vinyl made for cross-street banners.
•Fabric banners are 'sexier' and drape very well. Fabrics can be steamed and washed if necessary.
•Mesh banners are for special use in areas where required for wind. This is the least attractive of all.
Banner sizes in regard to choosing fabric or vinyl:
Is vinyl better than fabric for larger banners?
A good rule of thumb is that if a banner is greater than 50 square feet (height x width = number of square feet), it will require wind cuts. Wind cuts require vinyl, so the short answer is, for outdoor use, if the banner is large, it has to be vinyl.
Wind cuts are semi-circular cuts offset (usually every 12"-18" apart) to allow the wind through the banner, so it won't blow up like a sail and try to take the building or posts down with it.
So, here's what I hate about wind cuts.
You can't make wind cuts without wrecking the structural integrity of an internally-reinforced vinyl banner. All the little strings laminated into the vinyl that help to hold it together will be wrecked. It's like trying to stop a leak in a plastic bottle; it's going to fall apart, 'cause there's not much to it to begin with. Adding wind cuts to a banner is like a run in stockings. They wont survive the month.
Displaying the banner:
I've seen vinyl banners nailed to an eave, hogtied to a chain link fence, thrown onto rocks, pulled taut by ropes like someone being quartered by horses and abused to the limits of its' little vinyl life. Be kind to vinyl.There are effective ways to hang or display a banner, and here they are:
Displaying Vinyl banners:For chain link fence mounting. Use nylon zip-ties along every grommet (reinforced hole) along the top of the banner and one at each bottom corner. For >50sf, see wind cuts.
For mounting onto a wall, I recommend ordering a banner with a pole sleeve along the top and the bottom lengths. This method allows you to put firring (a strip of wood, usually 3/4" x 1-1/2") or a dowel (circular pole) into the banner to allow it's weight to hang predominantly from the dowel/firring, instead of using the grommet holes, which after as little as a week, makes a vinyl banner look puckered and terrible. Hang the banner from the ends of the dowel/filling, like a curtain rod. Outdoors, drill through the firring into the wall using appropriate screws and fender washers. Your hardware store knows what these are.
Street pole mounting requires very specific measurements so the banner will tension properly on the pre-spaced poles. These vinyl banners are made with a slim pole sleeve top and bottom, and a grommet on the side nearest the vertical pole to attach the banner, so it doesn't launch across the street in a gust of wind.
Displaying Fabric Banners:
These are made to display as a drape, so use the same techniques and solutions readily available in the drapery department of a store, or using basic DIY dowels from a hardware store. Yeah.
Order fabric banners with a pole sleeve at top and bottom lengths; the top to drape the banner, and the bottom to weight the fabric, so it doesn't flit about in the lightest breeze unless this is your intention.
Banner Stands
There are several kinds of banner stands which I'll describe briefly, as there's another helpful article which deals with all the best (and worst) of these darlings.
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| Your 23 foot tall outdoor banner stand next to Godzilla. It's that tiny thing next to the "Here you go". Better get enough. |
Banner stands for outdoor use:
Yes, there are some banner stands made with ballastible base (fill the base with sand or water). Hint: Water for temporary use or sand if you're gonna hunker down and stay for weeks, 'cause it's hard to get the sand back out of the hollow bases!There are also pole banner stands (at right) which go into the Goldilocks ground (the lawn or ground can't be too hard or too soft). These pole banner frames are for viewing from a distance, as they are inexpensive and do little to disguise that fact. They're usually steel poles with right-angle connectors, ground sleeves and little bungee cords. Use pole sleeves for the best installation (see pole sleeves above).
There are also made from PVC pipe. See them here.These PVC pipe banner stands are somewhat ungainly but popular for the DIY crowd, and with some talented friend, can be easily opied-cay from the awing-dray at left.
For indoors:
Here are your options in indoor/sheltered area banner stands.
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Telescoping aluminum stands
These are the go-to workhorses in the field. It takes less than 5 minutes or so to set up and to break down, and usually fits easily in a nylon bag or small box, along with the weighted base (most have a steel base). Easy-peasy. The traditional stands will hold a 24", 36", 48" and 96-120" wide banner. The wider banner stands usually feature two vertical poles for better stability, and can quickly double as a backdrop for those press/media opportunities that will be the perfect backdrop if you use fabrics, so to glare of media attention won't add a distracting visual element to an already (possibly) apoplectic boss looking at this over and over in a dimly lit room, going over the video to catch the very moment when he'd decided to fire your a**. Here's an example of a 120" wide by 96" tall stand.
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| Take your friends out for beers instead of buying these things. |
Yes, you may have perceived an attitude about these flapping horrors.
I think these have lived out their original intended lives of nuisance and are now a (mostly) silent testimony to the mindless throwing of money to get your attention as you drive by. And if I didn't overly emphasize mindlessly throwing away money, here it is again.
Oh, and to the NAILS salon near my house, please take them down when they start to fade, or someone may, folks, by cover of night, take them down for you. Here they are, because they're still oh-so-darned popular.
Function + Use:
Is your banner for a single event You're kinda stuck with this one, and it doesn't need to go to a landfill afterward. I'll cover that little gem later.If you will need a banner for a repeating event (did you ever notice that for furniture stores, a "going out of business sale" is a repeating event? Just wondering), you have a few choices courtesy of the innovation and research being shared by LetterBank Signs + Print.
So, they have made these solutions for repeat-occasion banners, in vinyl.
These work for cross-street banners as well.
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| 3x3 velcro strip banner with logo and 4" letter set. These have been discontinued. |
Standard heavyweight banner with a single area underneath the wording that has the days/dates or event name in velcro letters.
Standard banner with an entire separate graphic panel with velcro to be placed alongside the constant, unchanging information.
All-velcro banners, perhaps with a printed logo. Not my first choice, but here is a two-sided 3x3 foot example. (image at right)
Changing events on multiple banners, side by side:
One large banner with the permanent information, and a smaller banner adjacent to it with the current event/dates/cost/time/location on it. This means you're only replacing the small banner when your venue or event changes.
Landfill options:
Before throwing that bad boy into the dumpster (landfill), how about these imaginative suggestions?
•see if the company has a banner recycling project.
•use the banner as a tarp in your garden.
•use as a cover for hauling things in your pickup truck.
•use as an emergency tarp for leaks, flooding or covering stuff in your attic or garage (that's the car hole you park in, with a tip of the hat to Moe).
•use under rocks or landscaping (all plastics will leach into the ground as they decompose. Make sure the groundwater and sensitive plants are not impacted by this before using as ground cover).
•make a cool poncho.
•have an Etsy friend turn into an über-cool umbrella project.
•use to partially cover fresh concrete to keep you-know-who from putting their initials in it.
•use as temporary fence repair.
•use as a drop cloth when painting or blood letting.
•ask a teacher if s/he has any use for it.
Come up with an original idea and win some free stuff, courtesy of our friends at the LetterBank Company. Really. Let us know below in your comments!
Corporate branding:
For banner projects in large quantities, LetterBank Signs + Print offers fulfillment services.
Contact them below for a fast price quote. Or send your project specs for a bid to sales at LetterBank.
Projects they have done include Toyota, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, McDonalds, PG&E, Motorola and military ops.
