Banner Design
Most banners fail before they are printed. Too many words, lettering sized for a laptop screen, a logo in nearly the right colour. Our designers start from where the banner will be read and what someone has to take from it in two seconds, then build the layout around that.
Last updated
Banner Design, done properly
The studio that designs BD Signs shop fronts sets the banners too, so your colours, fonts and logo come from the same references as your fascia. We work out the reading distance and size the headline to suit, cut the wording down to what can be read at that distance, and keep anything important clear of hems, eyelets and the base of a roller banner stand. You see a proof to scale, and nothing prints until you approve it. The finished artwork is kept on file for the next run.
- Lettering sized for the distance it is read from
- Colours matched to your logo and shop front
- Key wording kept clear of hems, eyelets and stand bases
- A proof to scale before anything is printed
What should you know before ordering banner artwork?
What should you send for a banner design?
Your logo in the best file you have, the wording, any photos, and where the banner will hang. A vector logo — an AI, EPS, SVG or PDF from whoever drew it — scales to any size without blurring. If all you have is a small JPEG from your website, send it anyway; BD Signs will tell you whether it holds up at banner size or needs redrawing.
How much text fits on a banner?
Less than you think. Someone walking or driving past takes in a headline, a name and perhaps one line more, so a handful of words is plenty for a banner read on the move. A phone number or web address earns its place only if it is big enough to read from where people stand. BD Signs would rather cut wording than shrink it, because small text on a banner is wasted print.
How big should the lettering on a banner be?
Big enough for the furthest person you need to reach. Legibility scales with distance: read from twice as far away, letters need to be roughly twice as tall. BD Signs works out where the banner will be seen from — across a car park, down an exhibition aisle, from a passing car — and sizes the headline to that, rather than to whatever space is left after the logo.
How does BD Signs make banner artwork?
Designed in-house, manufactured in our own factory, fitted by our own teams. 25 years as BD Signs, 35 in brand and point of sale.
- Step 1
The brief
Tell us what the banner is for, where it will hang and how far away people will be when they read it. Send your logo, wording and photos, or a picture of your shop front if the banner should match it.
- Step 2
Layout
Our designers set the banner at its finished proportions: headline first, logo where it will be seen, colours matched to your brand. The wording is trimmed to what reads at that distance and kept clear of hems, eyelets and stand bases.
- Step 3
Proof to scale
You get a proof showing the banner to scale with its finished size marked. Check the spelling, phone number and colours, ask for changes, then approve it. Nothing goes to print until you have signed it off.
- Step 4
Print and keep on file
The approved design is printed in our own factory as a banner, a roller banner or both. The artwork stays on file, so a reprint or a second size for another site starts from the finished design rather than a blank page.
Banners we've designed and printed
What do people ask about banner design?
Can you match our brand colours?
Usually, yes, as long as we have a reference to match. Send your brand guidelines with the Pantone or CMYK values, or a printed item whose colour you are happy with. Screens show colour differently from print, so a colour picked off a website is a starting point rather than a match. Customers whose shop front or menus came from BD Signs are already on file, colours included.
Do you design roller banners as well as wide banners?
Yes, and the layout is different. A roller banner is tall, narrow and read from a few metres away, so the logo and headline sit in the top third, where they are seen over a crowd or a table. The bottom of the graphic sits down in the stand base, so nothing important goes there. BD Signs sets roller banner artwork to the template for the stand it is going into.
Can I supply my own banner artwork?
Yes. Send a PDF at the finished size or to scale, with bleed, fonts embedded or outlined, and images at a resolution that holds up when enlarged. BD Signs looks over supplied files before printing and will point out anything that will not print well — a blurry logo, wording tucked against the hem — rather than printing it as sent.
The rest of the range
“Used BD Signs Design and Print services to design a new logo for my company and to design and print some large labels to use on my jobs. Professional service from start to finish. Highly recommended.”
“Excellent service as always. Friendly staff. Highly recommend.”
Need banner design?
Send us the sizes, the quantity and your artwork — or just your logo and what it needs to say. We will proof it, print it and get it to you.
Or email info@bdsigns.co.uk — we answer everything the same working day.