What are crop marks?

Crop marks are small lines placed outside of  each corner of your finished piece. Your printer will use these as a guide for trimming the piece to its final size.

What are bleeds?

The term ‘bleeds’ is used for all images or items that touch the edge of the finished printed piece.  The industry standard is a 1/8″ bleed. If you’re printing a piece that is 4″ x 6″ that has bleeds you’ll need to supply your printer with a file that is 4.25″ x 6.25″.  Printers require this extra space to allow for movement during the printing and trimming process to ensure there isn’t white space showing after trimming. I’ve shown a postcard below that has bleeds on three sides. The black line represents the final trim and the red line is the 1/8″ bleed.

To summarize this in pictures……In order to receive a finished product that looks like this.

You will need to give your printer a file with crop marks and bleeds that looks like this.

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• What information do you need on it? (It’s not a brochure, keep it simple!!)
• Do you want pictures or images to be included?
• How far away is your intended audience?

Be sure to keep the amount of copy on your vinyl banner to a minimum. In most cases your prospect will be driving by and you want to catch their attention.  People often feel they need to cram every piece of information about their company on the banner filling every white spice. White space actually improves readability!!

If your using images you’ll need to make sure they are suitable for enlarging. Grabbing a 1″ x1″ image off the internet that’s 72dpi won’t produce a great result!!  If you’ve got a high resolution image (300 dpi) that’s 8″ x 10″ your can use our Photoshop technique for enlarging images.

Deciding on the size of your outdoor banners and the size of the lettering will depend on how far away your reader is. Is your banner on the top of an eight story building or 30′ feet away from the road at ground level? Large letters don’t always mean better legibility, your letters need an adequate amount of white space around them to create contrast. Placing letters to close together or to close to the edge will greatly reduce readability. Below is a letter visibility chart that you can use as a guideline for developing the content for your vinyl banner.

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This style is of banner stand is very portable, light and can be set up in about 30 seconds. The banner retracts into the base when not in use and is protected from wrinkling or other damage.

These pop up banner stands are available in many different widths and heights and are an extremely cost effective way to catch you prospective customers attention. For our full line of banner stands please click here.

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Bitmap or raster images are made up of pixels; the resolution or number of pixels per inch (dpi or PPI) effect the quality of the printed look of the image. Images on the internet are usually 72 dpi, images in a printed brochure should be 300 dpi. The example below shows a small inset logo that is 72 dpi, beside it is an example of what it would look like if you tried to enlarge it 4 to 5 times.

An example of a 72 dpi rastor or bitmap image.

Vector based graphics are scalable to any size and are defined by mathematical equations rather than pixels. Vector graphics are also much easier to edit; colour, lines, fills  and outlines can be individually changed. Vector based graphics are not dpi or resolution dependent which means they can be 1″ x 1″ or 10′ x 10′ and still be the same quality. The example below shows a small inset logo that is 72 dpi, beside it is an example of a vector version enlarged 4 to 5 times.

An example of an enlarged vector based image.

Every company should have a vector version of their logo if they’re creating signs, printed banners or trade show displays.  It’s surprisingly inexpensive to have one created and www.bitmap2vector.com is a company that has done some great conversions for us!!

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As an offset and large format printer we always watch for banding problems prior to printing. If you discover banding issues the following technique may help reduce or eliminate the problem.

An example of a gradient with banding issues.

Using Adobe Photoshop the first step will be copy your gradient onto a new layer.

Copy your gradient on to a new layer.

Select the layer we just copied. We will now go the filter drop down menu and select Blur | Gaussian Blur.

Click the filter drop down and select Gaussian Blur.

We’re now going to add gaussian blur to the gradient; the amount you can add will depend on the colours that you are using in your gradient. You can refer back your original gradient which is on its own layer to ensure the colour isn’t changing to drastically. You may find you will have to strike a compromise between the original colour and the amount of banding that shows. When you’ve achieved an acceptable balance click OK.

Now click on your layers palette and create a new layer called Overlay, change the mode to overlay and check  ‘Fill with Overlay-neutral colour (50% gray).

Adding a new layer for overlay.

With your new Overlay layer selected click the Filter drop down and select Noise | Add Noise.

As with Gaussian blur the amount of noise you can add will vary depending on your colour scheme. In general you will be adding a small amount of noise (.1 to 3%) ; too much noise and you will see a distinct texture.  Under ‘Distribution’ select Uniform.

Adding noise to your overlay layer.

You will find that you’ll need to play with different combinations of the above to achieve good results in printing gradients. Every colour scheme will react differently to these adjustments. You should be able reduce or eliminate most banding with this technique as shown below.

An image with no banding.

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A sample of vinyl window graphics.

The Benefits of Window Graphics

With perforated vinyl window graphics, any window becomes an opportunity to attract attention. These window graphics are manufactured so that when viewed from the outside, pedestrian and vehicle traffic can’t help but take notice. From the inside, the print disappears and you see straight through it. It’s inexpensive enough to use for mid-term marketing campaigns and durable enough to last for two years outdoors when laminated.

• Utilize windows to impress customers
• Graphics do not obstruct the view out the window
• Allows for natural light to pass through
• Improves security by making it harder to see into the windows

The picture below was taken standing about six feet from the door. As you can see the inside of the shop is not visible and the graphics look solid and vibrant.

From the outside graphics will look like this.

The picture below was taken from inside looking out.

Standing inside looking out.

The Features of Window Graphics

• Easy to install
• Inexpensive, when comparing impressions per dollar spent
• Bold, vivid graphics
• Weather resistant — wont yellow or fade
• 2 years + outdoor life when laminated
• Easy to remove & replace

If you would like more information or would like to receive samples please contact us at 1-800-350-7152.

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If you have a good quality 300 dpi image that you need to make much larger here’s a Photoshop workaround that will achieve excellent results. 

Please Note: Unfortunately this process will not make a poor quality image better!! It has to be a crisp, clean image to start with.

1. Open the image you need to enlarge. We’ll be increasing this image in size 10% at a time so we’re going to create an action to simplify this. You’ll also be able to use this Action in the future for any other images you need to enlarge.
2. Open the Actions palette by clicking the Window dropdown and choosing Actions or you can press Alt+ F9.

3. Click on the Create new action Button shown above. Call this new action 10% Image Upscale and all other settings should be as shown below.

4. Now we’re going to Record a 10% increase in the image size. Press the record button on the Actions palette.

5. Click the Image dropdown menu and choose image size. Under Document Size change inches to percent for both width and height and set the width and height to 110 and click OK. Match the other settings shown below.

6. On the Actions palette press the Stop button.

7. You have now created an action that will increase your image’s size by 10% each time you press the play button on your Action palette. Press the play button on your action palette until your image reaches the size you need for your vinyl banner or trade show display.

If you’re working with a 300 dpi image and you’ve got to enlarge it a lot, at some point the file size will become to large to manage. In large format printing (not offset printing) you can reduce your resolution to 120-150 dpi and still get a great finished product, this will also reduce your file size to a more manageable level. You now have an image that is suitable for using in a vinyl banner layout or in your trade show displays.

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• How are you hanging your banner?
• How big is your banner?
• How long do you intend to hang it?
• Is it exposed to high winds?

The answers to these questions will indicate the type of material it should be printed on and the finishing that’s required to make sure your banners lasts and doesn’t fail structurally.

Finishing

KCBGraphics.com offers many options for finishing your banners:

• Grommets—Attach banners at regular points to distribute their weight evenly and prevent sagging
• Hemmed Edges—Reinforce the sides of your vinyl banner to hold their shape and prevent stretch.
• Pole Pockets—Insert poles into horizontal pockets along your banners’ edges to ensure even weight distribution. This prevents sagging and makes your banners more rigid.
• Nylon Webbing—Reinforce the tops and bottoms of your banners to extend their lives—especially if you’re in an area that is exposed to high wind.
• D-rings with Nylon Webbing—Secure large banners that  hang on buildings with D-rings and ratchet straps.

Vinyl Banner Applications

• Grand Opening and Coming Soon announcements
• Sales and promotions
• Special events
• Sporting events
• Tradeshows

Sizes

The maximum banner size is virtually unlimited and can be customized to the  size you need.

If you need assistance with the design of your vinyl banner of have questions about the appropriate size please give us a call at 1-800-350-7152.

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1. Retractable Banner Stands have a lightweight base that the vinyl banner retracts into, this ensures that your graphic is protected. The whole unit packs down into a nylon travel case the is light weight and very easy to set up. There is a wide range in prices and sizes for this style of stand. When making your choice consider how many times per year your stand will used and will you be traveling with it. Paying for a premium stand when your traveling the country or doing many events per year will be money well spent.
2. Telescopic Banner Stands utilize vertical poles at the back or sides that hold the graphics up. This style is less expensive than most retractable stands but does not protect the graphics within the base. The graphics must be rolled manually and protected from damage. Telescopic stands offer the benefit of going wider than most retractable banner stands. The Pegasus stand can be extended up to 8′ wide and 8′ high and the height and width can vary.
3. Spring Back Stands are the least expensive style of banner stand. They use fiberglass poles under tension to hold the banners up.  The graphics must also be rolled up and protected manually. Spring back stands are  suitable in situations were you’re setting it up in a showroom and not taking it down or doing a couple of shows per year locally.

There are several things that we’ll take into consideration when you’re purchasing a banner stand from KCBGraphics.com:

• how large is the space you are presenting in?
• do you need the flexibility to change graphics and graphic sizes?
• are you traveling with the stands?
• how often will it be used?
• how much information do you need to display?
• what type of look and feel are you trying to achieve
• who is your target audience?

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• Standard Vinyl
• Curl Free Vinyl
• Biodegradable vinyl
• Dye sublimated fabric
• Semi rigid vinyls
• laminated vinyl

Banner stands are often sold with a standard 12 or 13 oz vinyl that is typically used for exterior grade vinyl banners.  Using this material will generate the lowest price for any given banner stand but can generate disappointing visual results and poor long term performance.

When you’re shopping for your banner stands you should consider the following:

• will the banner stand hardware perform as I need it to?
• will the material being using produce the visual results I need?
• what is the quality and resolution of the banner stand graphics?
• will the edges of the banner curl?

Factoring these details into your buying decisions should ensure that you get a visually stunning banner stand that looks great and performs perfectly!!

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