Banner Design Tips
It is a creative challenge to try to design a vinyl banner from scratch. That is why we offer a constantly growing number of customizable design templates to our customers. However, for those of you who would like to design your own unique banners from scratch or significantly modify one of our templates, we have compiled a series of tips on how to design stunning and professional looking banners.
Design Tip #1: Stick to the Basic 4
The biggest mistake that people make is trying to fit too much information onto their banner. Just because a banner is bigger than a normal sign does not mean that you have to put more information on it.
To keep it simple, stick to the basic 4 banner elements:
- An image
- The headline, message, or announcement
- A brief description
- An identifier (a logo, name, address, or website)
Make sure to use the minimum number of words needed to communicate your message. On average, a person only spends 1 to 3 seconds looking at a banner. That’s enough time to process a picture and read one or two lines of text. The more information that you pack onto your banner, the more difficult and less likely it is for the person to read and remember it.
Design Tip #2: The Reverse Text Technique
The reverse text technique refers to using light colored text on dark colored backgrounds. The contrast between the color shades causes the text to jump out at the reader and makes your banner much more readable. Use this technique on the text color for your banner headline, major announcement, company identifier, or special offer.
The three color schemes that are most often used with the reverse text technique are red, yellow, or white text on a black background. You can see other high contrast color schemes in our design article “Choosing the Right Color Scheme” by clicking here.
Design Tip #3: Use Images
BuildASign.com offers you the ability to upload your own custom images and artwork or choose artwork from our extensive clipart gallery. Take advantage of it. The Pennsylvania College of Optometry notes that adding a photo to an ad increases recall by 300%. Even if you aren’t using your banner as an advertisement, using a photo significantly increases the attention people pay to it and the likelihood they will remember its message in the future. Adding a picture of your child for a happy birthday banner or your loved one for a welcome home banner adds a very personal touch and increases your banner’s emotional message.
Design Tip #4: Make Your Images Pop
A banner image is mainly meant to catch people’s attention and draw them into reading the banner’s message. You can increase the effectiveness of your images by making them seem to pop out of the banner. Adding a light shadow behind images on light color backgrounds or adding a small, light color outline around images on dark backgrounds can help make the image jump out at the reader.
Design Tip #5: The Z-pattern
Because English is written from left to right, top to bottom, our eyes focus first on the upper left hand corner of objects. Next our eyes travel right to the upper right corner and then move diagonally down to the bottom left corner before finishing by again moving right to lower right hand corner.
Because of this, it is essential to place your most important and attention grabbing element in the upper left hand corner. This directs the reader into your banner and ensures that they see the most important information first. Your second most important information should go in the middle of your banner and the object that is least important or that you want your reader to see last should go at the bottom of the banner.
Design Tip #6: Use White Space
White space refers to the “empty area” of your banner. It is the space between lines of text, between two photos, or between any other set of design elements and it doesn’t have to be white. Essentially, it is the area of your banner not covered by images or text.
The main function of white space is to increase the readability of your banner. Properly spacing lines of text and inserting white space between objects helps the reader to identify different elements on the banner and makes it easier for the reader to process the information. As you can see below, it makes it much easier to read when you add white space between the different design elements.
As a general rule, you want a minimum of 30-40% of your banner to be white space. If you have less than that on your banner, you should try to remove some of the objects and add breathing room to your different design elements. It will make it much easier for the reader and make your banner much more effective.
Other Helpful Banner Resources: