Online Vinyl Banner Printing Myths and information - Part 1

When looking to having a custom vinyl banner printed, the internet can be your best and worst friend in the search. A quick online Google search for Vinyl Banners will show over half a million results and as of this article, no less than ONE HUNDRED advertisers bidding on that keyword. Thats ten pages of sponsored results for Vinyl Banners alone. How do you search through all of those providers to find the best one to fit your needs? Use the follow rules when choosing a print shop or sign shop to print your custom vinyl banners.

High Resolution -- vs -- Low Resolution

Most print shops and sign shops offering custom vinyl banner printing under $3 per square foot are printing at low resolutions, 180 DPI or 360 DPI. The reason the banners are so cheap is because the printers they use can quickly spray the minimum amount of ink needed to create a low resolution print. This resolution is acceptable if you are not going to be looking at the banner from more than a few feet away, such as a billboard, banner for a building, etc. For Tradeshows, store displays, businesses, and other corporate use these low resolutions will allow you to see noticable resolution "dots" and when up close the image will appear fuzzy.

For high end banner applications, high resolution is needed, such as 720 DPI or 1440 DPI. The higher DPI, or dots per inch, your Banner contains the more clear and photo-realistic the image will look. For banners containing background images or photographs this is a must! 1440 DPI is photo quality for all intents and purposes and will yield an excellent result with deeper, more saturated colors.


Full color vinyl banners -- vs -- four (4) color vinyl banners
Four color vinyl banners, or printers that offer 1/2/3/4 color vinyl banners, are generally not a wide enough color gamut to correctly produce all the colors that most current banners need. Now new printers offer up to 12 inks to produce colors never before available and colors and shades significantly better than any four color banners. When printing background images and photographs onto custom vinyl banners, generally at least 6 inks are recommended -- 8 inks or more preferred!

MOST IMPORTANTLY - REQUEST SAMPLES
Always request print samples if your project allows time to do so. This can give you a night and day experience of some of the differences in quality out there in the printing world. The samples should be free or you should pay a nominal fee to qualify yourself (to prove you're really interested) and cover shipping costs. If they will print a sample for you of your exact image, that is the best but not always an option.

Online Vinyl Banner Printing Myths and information - Part 1
Online Vinyl Banner Printing Myths and information - Part 2