Vinyl banners

Vinyl banners as listed in the International Sign Association guide are a low cost form of outdoor advertising. Most banners are now digitally printed on large format inkjet printers which are capable of printing a full color outdoor billboard on a single piece of material.

Materials

The most commonly used material is a heavy weight vinyl technically known as PVC. The weights of the different banner substrates range from as light as 9 ounces to as heavy as 22 ounces per square yard, and may be double- or single-sided. Grommets can also be added in order to facilitate hanging of the banner. Large banners (which can be so large that they cover the side of a building) are printed on a special mesh material so that the wind can pass through them.

Production

There are various types of vinyl banner

* "Digitally printed banners": printed with aqueous (water based), semi-solvent and solvent based inks, which in some printers may be UV-curable to provide better resistance to the weather. Large format inkjet printers are usually used, but very large banners may be produced using computer-controlled jets to spray the ink directly onto the banner material. Some of the faster wide format inkjet printers are capable of printing up to 1600 square feet per hour. These are manufactured by such companies as KVR-pixojet, Mimaki, Jetta, Xerox, Roland, Kodak, Encad, Colorspan and Hewlett-Packard.

* "Vinyl lettered banners:" produced by applying individual elements cut from self-adhesive vinyl by a computer-driven vinyl cutter.

* "Screenprinted:" produced using screenprinting, in which different colors are laid down one at a time using stencils.

* "Painted:" hand-painted graphics and lettering. These type of banners are uncommon with the advent of modern printing Fact|date=May 2008.

Applications

Vinyl banners have many uses and applications. They are most often used to promote a company's logo, a special promotion, event, team or school. Since vinyl is a very flexible as well as portable material you can see vinyl banners just about anywhere. Vinyl banners are commonly seen as billboards, table banners, trade show banners, building banners, street banners as well as stadium flags.

A quality vinyl banner will also use an outside hem to ensure that Grommets are secured properly. Grommets are the nickel holes that enable the banner to be hung on fence posts, walls, or on the side of buildings. In windy conditions, if Grommets are not fastened into the hem of a vinyl banner, these grommet holes will easily tear out of the banner.

External links

* [http://www.signs.org/ International Sign Association]
* [http://www.ussc.org/ United States Sign Council]
* [http://www.esigns.com/knowledge-base.html Proper Uses and Installation]