Preparing artwork for banners and standees

Resolution at scale

A banner is read from three metres or more, so 100 DPI at final size is entirely adequate. Insisting on 300 DPI for a 3 × 2 metre banner would mean a 35,000-pixel-wide file that no software will handle comfortably and no eye could tell apart.

A common shortcut is to design at one tenth scale at 300 DPI, then scale up — which gives exactly the 30 DPI equivalent you need at full size.

Where content can and cannot go

Banners are hemmed, which folds 25 mm of material back on itself along each edge. Anything in that band disappears into the hem. Eyelets are punched through the hem at roughly 500 mm intervals, so keep logos and text at least 50 mm from the edge.

Roll-up standees have a different constraint: the bottom 60 to 80 mm rolls into the cassette and is never visible, and the top is gripped by the rail. Put nothing important in either.

• Vinyl banners: 25 mm bleed, keep content 50 mm from the edge.
• Roll-up standees: leave the bottom 80 mm clear of anything you need read.
• Text height rule of thumb: 25 mm of cap height per 10 metres of viewing distance.

The specifications this applies to

For reference, here is how it works out on the products this comes up on most often.

• Vinyl Banners — 305 × 305 mm finished, 25 mm bleed, 100 DPI minimum, from ₹40 per unit with a minimum of 10.

Ordering

Every file is checked automatically before printing, so a mistake in any of this is caught while it can still be corrected rather than after a run is on paper.

Standard delivery is free to every PIN code in India — two working days to a metro, up to twelve to the islands — and prices include GST, so the figure on the product page is the figure charged. Add a GSTIN at checkout and the invoice carries it for input credit.

If something still looks wrong

Preflight catches size, resolution, colour mode and page count automatically, and it errs toward warning rather than refusing — a file that would print acceptably is never blocked just because it is not perfect.

What it cannot judge is whether the design says the right thing. Proofread names, phone numbers and dates with a second pair of eyes before approving, because approval is the point at which the file goes to a press and the cost of a change stops being zero.