While most first impressions are made in digital spaces nowadays, printed signage and banners still offer a lot of opportunity for connecting with your audience. Why is that?
For one, they’ve gone from the advertising standard to something a little unorthodox; when every ad you see is on Facebook, seeing something IRL stands out.
Equally important is the role advanced banner printing technology plays in modern marketing, promotion, and event planning. Large format technology has elevated the resolution game in recent years, while advanced inks (and the right ink receptive vinyl media) ensure those images stay vibrant for longer.
Rather than keeping print and digital aesthetics distinct from one another (or adhering to the misplaced notion that new trends and advancements in design are reserved only for digital assets), smart designers are finding ways to combine the two to create a memorable experience for viewers.
The printer of the future is here
The banner you see today will be sharper, brighter, and bolder than one printed only a few years ago.
Nowadays, even affordable tabletop large format models can produce prints at more than 5,000 x 1000 dpi. Most professional grade large format printers come with nine or more individual color pots, rather than the traditional CMYK set of four, to ensure improved color correctness. Large format printers are faster than ever before, too. For marketers and event planners, that translates into better quality banner prints that cost less.
Need a banner for an upcoming event? Contact us today!
Let’s take an in depth look at one key element in this transformation — high grade inkjet-ready outdoor vinyl print media. What new material technology is driving this revolution in large format printing?
Print quality
Printer companies have spent years improving image resolution on large format printers. Now, high-quality vinyl print media is properly suited to prevent dot gain and enhance sharpness like never before.
Dot gain refers to the spread of ink when it’s applied to the banner surface. When screen printing a banner, you need dot gain to ensure proper ink coverage. For that reason, screen grade print vinyl comes with a smooth surface.
This becomes an issue when printing with a modern inkjet printer. Inkjet technology uses a number of tiny dots of ink to create images. The high dot gain finish of screen grade vinyl causes individual ink dots to merge together, creating images with lower resolution and muddied color quality.
The solution is a change in texture. Bantex material comes with a microtextured finish that keeps inkjet dots where they should be, cutting dot gain and increasing resolution by up to 10% over materials with a very smooth surface. The result is better color gamuts and photo-quality sharpness.
New materials technology
Traditionally, printers that want double sided prints for banner poles would need to print two sides individually, then position them back to back. The result is a less finished, less durable banner that doesn’t stand up well to wind gusts. Thankfully, that’s all starting to change.
Now, thanks to 18oz double-sided Bantex print fabric, print shops can produce a single banner sheet with two-sided full color print that doesn’t bleed through and stands up to the elements better than two light sheets. Thanks to the improved stiffness of this material over cheap imported vinyl media, it mounts easier as well.
Advanced packaging
Sometimes it’s the small things that matter the most. Poor packaging slows down how quickly your print shop can swap different print media in and out of your printer. That time may not seem like much, but a few minutes here and a little frustration there adds up pretty quickly. That added time often translates into higher costs on the consumer side.
Bantex is packed in top-of-the-line packaging to ensure easy loading and unloading. Get material on the printer fast and without jams or hangups. Better quality packaging also translates to less material that gets damaged in transit, which can cause delays that create work backlogs.
