Quality Banner - Custom Banners, Custom Flags, and Vinyl Banners

Watch Those Ordinances

January 26th, 2012 | Posted by Admin in Misc - (0 Comments)

The last decade has seen a lot of storms. Hurricane Katrina and Charley to the more recent tornadoes throughout the Midwest, violent weather has been a constant reminder how vulnerable we can be. All this weather activity has spawned a decade of reforms and changes in the municipal codes that govern advertising displays in front of businesses. Many cities now put a time limit on how long banners, signs, pennants and flags can be displayed in front of a business. And an application for a permit for each one of those can be required. A lot of cities are cracking down on their ordinances and visits from your friendly Code Enforcement Officer are common. Be aware of your local ordinances before you spend time and money on buying advertising signs, banners and flags. Even pennant strings are being legislated and controlled. Use your search engine to find your City Ordinances, or call your local Code Enforcement agency to see what the laws are for your area BEFORE you buy. An informed consumer is a thrifty consumer.

RGB and CMYK

October 14th, 2011 | Posted by Admin in Misc - (0 Comments)

Question: Why can’t you print the rich, vibrant color I see on my screen?

The RGB color you see on your screen is controlled by 256 levels of brightness for each color (Red, Green, and Blue). So, you have nearly 17 million potential colors available (256 x 256 x 256). With CMY (Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow), you have only 100 levels of brightness available with each color (1%–100%), so you end up with only 1 million potential colors available (100 x 100 x 100). So RGB has a ton more color options in its range (or gamut) than CMY does. Artwork that is produced on a computer in RGB mode needs to be converted to CMY(K) before it can be printed. (Black [K] is added to CMY to produce greater detail and richer blacks than can be achieved by CMY alone.) So in the conversion process from RGB to CMYK, there is a necessary color shift that takes place. This unfortunately results in colors that are more muted and less vibrant than what you see on your screen. It is simply not possible to reproduce many of colors that you can see on your monitor because they lay outside of the possible color range of CMYK. (Also, there are some colors in the CMYK range that cannot be represented in RGB on a computer monitor.)

Feel free to produce your art in RGB mode, but we recommend that you convert it to CMYK before sending it to us so that you can see the color shift and how the colors will most likely turn out when printed. This will reduce surprises and disappointment, especially if you are counting on a certain color that cannot be produced by the CMYK printing process.

Image Resolution

October 3rd, 2011 | Posted by Admin in Misc - (0 Comments)

Oftentimes we receive art that is very low in resolution, and customers do not understand why we can’t enlarge it to the size it needs to be. Or, they start with low resolution art and simply increase the pixels per inch in an image editing program and think this should make the art acceptable for use.

Unfortunately, with pixel-based images, you cannot add sharpness to an image by increasing its resolution, and you can’t take low resolution art and enlarge it and expect that it will look fine at the finished print size.

When printing vinyl banners, we prefer provided art to be 100 pixels per inch (ppi) at 100% (actual size). If the art we are provided is less than this and is enlarged to full size, the results can be less than optimal. The image below shows the difference between an image that was too small and needed to be enlarged 600% (left), and one that needed no enlargement, being prepared correctly at 100 ppi at 100% (right). You can see that the added pixels to the low res image has fuzzed the stair-stepped edges, and the image lacks detail and sharpness. The image on the right is crisp and sharp and will contribute to a superior finished product.

On the flip side, if the image on the right was supplied to us at 600 ppi at 100%, it would not make it superior to the same image at 100 ppi. Because of the limitations of the print process, and the amount of detail the eye is able to see at the viewable distance, the added resolution will not be perceived or helpful. All it will do is bloat file sizes and increase upload/download times.

So, providing art at sufficient resolution will save time (jobs won’t be held up as we wait for good art to be provided) and result in a quality finished product that you will be proud to display.

What The Font!

July 13th, 2011 | Posted by Admin in Misc - (1 Comments)

Do you find yourself recreating someone else’s logo or artwork but can’t seem to figure out what font was used? A very useful tool for the iPod, iPhone and iPad is called WhatTheFont. I just used this app while recreating a customer’s logo and it identified the font name in seconds after downloading the app. This saved me an hour of scouring the font books to come to the same conclusion. The font was Van Dijik which put it at the back of those font books. Hey, it’s FREE and even if it doesn’t work all the time, it still will save you enough time to pay for itself. Here’s a cool article to read. You don’t have to have an iAnything to use the WhatTheFont service. This article talks about that and some other cool resources.

Templates for Banners, Flags, Pennants, Signs and POP Displays

June 1st, 2011 | Posted by Admin in Processes - (0 Comments)

Resources: Templates

Quality Banner provides many templates for the banners, flags, signs and POP displays we manufacture right on our website. Just go to http://www.qualitybanner.com/resources.php and click on Artwork Templates. This page also gives you access to many sales tools for selling and marketing banners, flags, pennants, signs and POP displays. Be sure to read thru our Art Requirements. Meeting these requirements will eliminate any delays in processing your job. Templates are the easiest way to start a design project. If it’s not on our website, we can custom make it. Just contact one of our Customer Service Reps and they will put your request through pronto.

Dye Sublimation

May 25th, 2011 | Posted by Admin in Processes - (1 Comments)

illustration by Tymn Armstrong

What’s sublimation? – Ok ok, all you Thermodynamics geeks out there just settle down, put away your phase diagrams and holster the graphing calculator before we call in animal control to dart and bag you. This is a conversation for the rest of us who don’t have the energy for a round table discussion of endothermic phase transition. So, first, lets find a common ground that bridges a few age groups. You tell me, what do the following three events have in common?

1 – 1975, you finally scored tickets to the Zeppelin Concert and all the sudden you have gone from nice guy in the hall to the catch of the day for Tina McGee, second runner up Snow Ball Queen. Your groovn’ down with your new best girl and are blown away by the lasers cutting through the dense fog of smoke. Bitchn scene!

2 – 1988, senior year, Warren G. Harding High. During fourth period Biology Class Jimmy Tucker asks Mr. Lorovitz for a pass to the Nurses office. You see him slip through the supply closet on the way out. Ten minutes later Janet Lorino runs down the hallway past the Biology Room, screaming toilet fire! toilet fire! No doubt Janet has earned the reputation for being an odd girl but this is a long way from wearing shoes on her hands for an entire month during 8th grade. Mr. Lorovitz darts out of the room toward the women’s bathroom with two or three of you hot on his heels. He feels the door for heat but its cool and no smell of smoke. He bursts through and you see heavy white smoke covering the floor. Mr. Lorovitz investigates the source, which sure enough is the toilet and tells us to get back to class. There is no fire.

3 – 2002, summer, Provo UT. Terry who purports himself to be a retired Navy intelligence officer and somewhat of a lone wolf floats into town in his 1998 Chevy conversion van. Despite some serious body rust Terry has really worked wonders with a gallon of exterior house paint. Now the once noble family fun wagon has been reborn into a fully functional ice cream truck. Terry announces his arrival to a neighborhood by rolling down the windows and playing at full volume the Bananarama Venus single that Terry found under the back seat sometime after purchasing the Van out of a government auction in Phoenix. Nonetheless, after a week or so, by third “Yeah, baby, she’s got it”, the pavlovian children of the neighborhoods he frequents come running. Terry regales and mystifies his patrons by using an empty Maxwell House can to scoop what looks like smoke from his cooler which he pours slowly over the head of his first customer.
What do these three events have in common? More important how do they relate to sublimation? I’m sure that you have got the drift and realized that dry ice is the common component to all three events. Most of us, at some point in our lives been witness to dry ice sublimating. Sublimation is the transition from the solid phase of frozen CO2 directly to its gas phase completely skipping over liquid. Hence the name “dry ice”.

Dye sublimation is the process in which a dye is subjected to a heat source that causes it to sublimate. As a gas the dye readily forms a chemical bond with a polymer. The result is a chemically bound pigment to the substrate and viola we have our first printed piece. Later on we will delve into more detail regarding the different printing processes employed in the dye sublimation world and more specificly those used to print custom flags banners and promotional display products.

Value of Custom Printed Pennants

May 23rd, 2011 | Posted by Admin in Processes - (1 Comments)

Custom Pennants

Custom printed pennant strings are perfect for both indoor and outdoor promotion. They can fit and fill almost any space thus making them a more flexible option than a custom vinyl banner or ridged signage. The flexibility of pennant strings extends beyond the installation and also can be applied the project budget. Whether you have specific budgetary constraints or need to comply with specific design, print resolution or shape requirements, the knowledgeable and experienced staff at a pennant manufacturer will surely be able to assist in selecting the most appropriate, cost effective printing technique to ensure that your promotional event is a success.

Quality Banner Company employs four different printing processes. These include digital inkjet printed pennant strings, screen printed pennant strings, flexo printed pennant strings and litho printed pennant strings. Quality Banner will work with you to decide which process to employ depending on your quantity and design requirements.

Colors and Pantone Color Bridge

May 19th, 2011 | Posted by Admin in Design - (0 Comments)

Swatch Options

Specifying Colors for Banners, Flags, Signs, Pennants and POP Displays

One of the hardest jobs as a designer is specifying colors for printing banners, flags, signs, pennants and POP displays. The printing processes for each of these products can be very different. The printing industry in general has relied mainly on the Pantone Color books for a common reference point for color. Since todays banners, signs, pennants and POP displays are being manufactured digitally most colors are being produced inside the CMYK color spectrum. One of the best tools you can get to help predict color reproduction is the Pantone Color Bridge book. You can read more about the book and it’s companions at http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=1000 which is Pantone’s official site. Don’t let the $129 price scare you. A quick search and you can find this book with a street price as low as $69. Avoiding your first color fiasco will pay the price. It will be one of the best investments you can make.

Grand Format Digital Printing Glossary

May 9th, 2011 | Posted by Admin in Grand Format - (6 Comments)

Grand Format Digital Printing Glossary

Below are some of the terms commonly used in this industry.

Aqueous Based Disperse Dye — Disperse dye is the class of dye used in the AquaJet, direct to textile printer. These very fine dye particles remain in suspension though the jetting process. Heat is then applied in the fixation chamber that allows the polyester molecules of the textile substrate and the dye molecules to bind.

Aqueous Ink – Refers inks in which water is the liquid dimension in the ink. Aqueous based inks do not have good UV or weather resistance and are often limited to indoor print applications or require a secondary lamination of the printed substrate to protect the ink.

Aqua Jet — three-meter wide dye sub grand format printer originally manufactured by Gandi Innovations. The AquaJet uses specially formulated water based dispersed dye inks which allows direct printing to polyester fabrics. The Aqua jet dye sub printer is equipped with and in-line infrared fixation system and in-line high temperature hot knives. This is a single stage print process with no secondary or tertiary fixation processes.

Chain Stitch – Sewn stitch that uses one piece of thread fed from the top. This is a very common stitch for short-term advertising or economical advertising graphics. Opposed to lock stitch chain stitch does have the potential to unravel if the thread breaks anywhere along the hem.

Direct to Substrate Dye Sublimation – Refers to the process of printing dye directly to a substrate, skipping the traditional transfer step from a primary print substrate.

Dye Sublimation – Sublimation is the scientific term referring to the passing of a solid to a gas skipping the liquid phase. Dye sublimation uses the application of heat to fix the dye to a substrate or more commonly to transfer and fix the dye to a substrate.

Enduraguard TM – Trademarked product description for the opaque thermoplastic polymer used by Quality Banner Company. Uses include, indoor banners, retractable displays, short run digital pennant strings and in store POP display.

Finishing — In reference to flags and banners finishing is the process that takes place after the product is printed. Such as: hemming, creating pockets, laminating, adding webbing reinforcement, etc.

Flat Bed Digital Printing – Refers to a digital printer, which has a table where substrate is loaded. Either the table moves under a print head array or a gantry moves a head array over the table. Most often used for the printing of ridged substrates or sheets of flexible material.

Grand Format Digital Printing – Typically refers to a minimum print width of 98”. Better attributed to print widths of 126” plus.

Hem – Sewing a cut edge of material so as to prevent it from unraveling.

Hook and Loop – Technical term for “Velcro”.

Lock Stitch – Sewn stitch, which uses two pieces of thread, one fed from the top and one from the bottom that lock or knot in each stitch. The benefit of lock stitch construction as applied to flags and banners is that it creates a stronger, more durable stitch. Even if thread breaks in one section the hem or seam will not unravel as a result of the knot in each stitch.

Pass – Refers to the number of passes the print head or head array takes over the substrate in order to complete a print band.

Pies Print Head — Refers to piezoelectric print head technology. An electrical charge is applied to a piezoelectric material the resulting material deformation ejects a droplet of ink from the ink chamber. Used often in Digital Grand Format production printers as opposed to the cheaper to manufacture thermal drop on demand heads used in most desktop printers.

Pole Pocket – Pocket formed on banners to capture a pole usually for mounting or hanging purposes.

Pre-Press – Step between the creation of the artwork layout and the actual printing. In a digital shop pre-press is entirely electronic. The Pre-press technician checks the layout for errors, adjusts art as needed to reflect color and or finishing requirements and generates the final soft-proof to be checked by the originator.

Print Head – The element of a printer that applies the mark or image to the paper

PSA – “Pressure Sensitive Adhesive”, an adhesive that bonds to the application substrate with pressure meaning that no further activator is required such as heat or a solvent.

PSV – “Pressure Sensitive Vinyl”, vinyl that has a pressure sensitive adhesive back. There are many materials available under the broad heading of “pressure sensitive vinyl” such as those used for wrapping vehicles, wall graphics, floor graphics, window graphics and adhesive laminates.

Roll-to-Roll Digital Printing — In roll-to-roll printing the unprinted substrate is fed into the printer directly from a roll. The printed substrate is then re-wound onto another roll of printed product upon exit from the print unit.

Scrim – Refers to the woven polyester support material sandwiched between the PVC layers in reinforced vinyl.

Soft Proof – a soft proof or monitor proof, does the originator create a digital file representing the artwork as it will be after output and finishing. The soft proof should not be used if color is a critical factor in the output. The soft proof is only accurate for proofing layout and copy.

Solvent Ink – Refers to the more aggressive solvents used as the liquid dimension in the ink. Solvent-based inks adhere to a wide range of substrates and have exceptionally good weather, UV and abrasion resistance.

Sonic Welding — Welding process by which ultrasonic waves are focused on an area of the substrate causing it to melt. As with thermal welding the two layers are also compressed together and a bond between two PVC substrates is formed once they once again harden.

Substrate – Material to which inks or dyes is being applied.

Thermal Welding – Process by which heat is applied to two PVC substrates melting the outer most layer of each, then the two layers are compressed together and a bond between the two is formed when the melted substrate cools and hardens. Used most often for tiling or seaming large graphics and for the thermal hemming of edges.

Variable Data – Where one or more element is changed given that all other design aspects remain the same in a multi-unit print run. For example: a sponsor change on light pole banners or a price change for different regions of a national product campaign.

Vinyl – Catch all term for the many and varied PVC substrates used as media for banners, displays, wall graphics, etc. Available in many weights and configurations the most common in the United States being 10oz and 12-13oz supported PVC.

Vinyl Mesh – Also, referred to as scrim vinyl or fence wrap. Vinyl mesh is available in many weights and % of open area. Because of the open areas in mesh it is normally nearly half the weight of a standard vinyl laminate therefore it lends itself well to projects which weight is an issue such as, extremely large pieces like building wraps, because of its lower wind load and abrasion resistance it is also often used as fence wrap at events and for construction developments.

Vinyl Scrim – Trade term most often describing vinyl mesh material

Webbing – A flat strip of material used to reinforce the hem on a flag or banner.

Wide Format Digital Printing – Traditionally a term referring to printers capable of printing a minimum of 24” wide material.

White Space as a design element

April 28th, 2011 | Posted by Admin in Design - (4 Comments)

Space, the final frontier and a designer’s best friend. Space let’s our eyes breathe and lets our brains process that thing which we are focused upon. I have often explained white space, and it’s usefulness, to clients with this analogy; if you have a magazine filled with full color flashy ads, and placed a white sheet of paper among them, it would stand out greatly over the others. Does that mean I believe you should pay $1,200 a month for a white sheet of paper? No it does not. It just means that sometimes people forget the importance of negative space. It’s not what’s there, but what’s not there.

In a lot of instances a customer believes that stretching their advertising dollar means to fill or clutter a sign or advertising piece with as much information as possible. Some businesses believe that by posting all the information about their company they are some how giving the customer a better idea of what their company does or the services they provide. The reality is that they are not. They are distracting the customer. Often times flags and signs have very limited space for copy and pictures, and an even less time to be viewed. By using fewer words and strategically selected words you are not leaving the viewer with questions, but with a curiosity about your business that will hopefully make them want to find out more.

Wrong

Right

The use of negative space in signs and flags allows the viewer to zero in and focus on a topic, selling point, or special offer. Bold simple type with the proper amount of kerning (the space between letters) can do a lot for the effectiveness of the message you are trying to convey. Another factor I try to consider when choosing a typeface for a signs or flags is the size of the typeface’s counters (the holes in letters). I find typefaces with small counters tend to make it more difficult to read quickly. They also seem to suffocate the reader and the message. Ideally you want clean clear type that breathes and allows the reader’s eye to follow quickly and smoothly without question. Less copy means less sloppy. Decide what you are tying to convey and say it. It will look more professional than your competition down the street with the cluttered advertising. Your business with have a more confident image and that confidence will translate into consumer confidence in your product or service. My dad always told me that the fellow that won’t shut his mouth is probably the guy hiding the most.

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