4 Simple Sports Banner Design Tips (That Guarantee Amazing Banners)

rudy@teambanners4u.com (The Design Team) — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 23:39:53 GMT

Okay. So you've been put in charge of ordering banners for the upcoming school sports year,
but you're still ironing out the details of the actual designs.

You may be asking yourself questions like:

"Do I need to design these myself? What size should they be? Do I have design software? What's a font?"

Then there's the fact that after the team banners, there are still senior banners and sponsor banners that all need designing once you're done with the first set.

We Can Help
Here at SchoolBanners4U, banner design is what we do all day, every day. Let us handle the design and layout for you so that you can go back to getting ready for season.

We know that due to the sheer number of possibilities, it's not unusual for aspiring banner designers to come down with a bad case of artist's block at the most inopportune times.

We've all been there.

Fortunately for designers, there's an element of science to the art of banner design.

We're happy to take the design process off of your plate, but if you choose to tackle this project on your own, here are four of our top tips for designing attractive, professional grade, effective banners every single time.

1. Choose Your Words Carefully

Banners attract attention like no other, but they're not meant to be full-on sales letters.

You don't have to take our word for it.

Back in 2007, MIT Technology Review discussed the findings of a study on the effects of ads on memory in an article appropriately entitled "How Ads Affect Our Memory". Of particular interest to banner designers was the discovery that slogans are recalled through our explicit memory.

Can you sum up your banner's message in under ten words? What's the essential information that simply can't be dropped no matter what?

Whether you're designing a senior banner or a sponsor banner, every letter needs to count.

2. Make Sure Your Font is Large Enough

At a big game, it's not unusual for hundreds of people to be present at the event.

However, you don't have to be a sports fanatic to know about how floor-level seats can make a huge difference to your viewing experience.

Banners are one of the few methods of promotion that are capable of reaching everybody in the bleachers all at once. After all, you want everyone, including the fans in the nosebleeder seats, to be able to see what your banner has to say.

What's an easy way to ensure that your message will be read by everyone?

Use large font sizes.

3. Opt For Readable Fonts

Anyone who has spent any time with Microsoft Word can tell you that there are a lot of font types available to choose from.

While there are no banner police who will arrest for you not using Times New Roman, you'll still want to err on the side of plain and bold fonts with clean lines.

The reason for this is because as gorgeous as some of the more cursive fonts may be, the purpose of the banner is to get the message out quickly. In other words, you don't want people to be working too hard to read it during the game.

A readable font is half the battle when it comes to effective banner design.

4. Don't Forget About Contrast

Speaking of the importance of readability and a "less is more" approach to banner design, another key component is the importance of contrast.

Imagine sitting in the bleachers at a game and seeing a navy blue sponsor banner with its letters colored in a slightly lighter shade. That would be difficult to read, wouldn't it?

The human eye is naturally drawn to contrast. The higher the contrast, the better it is for your banner.

Conclusion

Here at SchoolBanners4U, we've been in the business of designing and printing banners for years. If you would like additional assistance with designing your banners, well, that's what we're here for.

Contact us at 909-484-7409 to discuss how we can help you with your upcoming banner campaign projects.

Best Practices for Adding Photographs to your Banners

rudy@teambanners4u.com (The Design Team) — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 19:02:05 GMT

We want your personalized banner to look professional and eye catching. Here are some tips for adding photos.

1. QUALITY IMAGES : Please only submit photos taken with a quality camera. These images must be of high quality even after being cropped or edited. The higher the pixel rate the better. All photos should be a minimum of 4Mb in size and in jpeg format.

a. Cell phones take amazing pictures to be viewed on your phone, however, when these images are blown up and printed on a banner they come out fuzzy and grainy. These are too low quality for a printed banner.

b. Use only the sharpest, in focus images.

c. If you don’t own a camera (besides your cell phone or tablet) try hiring a photographer to take pictures for you. Most high school sporting events are filled with professional photographers that would be happy to sell you the digital image of your athlete. Check out MaxPreps to see if one of your athlete’s games was covered and to see if your player got his or her photo taken. These photographs are in the highest quality and are affordable for download. In southern California visit www.carolpetersonphotography.com .

2. PORTRAITS : When sending in portrait shots of a person, try to send pictures that have a light color background, faded background or solid background. Make sure their face is clear and not shadowed by a hat or helmet.

3. IMAGES OF ATHLETES: When photographing athletes wearing hats or helmets, remember that shadows make the face very dark compared to the rest of their body. Try to send only photos where their face is clear and not shadowed. This includes action shots.

4. MULTIPLE IMAGES: To have a sense of balance and composition with several photos collaged on a banner, please send photos that are consistent with the position of the player. For example, try to send all full body shots or all close up shots. See examples of consistency below.

5. KEEP YOUR PHOTOS ORGANIZED : When submitting images please rename all the files so they are in sequence with one another. It is always a good idea to name the files using the players name and sequence them in numerical order. For example, all five images should be renamed to your players name and the picture number, Johnny (1).jpg, Johnny (2).jpg, etc…

6. NO SCREEN SHOTS OF IMAGES : Please do not send screen shots of images from any website.

7. YOU MUST OWN THE IMAGE : Please only submit images that you own the rights to. If you purchased an image from a professional photographer, then you own the rights to use that image in your banner. Please do not right click and download an image that you do not have the rights to. We cannot remove watermarks from images.

Thank you to Carol Peterson Photography for her tips and use of images.

SchoolBanners4U Blog

4 Simple Sports Banner Design Tips (That Guarantee Amazing Banners)

Best Practices for Adding Photographs to your Banners