How to Prepare Art for Plastic Roll Banners

When preparing your art for plastic roll banners, there are a few important things to keep in mind. In this blog post, we will go over the details you need to know to create high-quality banners that will look great and stand out!

Art Files

The most important part of getting your art ready for print is the file type. Vector art with details fully outlined allows us to scale the artworks or logos as necessary. Vector graphics are commonly SVG, WMF, EPS, PDF, CDR, or AI types of graphic file formats. They are not JPEG, PNG, APNG, GIF, WebP, BMP, or MPEG4 files.

We require a vector file to print our felxographic plastic roll banners. For the digital roll banners, we can print from a high resolution image that is not vector, but it needs to be clear at 150dpi at full print size.

Simple Lines

One of the reasons we require fully outlined vector art for the flexographic roll banners is because we use the outlines of the art to make the plates. While there’s some flexibility if you’re purchasing digitally printed roll banners since you won’t need plates, the bottom line is that clear lines in the art make for clear banners. Additionally, simple art makes good vectors, which makes clear banners! 

Colors & Color Codes

When you prepare your artwork, make sure you know the Pantone Color Codes for the design. These universal colors ensure that the banner will come out looking the way you expect it to.

If you don’t have those color codes, we can help you find matches, but your artist likely knows the exact color. For example, Coca-Cola has a very specific red that is easily associated with the brand.

We can print color gradients, but that’s best left to digital printing. If you’re printing with plates (flexographic) there is a 5 color maximum. The number of colors will impact the cost of printing, as well. 

Margins

Another consideration with your artwork is the size of the margins around the actual logo or design.

Flexographic printing requires a margin on all four sides of about 1 inch. That’s because the plates attach around the sides to stamp the impression onto the plastic.

The digital printing press only requires there be 1″ margins on the top and bottom, as that’s where the machine holds the plastic that’s being printed on. The for the digital roll banners we can print edge to edge from left to right.

Specs For Art For Plastic Roll Banners

There are a few more design details to consider as you prepare to have banners printed. For digitally printed plastic roll banners, we can print as large as 24 x 36 inches at 150 DPI for a digital, non-vector file. 

When printing high-quality, detailed images for large formats, a DPI of 150 is always recommended. What this means is that for every 1 inch of the printed image, either width-wise or height-wise, there are 150 pixels in that measured row or column of pixels.

If this is all sounding a bit too technical for you, don’t worry! Send us your art and we can take a look to tell you what you need.

Art for Plastic Roll Banners: Bottom Line

You have artwork that you want to turn into plastic roll banners. Great! But before you can do that, there are some important things you need to know. It’s important to make sure that your artwork is prepared correctly, per the specs above, so you can get the most out of your plastic roll banner purchase. Our experienced team at NorthCoast Banners is always ready to help, so reach out today!