It was beautiful. Historical. Artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture.
[/fusion_testimonial][/fusion_testimonials]Your next PVC banner might not need to make history but you do want it to make an impact. Here we give you some practical tips to help design your next killer banner font.
5 Tips on Choosing a Killer Banner Font
1. Know You Brand
When less is more, and you are limited to punchy short text on your banner, it is essential typography is used to communicate the weight of your brand. Choosing the wrong font misses an opportunity and could cost your business. Consider if a different font was used to advertise the discount grocer Farmfoods.
The alternative font example makes a catalogue of easy font choice mistakes. Thin text is more difficult to read from a distance, the complex calligraphy also makes it difficult to ready quickly. Finally, the styling suggests fine speciality as opposed to a mid-market value grocer.
Before choosing your font, it is important to understand the values of your brand or product your banner is needing to communicate.
2 Bold and Big is Best
Unlike a webpage, business cards or flyers, your banner is competing for attention. Your font needs to be bold, big and clear. You want your message to be noticeable from a distance to allow interested passers by the time to appreciate and consider your message.
Less is more – a short and punchy understandable universal message is always more powerful on banners.
3 Limit your selection – 2 Fonts is Ideal
Our favourite banners usually have two fonts, one large bold vibrant eye-catching font for the main body and a second for calls to action or secondary information. More than three fonts would be a sin by our graphic design team!
When choosing the best banner font, we use several free tools to help with the process.
First if you have seen a font you love, upload a screenshot of it to a font recognition website such as Font Squirrel or MyFonts.com.
Once you have established a collection of fonts, the free to download tool Nexus Font is a great option for sorting your favourites. Able to sort fonts in categories and preview text, this lightweight piece of software can really help speed up the design process of your banner.
4 Colour
Once you have narrowed down the choices of a killer font, the next thought is colour. Ask yourself where the banner will be hung? For maximum impact, you want the main banner background to contrast with the surrounding environment. Then text must then contrast this background for easiest reading.
Black is the obvious contrasting colour to white but for more complex colours we use the website Paletton for complimentary or contrasting pallets.
Contrasting colour – paletton.com
5 Size & Spacing – AVOID CAPS LOCK
As mentioned before, your PVC banner is locked in a competition of attention. How can you most effectively communicate your brand and products when people’s attention span is so short?
Did you know road signs are printed in lower case to allow faster reading?
Your banner font should be chosen in the same way. Have a good reason to deviate from standard spacing, don’t use CAPS LOCK unless you want to slow the reader.
