On this page 6 sections
Printed panels, posters, banners and flags all print from your file, so the file decides how sharp the result looks. Set it up as below and it will print cleanly first time.
The quick version
- Size: make the file the finished size shown on the product page, at 1:1 or to scale.
- Bleed: add 3 mm on every edge where colour or a picture runs off the edge. Panels for A-boards and snap frames, posters, cafe barrier banners and flags all need it.
- Safe area: keep text and logos at least 10 mm inside the trim. On poster frames the clip-open frame covers about 10 to 15 mm round the edge, so keep anything important clear of it.
- Resolution: photos at 150 to 300 dpi at the finished size. Large items seen from a distance, such as gazebo walls, flags and forecourt posters, look sharp at 100 to 150 dpi.
- Format: a PDF with the fonts embedded is best. A high-quality JPG or PNG works for photo-led designs.
- Colour: CMYK if you can. RGB files are converted, and very bright screen colours, especially neon greens and blues, print slightly duller.
Read it from where it will be seen
A pavement sign is read from across the street in a few seconds, so keep it to one message, a short headline and your name or a price. As a rough guide, letters 25 mm tall can be read from about 10 metres, and every extra 25 mm adds roughly another 10 metres. Dark text on a light background, or white on a strong colour, reads best outdoors.
Double-sided items
A-boards, flags and cafe barrier banners can be printed on both sides. Upload one file per side, or a two-page PDF with page 1 as the front. On a single-layer flag the reverse side shows the front design mirrored.
Lightboxes and backlit posters
Backlit films are lit from behind, so colours look brighter than on paper. Avoid large areas of very light colour, which can look washed out when lit, and keep the 10 mm safe area clear of the frame.
What happens when you upload
Every file is checked automatically for size and resolution as soon as you upload it. If it is too small or too low in resolution to print well, you see a warning before you pay and can choose to upload a better file, send the right file later, add File check for £4.99 so a person checks it and fixes small problems, or hand it to our design service.
No artwork?
Choose the blank version of a product and fit your own posters, or add the design service at checkout and we will set up your artwork from your logo and wording.