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Banner Making: From Envision to Completion

How are banners priced?

One of the first things you need to know about banner making is that size matters - the larger the banner the greater the expense! There are different methods of banner making where the quantity made or the complexity of the artwork will determine which method is most cost effective. Here we have broken down methods of banner making into three categories with a brief discussion of the cost factors for each.

Vinyl lettered banners

Vinyl banner pricing is usually based on the complexity of the artwork in addition to the size of the banner. This type of banner making is labor intensive. It is most commonly used for short run (quantities from 1 to 10) spot color banners. Since each vinyl lettered banner needs to be cut, weeded, taped and applied by hand, each additional banner requires nearly the same amount of labor. Other than using an "assembly line approach" to banner making, there are no huge cost savings when making several of the same banner.

Because vinyl banners are labor intensive the difference in cost between two banners of the same size with the same color lettering can be priced quite differently. If one banner has a few letters vs a banner with extensive lettering and/or a complicated graphic, the banner with few letters can be substantially less expensive than the complicated layout. This explains why it is customary that a banner making company will usually want to see the artwork you intend to use before a price can be quoted. The designs of the banner samples below demonstrate this:

This banner


Is less expensive than this banner

Digital print banners

The equipment used to produce digitally printed banners are similar in principle to your desktop inkjet printer. The professional printing equipment employed by banner manufacturers are required to produce large format prints at sharp resolutions not seen from printers for the consumer market. Digital print banners are usually priced based on the overall size and quantity of the banner order. Much like the vinyl lettered banners mentioned before, base prices are commonly priced by the total square footage. The primary costs of a digital banner are from the the banner material that is printed on. At Banners Ontime we typically use 13 oz. white banner material on our standard digital print banner. This material is only the most popular thus not neccessary the only option in banner printing. A variety of paper stocks are also available when considering digital printing, which can later be laminated for durability. Other price factors include specialized ultra violet banner inks, labor in operating the hardware and software, and the offsetting the initial burdensome expense of professional-tier printers. Since most of the costs of digital banner printing is material costs, the discounts on quantities are not greatly discounted.

Silk screen printed banners

Silk screen printed banners are usually priced based on the number of colors, the size of the banner and the number of banners needed. Think of silk screen printing as you would in ordering business cards. You would normally not walk into your business card printers store and order only one business card. Similarly, you would normally not just order one silk screen banner. The greatest expense in silk screen banner printing is in the setup and preparation. After the setup is completed, the cost of each additional banner comes down to material casts, ink costs and associated labor costs. Silk screen printing usually pick up where vinyl lettered banners and digital print banners leave off. When quantity spot color banners (all same look and design) are needed, silk screen is usually more cost effective in quantities from 25 - 1,000. When it comes to four color process silk screen pricing usually becomes cost affective in quantities starting at 100 and going up from there.