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How to Order an Oversized Banner: Everything You Need to Know
Written By: Signs.com | Article Date: September 26, 2025
If you want to use an oversized banner to announce an event or promote a business, make sure to pick a size that is suitable for the location and offers high visibility without causing obstruction or inconvenience to people.
Oversized banners are usually defined as being at least 8 feet long or 8 feet wide. Given their size, some design principles that work on small printed materials like flyers and brochures may not apply to these banners.
In this guide, we aim to help first-time buyers understand the basics of oversized banners, including the various standard sizes, hanging options, and materials. We also include some design guidelines, common mistakes to avoid, and money-saving tips.
Standard Sizes of Large-Format Banners
When designing your banner or any large-format sign, one of the most important things to decide on is the size. There are several factors that you need to consider, including the intended viewing distance, display space, location, and target audience.
Although it’s possible to customize a banner’s size, following the industry standards and best practices makes it easier to create a banner that suits the intended viewing distance, display space, and location.
| Popular or Standard Sizes (Width x Height in Feet) | Equivalent in Inches | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 4' x 8' | 48” x 96” |
|
| 4' x 10' | 48” x 120” |
|
| 5' x 10' | 60” x 120” |
|
| 6' x 12' | 72” x 144” |
|
| 8' x 20' | 96” x 240” |
|
How to Pick the Best Material for Your Oversized Banner
Banners are available in various materials, with solid vinyl, mesh vinyl (or perforated vinyl), and polyester fabric being the most popular options. The ideal choice primarily depends on where you plan on hanging them (outdoor vs. indoor display) and how long you plan to use them.
Solid Vinyl
Also called PVC, this highly durable, weather-resistant, and flexible material is ideal for indoor and outdoor use.
Solid vinyl comes in varying thickness, measured in ounces or oz., with 13 oz. and 18 oz. being the most popular options. The higher the number, the thicker and more durable the material.
Solid vinyl also has a smooth surface with a light sheen that allows the colors and graphics to appear more vibrant and sharper. For double-sided printing, the 18 oz. is the default option to prevent the design from one side showing through the opposite side, creating a more professional appearance.
Mesh Vinyl
Vinyl mesh has a surface that is 30% perforated, allowing the wind to pass through and thus preventing damage and tearing. This material is a great option if you need oversized banners for long-term outdoor display, especially in windy areas.
While mesh vinyl banners have a slightly muted look up close compared to solid vinyl signs, their colors still look vibrant and text clear, making them effective for distant viewing. They are often hung on fences and buildings.
Polyester Fabric
Fabric banners are typically made of 6.8 oz. polyester. They’re printed using dye sublimation, a method known for producing vibrant and well-detailed designs that are resistant to fading and cracking.
This washable, wrinkle-resistant material has a light sheen that enhances the printed design.
Fabric banners are suitable for indoor displays, making them popular in retail stores, offices, churches, and event centers. They can also serve as temporary outdoor signs if the weather allows.
Two Popular Hanging Options for Oversized Banner
Large banners often come with grommets or pole pockets. The ideal hanging option depends on how and where you'll hang them.
Grommets
Grommets or reinforced eyelets are durable, able to withstand harsh weather conditions when secured adequately with ropes or zip ties. They make it easy and quick to hang banners on existing structures.
The bigger the banner, the more grommets it needs to distribute its weight and tension evenly to prevent sagging and tearing.
Pole Pockets
Three-inch pockets are typically sewn at the top, or both at the top and bottom of a banner. These pockets can fit poles up to 1.5" in diameter. (However, you can request Signs.com to place your banner's pole pockets elsewhere.)
Pole pockets are suitable for long-term indoor displays (like fabric banners), which creates a smooth and tension-free look.
8 Design Tips for Oversized Banners (And What Mistakes to Avoid!)
What looks great on printed materials meant for up-close reading may not always work for large-format printing because of the different viewing distance, materials, and resolution requirements.
Here are some tips and guidelines to ensure your banner design conveys the message, offers excellent readability, and resonates with the target audience.
- Focus on one clear message.
- Choose legible fonts.
- Keep everything simple.
- Use high-quality images.
- Consider the environment.
- Include a call to action (CTA).
- Create a visual hierarchy.
- Consider using a design template.
Oversized banners are often viewed by people who are moving or have limited time to read. The general guideline is to focus on just one clear message to make it easy and quick to understand.
What not to do: Avoid using long copy and multiple messages because they make your banner less impactful and may confuse or overwhelm readers.
Choose simple, clear sans-serif fonts that are readable from a distance, such as Helvetica, Arial, Futura, and Montserrat. These fonts lack small "feet," swashes, and embellishments in their letterform.
However, correct font selection is not the only thing that improves your banner's legibility. Using only 2-3 fonts per design and creating high color contrast between the text and the background is another way to ensure readability.
What not to do: Avoid using script, calligraphic, and decorative fonts, especially those with long and elaborate strokes that can make text difficult to read.
Avoid clutter by eliminating unnecessary design elements and using too many fonts and colors (limit the color palettes to three colors). By keeping it simple, you can emphasize important details and ensure readability.
What not to do: Resist the temptation to fill every space of the banner with text and graphics. The general guideline is to leave 30%-50% of the space "empty." By creating “empty space” or whitespace around each element in a design composition, the message becomes more readable and impactful.
The image quality has a significant influence on the final product. Even the best printing method can only do so much when dealing with a low-resolution, poor-quality image.
The general guideline is to use high-resolution, high-quality vector images rather than raster images to avoid pixelation and blurriness. In addition, use the CMYK color mode, which is standard for large-format printing, to ensure color accuracy.
What not to do: Avoid using low-quality images, especially in large-format printing. Make sure their resolution is at least 300 dpi to avoid blurriness.
Think about the banner's location, especially the surrounding objects and colors. Your banner must stand out from the surrounding area, which you can achieve by creating a high color contrast.
Additionally, consider the intended viewing distance between the audience and the banner, as the environment can affect color perception and readability.
What not to do: Don't order a banner without first visiting the place where you intend to display it. If physical inspection is not possible, at the very least, get images or videos of the location. Also, don't forget to get the exact measurements of the structure where you plan to hang your banner.
Your oversized banner should have a concise call to action to encourage viewers to take a specific step, such as sign up to a contest, visit a website, or join an event.
Make sure the CTA is prominently displayed and use ample whitespace so it stands out in the design composition.
What not to do: Poor placement, small fonts, and inadequate contrast can affect the visibility of CTA. The usual recommendation is to place it at the bottom center or the lower right side of the banner and use high color contrast and large or bold text to make it stand out.
Visual hierarchy is the arrangement of elements, especially copy, to show the order of importance. Its goal is to guide the viewer's eye to the most important information first, which can be the headline or the CTA.
When arranging information, use the top-down principle, which means you start with the most important details and then break them down into something more specific. Then, use size and scale for text and other key design elements.
What not to do: Don’t make your design look cluttered and crowded. Remember, whitespace also plays a crucial role in the visual hierarchy and readability of banners.
Although you can design your banners from scratch, using customizable, premade templates with bleed and margin areas has its benefits. By following a template’s visual guidelines, you can prevent the appearance of white borders and text or images that look cut off on the final print.
Signs.com offers design templates with these guidelines to ensure professional-looking banners.
Check out this article Take it From the Experts: 6 Tips on How to Design Your Banner to learn more about practical and easy-to-follow design principles.
Money-Saving Tips on Large-Format Printing
Here are some tips that can potentially lower the cost of oversized banners.
- Order only what you actually need. Let's say you only need an indoor banner for short-term display. In this scenario, a banner printed on a 13 oz. vinyl with a flush cut (no hem, the material is just cut to the exact size of the banner) might be a better option than choosing a thicker vinyl that costs more.
- Request a digital proof to review the design and catch errors like misspellings and incorrect details, preventing costly reprints.
- If you need several banners, buy more in one transaction to save more. Ordering multiple pieces in one go lets you enjoy bigger savings because the cost per unit becomes lower as you order more banners.
- Choose a longer printing turnaround time. The cost of a three-day printing time is significantly lower than a "ready today" or "next day" shipment.
With this guide, we hope you can design your first oversized banner with more confidence.
Signs.com offers banners as big as 10' x 165' (or 120" x1980"), which means that as long as one of your dimensions is under twelve feet, then you can almost print any size you want.
We understand that many of our customers are concerned about the color and layout accuracy when ordering banners. That's why we offer free digital proof, so you can review the copy, spelling, and overall design before production begins.
Related Articles
Before Your Order: 10 Things to Know Before Buying a Banner
Mesh vs Vinyl Banners: Which One Should You Choose?
Indoor vs. Outdoor Banners: Which One Should You Choose?
Retractable Banners vs. Digital Screens: Which is Right for Your Business?
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