Alternative to banners in a school gym?

[Stacey K]

I'm in the process of doing high school senior banners. 2'x4' - 13oz with grommets on each corner - about 70 of them done and hung up. Football/band went outside on the fence with zip ties. Some of the others were in the gym, by the pool, etc.

Anyway, I'm on the last batch and one woman wants to change them to something "more professional like a poster".

Notes:
• They are going to be hung in the gym
• I order all my printed good out

A couple thoughts I had:

• Signs365 has a no-curl banner? - this seems unrealistic to me
• Printed on foam board and attached with 3M tape on the 4 corners?

 

[pjfmeister]

the No Curl is very nice...smooth finish we just sent some out with velcro added to the back for install.

 

[De.signs Nanaimo]

I would try to sell them on the reusability of banners, as opposed to foam board, but that is probably the best option for ease of installation, maybe banner with no grommets?

 

[Gino]

Over the years, I've seen various ways to hang signs and banners in gyms with different results. However, one if the best was..... we made banners on 13oz material with pole pockets top & bottom and double hemmed along the sides. They were sewn. A cable was stretched from one end of the gym to the other and the banners hung on it with lightweight chain in the bottom pocket. Another place had a cable stretched both top and bottom and was put up in the same fashion as a street banner. They had some kinda opening mechanism at one end for adding more banners. Like a quick release of some sort. To me, the tape and velcro is more unprofessional than doing it correctly with cables.

 

[rjssigns]

"More professional like a poster"...LOL. Since you sub out get this: Matte flatbed print on foam pvc.

My in house method: Print on 3640 matte then apply to foam pvc. Nice high end look.

 

[highrolling24]

I had a customer that did not want the banner look so my rep turned me onto some stuff called
pop-up I think it is the same stuff mentioned above that is smooth and curl free (which it still curls a little) but looks real nice and smooth, its not a pure white though but looks real nice and will not rip. I print pictures for car guys to put in the garage that they can just wipe down the picture if it gets dusty or dirty works good looks nice.

 

[JamesLam]

We offer a few scaled up versions of plak mounting called flush mounts and float mounts. The main caveat would be that plaks etc. are mounted directly to the wall where banners can be hung pretty well anywhere.

 

[Billct2]

We did a big project last year replacing existing banners and adding new ones in a high school gym These were wall mounted. They wanted to get away from the banner look so we went with PVC. Looked great.

 

[Precision]

Another option is dye sub on Expo cloth.

 

[brentjosker]

i used to do all the sports boards for over a dozen high schools in Western New york, we went with sheets of 4mil sintra, you can get them in whatever color you want. we would average about 40 sports board between the gym and the pool area, (sectional championship boards and pool record boards. We would put black strip of velcro on the back and stick them to the wall.
We found over time they would fall off due to the excessive heat from the school staff cranking up the heat overnight, especially in the pool. so we returned and put 1 hit pin in each top corner to keep them in place, worked like a charm
We were also asked to supply cloth banners to the schools but after further research , school wouldnt allow them unless they met certain fire resistance criteria. So just be careful. Good Luck!

 

[Stacey K]

These are all great ideas! I'm going to look at the cost difference for these options as the banners are temporary and the kids will be taking them home at the end of the school year. However - for any future banners I think these ideas of using pvc is a MUCH better, and way better looking than a banner!

 

[AndersHerp]

We've used vinyl (cut or full color printed on white) on ACM panels. I actually have 3 out in the hallway waiting on one of the local High Schools to come pick them up

 

[sacrificingsoul]

One option is to go with a no-curl banner material that still looks smooth and can hang pretty well without curling up at the edges. If you want something more durable for next time, you might look into PVC panels. They’re a bit more polished and hold up better if you want something that lasts. Also, if you’re ever setting up gym management stuff, www.exercise.com has some solid tools that can help out.

 

[jfiscus]

I would recommend a thin styrene mounted to the walls with double-sided foam tape.

 

[Pat Whatley]

3mm PVC. School locally uses them, they installed a track system on the gym wall so all they do is slide them in and out every year. I find it hilarious that ONE WOMAN has a problem with regular banners like 99% of schools use for senior signs and I'm assuming she hasn't thought the least bit about how much more "professional" is going to cost the parents.

 

[Stacey K]

3 years later we are still using regular banners! That mom's kids graduated...it's funny how the "cycle" goes. For a couple years, nobody cares...then some Karen comes along and the next two years are a hassle, then back to "just do whatever" LOL

 

[Tim Miller]

I'm going to go find some ancient threads to resurrect. This is great.