I have a request for a banner that can be used every year, but have a changeable date. This is the first banner for the organization, so I am going to print it. Next year, I was thinking I could cover the date with adhesive vinyl and the new date printed on it. Is there another approach to accomplish this task? Should I make the date in adhesive vinyl now and then remove it next year? Any suggestions on procedure and material would be helpful. I am planning to use Arlon 13oz banner material.
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How would you make a banner with changable dates?
- Thread starter GeneA
- Start date
Guerilla Signs
New Member
I had the same situation last year and I had the banner printed without the date. I had a thin very light grey line printed where the bottom of the date was to be for quick placement of cut vinyl numbers for the date. I used Oracal 631 for the date which I will be removing later this spring to replace with a new date.
Pat Whatley
New Member
Usually I will print the banner and do the date in vinyl.
Sometimes I will design the banner so the date is in a panel so the next year I can just print a new panel on vinyl to stick over the old date.
Whatever you do make sure you tell them that you can change the date next year but if they look at it closely it will look like it has been changed. People expect you to be able to magically remove the old date and put in a perfectly matched new one.
Sometimes I will design the banner so the date is in a panel so the next year I can just print a new panel on vinyl to stick over the old date.
Whatever you do make sure you tell them that you can change the date next year but if they look at it closely it will look like it has been changed. People expect you to be able to magically remove the old date and put in a perfectly matched new one.
GAC05
Quit buggin' me
The vinyl will work.
Deliver it to them rolled on a used core with written instructions to roll it back up on the core and store it properly so that the next time they pull it out it doesn't look like it spent the off season as a pet mattress.
Throw in some instructions on hanging it correctly on the same page.
You could also offer to remove the stale date right after it comes down so that it does not set up for a whole year. Tell them it is part of the service at no extra charge - unless they wait until the day before it goes back up.
wayne k
guam usa
Deliver it to them rolled on a used core with written instructions to roll it back up on the core and store it properly so that the next time they pull it out it doesn't look like it spent the off season as a pet mattress.
Throw in some instructions on hanging it correctly on the same page.
You could also offer to remove the stale date right after it comes down so that it does not set up for a whole year. Tell them it is part of the service at no extra charge - unless they wait until the day before it goes back up.
wayne k
guam usa
vid
New Member
The easiest way that I've found for the customer to comprehend and make my life simple, is velcro strips on the main banner and a separate "date banner" that they change out for the following years.
Sooooo, if you choose to ignore that previous warning, figure out a way to do the banner in cut vinyl. That way the solvents and cleaners you use to remove vinyl adhesive, mold and cat urine, won't wipe your print off.
annnnd, if choose to ignore that warning, laminate the printed banner so the solvents and cleaners you use to remove vinyl adhesive, mold and cat urine, won't wipe your print off.
Good wishes!
As you've suggested, I've worked trying the area on the banner that is reserved for adhesive vinyl dates. I've tried a color block for dates and then used white repositionable vinyl. All worked great and were the perfect solution ...for the first year. Then, the banners were folded, stuck in a box, mold set in, the event chairperson's cat peed on them, a squirrel ate the grommets. ...name any excuse how the banners survived a zombie attack. And then, it became my responsibility to clean up the neglect and abuse, and change the vinyl on the day that the banner was to be installed --- while the customer waited. [/rant]
Yes, I urge you, plead with you, use velcro. Or next year, you'll stab yourself with an X-acto knife because you didn't head this warning.
Sooooo, if you choose to ignore that previous warning, figure out a way to do the banner in cut vinyl. That way the solvents and cleaners you use to remove vinyl adhesive, mold and cat urine, won't wipe your print off.
annnnd, if choose to ignore that warning, laminate the printed banner so the solvents and cleaners you use to remove vinyl adhesive, mold and cat urine, won't wipe your print off.
Good wishes!
Biker Scout
New Member
This is the only time I would ever suggest laminating a banner. Thicker the better. But it will survive a couple of years, and you can do the whole cut letter vinyl thing. Personally I like to just use the rectangle over print with the new date. (insert your favorite repositionable, temporary vinyl here) Because you will not really be able to cleanly peel off the cut style vinyl all the way after about the 2nd or 3rd year. But you will be able to just keep slapping rectangles over and over each other. (Provided you peel up as much as you can get off of the old one. Even if you don't you don't have to worry about it)
GAC05
Quit buggin' me
I do not think a thick laminate is going to stay on a banner for any reasonable length of time - especially with the customer is in charge of keeping it nicely rolled up.
Another alternative is to try to upsell your service a little. If you can, offer to do the install, removal and storage.
We do this for our main customers and make more money on the labor over the banner production.
Extended service is not something your customer is going to get ordering on line or getting them done at Quick Copy or the UPS store.
For those that don't care - sell them a simple clean printed banner tell them it will be cheaper to reprint next year over updating/cleaning the old one.
wayne k
guam usa
Another alternative is to try to upsell your service a little. If you can, offer to do the install, removal and storage.
We do this for our main customers and make more money on the labor over the banner production.
Extended service is not something your customer is going to get ordering on line or getting them done at Quick Copy or the UPS store.
For those that don't care - sell them a simple clean printed banner tell them it will be cheaper to reprint next year over updating/cleaning the old one.
wayne k
guam usa
Biker Scout
New Member
Well, in my neck of the woods, 3x8 banners can be had for less than $30 nearly everywhere. So they are considered way more disposable. However, back in California when I was able to sell them for $8 sq. ft., I often times had customers wanting to re-use their "Investment" in temporary/permanent signage. Upselling is hard to do, especially with church crowds. (Usually the ones who always asked for changeable lettering)
Mainframe
New Member
Here is your solution, I have done it countless times, when you design the date on anything that needs to be changed, make it in a reverse, sometimes I make coro signs for a sales event that has a different location and date each year, so all I have to do is pull up the file and print a "repair" piece on cheap vinyl and stick it to the banner.. It fits right in the "box" I made the first year... Done
Customer is happy, you get to charge a minimum the next year and it always leads to more work.
Customer is happy, you get to charge a minimum the next year and it always leads to more work.
the graphics co
New Member
i usually print on a low/mid tack clear calendered vinyl for the dates. It holds up for the month or so leading up to an event, and is easily removed without any residue afterwards.
No weeding, no masking and no tedious peeling of vinyl numbers and letters afterwards.
No weeding, no masking and no tedious peeling of vinyl numbers and letters afterwards.
Thank you all!
Thanks for all the suggestions! Velcro, sounds good but the wind in the area can be extremely strong and I am afraid it may rip-off. I am thinking, as suggested, to make a rectangle adhesive printable vinyl with the date, time, and location. I will leave the area on the original banner blank. I think offering an extended service is a great idea! I can take the banners down and roll and store them. Again, thank you all for the expert advice!
Thanks for all the suggestions! Velcro, sounds good but the wind in the area can be extremely strong and I am afraid it may rip-off. I am thinking, as suggested, to make a rectangle adhesive printable vinyl with the date, time, and location. I will leave the area on the original banner blank. I think offering an extended service is a great idea! I can take the banners down and roll and store them. Again, thank you all for the expert advice!
bob
It's better to have two hands than one glove.
Print the banner including the current pertinent dates. Then, if and when it's still around [never a certainty], when it's time to change the date, change the date text on the original and print just the area of the banner containing the changed text on the same material as the original banner. Trim the printed panel and put hem tape all around the perimeter on the back side. If it's sufficiently large, run a strip or two of hem tape down the center as well. Peel the hem tape and slap it on. From a foot or so away you'll never see the patch. If, despite incredible odds to the contrary, the thing is still around for subsequent updates, either peel off the last patch or simply add another on top of previous patches. This sort of patch will stay on as long as the rest of the banner lives or until you remove it.
Don't waste your time with Velcro, not only will the banner most like not be around next year, a patch on velcro looks like a patch on Velcro.
Don't do a vinyl patch, it will stand out like a sore thumb.
Don't waste your time with Velcro, not only will the banner most like not be around next year, a patch on velcro looks like a patch on Velcro.
Don't do a vinyl patch, it will stand out like a sore thumb.
CanuckSigns
Active Member
We have 1 customer we do this for twice a year, I tried using cut vinyl for the date, but you can never get all of the adhesive off, even using removable vinyl. we switched over to just printing a patch on cheap vinyl and slapping it over top, these things go on fences on the side of the highway, nobody notices the patch when driving 120 km/hr past it.
every 3-4 years, we throw the banner out and start fresh.
every 3-4 years, we throw the banner out and start fresh.
Mainframe
New Member
You are getting close, but think about it, if you design the date inside a reverse, the first year you can print it, (right on the banner) then the NEXT year you change the date with a printed patch, This serves 2 purposes, if by chance someone new takes over the duties of purchasing for the event, they sometimes call and say they need a new banner this year because the date is wrong, so I just go ahead and make the new banner they order, Or you could go ahead and make them a new patch, but I don't see why anyone would put a patch on the banner the first year???
MikePro
New Member
most of the banners we do are donations ...and keep coming back every year for donation date changes.
started-out by using vinyl to remove/replace, but that becomes tiresome. printed patch simply slapped-on over the existing is the way to go!
...just make sure you have a setup file ready to go. PITA when that year rolls-around and now they need it in a rush and you haven't a clue what size/shape/color/font your patch was from the previous year and it takes you over an hour to get all your ducks in a row.
another way to go about it, is to design the dates to fit within a 8x11" sheet and just simply have them update their own graphics every year with Avery's decal paper that's sold at every office supply store with the envelope label paper.
started-out by using vinyl to remove/replace, but that becomes tiresome. printed patch simply slapped-on over the existing is the way to go!
...just make sure you have a setup file ready to go. PITA when that year rolls-around and now they need it in a rush and you haven't a clue what size/shape/color/font your patch was from the previous year and it takes you over an hour to get all your ducks in a row.
another way to go about it, is to design the dates to fit within a 8x11" sheet and just simply have them update their own graphics every year with Avery's decal paper that's sold at every office supply store with the envelope label paper.
We typically use cut letters with Oracal 631 for easier removal. I tell the customer that the lettering should be removed as soon as the banner is taken down, and not left until the next year.
If possible, I try to use darker lettering in a white area on the banner. This way there is no printing there that can be damaged when installing/removing the lettering. This is probably more of an issue with UV printed yard signs than vinyl banners - I've seen instances where 631 lettering on a UV printed yard sign ended up pulling the cured ink right back off the sign. Again, leaving a white space for the date solved the problem.
The only issue I see with printed decals to stick over the old date would be on banners without a blockout layer. Seems like in some cases you would end up seeing the shadow of the old date if the sun was behind the banner.
I'm also careful to tell my customers that changing dates is not the best option. They are welcome to try it, but I don't promise that it will look perfect and eventually the banner will still need to be replaced. The best option is always to print a new banner every year, in my opinion.
If possible, I try to use darker lettering in a white area on the banner. This way there is no printing there that can be damaged when installing/removing the lettering. This is probably more of an issue with UV printed yard signs than vinyl banners - I've seen instances where 631 lettering on a UV printed yard sign ended up pulling the cured ink right back off the sign. Again, leaving a white space for the date solved the problem.
The only issue I see with printed decals to stick over the old date would be on banners without a blockout layer. Seems like in some cases you would end up seeing the shadow of the old date if the sun was behind the banner.
I'm also careful to tell my customers that changing dates is not the best option. They are welcome to try it, but I don't promise that it will look perfect and eventually the banner will still need to be replaced. The best option is always to print a new banner every year, in my opinion.
Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?
New Member
I would cut this thing, and print this thing, and tape this thing...really? We would do this type of thing with Oracal 651 and just change it out every year for as long as the banner lasts. 10 minutes tops...done. We've used 631 in the past and I'm not really convinced that it sticks too well after changing some letters out. It tends to tunnel slightly from my experience when the banner is rolled and unrolled.