5 Things to Keep in Mind When Designing your Pole Banners

So, you’ve decided on your street beautification project and banners it is! Your funding has been approved and your main street members are excited, but now what? Often the towns that we work with don’t have a marketing company to help with designs and it’s also not in the budget. So how do you come up with designs that are effective and get the most bang for your buck? At Display Sales we’ve been working with communities since 1966 on their street beautification initiatives. Whether it's for a festival, event, or a way to drive traffic in your community, we’ve made pole banners of every shape and style. In our experience, the banners that are the most effective have these 5 design elements in common:

1. Keep it Simple and Clear: The most effective banners are the ones that are easy to read and understand. Remember, most of the people that see them will be driving in their car. They don’t have time to read a long message, so avoid clutter, too many words and multiple images.
2. Consistency: Whether you’re doing 5 banners or 500 banners, keep colors, fonts, and logos consistent throughout. Most towns already have a logo or fonts they use on their website or in their stationery. Reusing these logos and fonts can be helpful in creating a cohesive look across your banners and can reinforce your brand recognition.
3. Choose the right Color Scheme: The colors you choose should complement each other. Sometimes these can be chosen based on the local high school colors and in other cases it’s seasonal. Either way, they should be consistent throughout and line up with your brand when possible.
4. Consider the placement: Depending on what you hope to accomplish by displaying banners, consider where they will be hung. Are you trying to drive traffic to local businesses or promote the county fair next month? Consider where your banner will be displayed and design it accordingly so that it will stand out.
5. Call to Action:  Encourage your audience to take action. Whether it’s visiting a website, making a purchase, or attending an event, you should have a concise actionable message on your banner.

The most important thing when keeping all of this in mind is to have fun. No matter what shape, size or style of pole banners you choose, it will be an improvement to your street beautification. The great thing about pole banners is that they’re relatively inexpensive and they can be rotated throughout the year. We recommend having at least 2 different sets of banners if you’re going to have a year-round program. Check out a few samples here! This will help you keep it fresh and vibrant.  If you have any questions or would like to get a quote on pole banners, contact us today. We have full in-house graphics team if you find yourself getting stuck on your designs and we would be happy to help!