The end goal with every piece of marketing collateral that you put out there to the public should be increasing your exposure and, hopefully, your sales. Large format printing services Santa Rosa is a powerful tool to help you actualize these very worthwhile goals.
The Look of Large Format Prints
Generally speaking, large (a.k.a., wide) format printers can handle print rolls starting around two feet (technically, 18 inches) and going all the way through to about eight feet (or 100 inches). Beyond that, you’re talking about grand (a.k.a., super wide) printing services.
Both large and grand printing services can be used to make show-stopping banners, weather-resistant vinyl posters, trade show graphics, and in-store murals. Those would certainly be the most common uses for large format printing services Santa Rosa.
Posters, Banners, and Much More
What comes as a welcome surprise to some people is that large and grand format prints can be used for purposes other than marketing per se.
You might have a need for large or grand format prints if you want, for instance, an architectural drawing or circuit schematic blown up in size without sacrificing image fidelity. Large format prints make for wonderful theatrical or film backdrops!
Secret Sauce: Vector Graphics
Large format printing services Santa Rosa use vector files (e.g., .popular vector files like .ai, .eps., pdf., and .svg) because those kinds are resizable without any loss of fidelity to your images.
The full name of the last type of file alluded to above – an svg. file stands for scalable vector graphics file – basically tips the hand on why the kinds of vector files used in large format, digital banner printing are so useful.
Vector, as opposed to pixelated raster, graphics can be easily scaled up or down because vector graphics are based on mathematical formulas in a grid, not pixels.
Three General Rules to Follow
Now that you know the most common uses for large format printing services Santa Rosa (e.g., banners and posters) and the kinds of vector files that are easiest to work with (e.g., files like .eps and .svg formats), you’re ready to learn about a few where-the-rubber-meets-the-road rules to follow to actualize your ideas.
Without further ado, the three rules that most companies would do well to follow when creating large and grand format prints would be:
-shoot for readability with your font selection
-ensure that the colors you choose are attention-grabbing
-aim for an uncluttered look with plenty of white space that highlights your message.
Nuts and Bolts of Actualizing Three Rules
That might be fine and dandy, but how do you actually go about creating banners and posters with readable fonts? What does readable even mean?
Sans Serif Vs. Serif Fonts
In this sense, readable fonts would probably be sans serif fonts that aren’t so bold that the letters look crammed together. Sans serif fonts are also more legible from a distance; by the way, with large format prints, you can get away with 100 DPI, as opposed to 300 DPI.
Sans serif fonts are, by and large, more appropriate for large format prints because they don’t have the curlicues, if you will, at the end of certain letters. Sans (sans is Latin for “without”) serif fonts will avoid the appearance of overcrowding and make your message clear from a distance.
Compare a famous sans serif font (e.g., the Dolce & Gabbana logo) to a serif font (e.g., the New York Times logo) – the first one is easier to read, especially from a distance.
Set CMYK with Digital Software
You might also consider setting your design software to CMYK colors, rather than RGB, because digital printers will actually be using CMYK colors. Setting your digital software to CMYK colors guarantees a more faithful color rendition from design to large format print.
Putting it all together, you should ideally use a vector file with bold colors and plenty of white space complemented with a readable sans serif font. Bold colors, as opposed to subtle pastel colors, with plenty of white space would probably be the way to go with large format printing service Santa Rosa. Contact us for more information.