Things to keep in mind when designing  and banners.

• Most layout programs do not support the large sizes you will be outputting at. Work at a smaller scale. Most people lay the job out at between 50% and 25% of the final size. Then we scale the job up when we output it. But don’t forget to tell us the scaling. This has no effect on quality but it does mean you can proof it easily at your end and create pages in Quark or PageMaker without going nuts.
   
• The image resolution to the final size can be anything from 72dpi to 300dpi, depending on the quality you are looking for and the size of the images you want to move around. As the image resolution goes down the pictures will become softer. If you are creating posters to be viewed from several metres away, you may only need lower resolutions. The posters will not have the detail they could have, but this will only be apparent from close up. If you want the maximum detail and people are going to view the posters up close, you’ll need to use high resolution images. Around 150dpi is good, with only moderate improvements above this.
   
• Remember that if you are working scaled down, you will need to increase the resolution of the images in proportion. So if you work at 25% scale and you want very sharp images, they would need to be at 600 to 800dpi in your scaled down page.
   
• The colour quality and range varies between the different materials. We calibrate for each one but they varying in the brilliance and colour quality. For the best colour, the JPET Film and then the semigloss photopaper are the best, although all the materials produce very acceptable results.
   
• If you have a big poster and you are worried about the colour, request a thumbnail proof. We print this on the right material at around A4 size so you can check colour. Don’t forget that laminating will have an effect on the colour. Gloss laminates make the colour very punchy, but lustre (semi matt) and sandtex (a frosted antiglare coating) tend to reduce the saturation somewhat.