Designing a roller banner layout
A roller banner is a poster with an unusual shape, seen at a distance by someone walking past. Divide it into zones and most layout decisions make themselves.
Three zones, top to bottom.
Roller banners are usually around 2000mm tall, whatever the width. Assuming that height, here is how the space tends to work when someone is standing a few metres away.
| Height from floor | What the eye does | Put here |
|---|---|---|
| 1400mm to 2000mm | Lands here first, even across a crowded room | Logo and headline |
| 800mm to 1400mm | Reads this when curious | Main image, three short points |
| 200mm to 800mm | Often hidden by people, tables and bags | Web address, supporting image |
| Below 200mm | Near the base, rarely read | Colour or pattern only |
The top zone is the only part that visitors can see over the heads of a crowd. If your headline sits halfway down, it will spend most of the event hidden.
Plan around one idea
The narrow shape punishes long lines. On an 850mm banner, a headline of three or four short words can go large. Five bullet points and a paragraph cannot. Give the banner one job, such as "what we do" or "come to this talk". A second idea belongs on a second banner.
Use the shape
Tall subjects work well: a standing figure, a building, a bottle, a vertical crop of a landscape. Landscape photos do not, as you end up with a thin strip that wastes most of the height. It is better to crop one in tightly or choose another image.
The 10 percent test
Print your design at 10% of its size. An 850mm x 2000mm layout becomes 85mm x 200mm, which fits on A4. Pin it up and stand back about 60cm, roughly an arm's length. That is much the same view as the real banner seen from 6m. Whatever you can read then, a visitor can read. Whatever you cannot read should get bigger or go.
Mistakes that keep turning up
- The logo tucked at the bottom, where the base or a table hides it
- White text on a busy picture, without a calmer area behind it
- Copy that was written for a brochure and pasted in
- A QR code placed down by knee height
- Important elements too near the edge, where the stand or the trim can clip them
Working with a set
If two or more banners stand together, plan them as a group. Keep the logo in the same position on each, or run an image across them with the gaps in mind. Remember the base is wider than the print on some stands, so they will not butt up perfectly.
Always ask for the right template, because the visible area and the hidden length at the base differ by stand. Our page on safe areas on banners covers the margins, and our roller banners page has the widths.
Tall formats in exhibition spaces.
Your questions.
How many words should a roller banner have?
As few as will do the job. A headline, a short line of support and one contact detail are usually enough.
Can you design the banner for me?
Yes. Our in-house designers can lay it out from your logo, wording and images.
Can I reuse a landscape poster design?
It rarely fits. The content needs reworking for the tall shape, not just resizing. Our designers can adapt it.