Top 10 Pole Banner Design Tips and Tricks

By Colton LaSota

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 
2. What are Pole Banners
3. Reasons to use Pole Banners
4. Pole Banner Tips and Tricks
   1. Big, Colorful, and Beautiful
   2. Location, Location, Location
   3. Banner Height IS Important
   4. 1/3 Text 2/3 Visuals
   5. Complementary and Contrasting Colors
   6. Visually Direct Eye Flow
   7. Find the Right Printing Service
   8. Choose a Focal Point
   9. Right Colors for the Right Industry
   10. Proper Pole Banner Installation
5. Conclusion

Introduction

Are you in need of custom 2-sided pole banners but don’t know how to best design them? If so, this article will be a perfect guide to attracting more eyes. With a basic understanding of some simple design principles, you can easily draw more eyes to your custom 2-sided pole banners.

Pole banners are a 2-sided, vertical sign display meant to attach to street poles and be shown to vehicles passing by. Pole banners are a fantastic way to get everyone in town talking about whatever you would like advertised. Great for local festive gatherings, benefits, and fundraisers. But to gain the full advantage of using custom pole banners, one must pay mind to a few basic design principles to utilize them to their fullest.

What are Pole Banners?

Custom 2-sided pole banners are a type of banner display which are designed to attach to street and light poles. Our pole banners here at Banners.com can be attached two different ways, with a standard bracket system, or with our sturdier wind deflecting hardware. Pole banners feature two sides, one for each side of the pole. This allows for endless possibilities to compare and contrast whatever you would like to share on your custom pole banner.

Top Reasons to Use Pole Banners

Being able to attach your banner to a pole and reach new heights gives plenty of reason to use these pole banners. But what are some more of the lesser-known reasons to use custom pole banners? What are some of the key advantages to using them as opposed to a standard banner or any other type of signage? 

The biggest advantage that pole banners present to their users is their ability to get to new heights previously unavailable to other signage options. With their ability to scale poles scattered throughout the city, pole banners can tower above all the rest of the noise and get messages straight to people passing by.

The other advantage of using pole banners is their 2-sided design. The dual-sided approach to the pole banner design gives extra ability to customize and contrast messages with colors, images, or text. A cold, icy look on one side could contrast well with that of a fiery, red-hot look on the other. Motifs like these can attract a person to initially look at your pole banner, so read on to the next section to get some tips on how to best execute those.

Top 10 Pole Banner Design Tips and Tricks

1. Big, Colorful & Beautiful

The first thing to keep in mind when designing a pole banner is how long most drivers will get a chance to view your design. For most drivers, this will be about three to four seconds. That is pretty quick, so your message will need to be big, bold, and beautiful. Try to use eye-popping and attention-grabbing colors like hot pink backgrounds or neon green text. This will draw the eyes of many viewers and will spread your message further than a banner with bland and boring colors ever could.

2. Location, Location, Location

Where you place your pole banner can be just as impactful as its design. Generally, you want to place your pole banners in spots that have high traffic and low speed limits. This is because the faster vehicles are going, the less time they will have to view your custom pole banner. Shopping centers are fantastic spots to place your custom pole banners because of all the people passing between shops and taking in the scenery. 

3. Banner Height Is Important

When you decide to hang up your custom pole banner, there is a very important element to keep in mind. Some poles can be rather tall, and you may be tempted to place it as high as you can, but it’s best to test out various heights by driving by and looking for yourself.

4. Use 1/3 Text, 2/3 Visuals

When designing the layout of your custom pole banner, you should determine the right balance of text (information) and illustrations (visuals). It is recommended to use no more than 1/3 of the banner for text. This will keep your message succinct and easy enough to understand at a glance. On pole banners, your text should not use full sentences to convey information, which will make it harder for people to retain your message. As an example, say you're creating a banner for the local spring festival. You could say on your banner, “The Spring Festival is Coming this Weekend!" But that would likely be too much text to read while passing by or at a distance, so you could shorten it to, “SPRING FESTIVAL '22” which someone could easily look up on the internet if their interest was piqued. When choosing the font for your custom pole banner, there are a couple of principles that will help guide your design. A powerful way to grab a person’s attention with text is to use multiple fonts. But try to not use more than 2 fonts at a time for each banner to keep it readable.

Another great way for your text to stand out is to use multiple font sizes. You shouldn’t use a whole lot of these either to keep things organized. When choosing font sizes, you should establish a size hierarchy. Font size should be chosen according to the text’s importance. In the picture below, you can see that there are two font sizes used. “North Beacon” is much larger than “Lighthouse Position”. This draws the reader’s attention to that piece first, subtly saying to them that the top line of text is more important.
 
It is recommended that pole banners use the remaining 2/3rds of the pole banner for eye-catching visuals. Referring to the “North Beacon” banner, you can see that a lot of the visuals are at the bottom half of the banner. There are several pine trees and a bird. The trees are pointing upward, as trees do, and that leads the viewer’s eye to the bird, which is the focal point of the composition. The viewer’s eye is then led to the logo and text which will remain in the viewer's mind for some time, especially when they think of seagulls or pine trees.

5. Complementary and Contrasting Colors

Be sure to use two or three colors in a complementary or contrasting manner on each banner. This can be key. Consider a situation where someone is designing pole banners to be displayed on a city’s main street for Halloween. What are three to four colors you would consider using? Black would be the most obvious with its darkness and mystery, and a good way to compliment black would be to use a blaze orange, the traditional Halloween colors. On the other side of the pole banner, you could use purple. This color is typically linked with Halloween as well. A good way to contrast a deep, dark purple is to use a neon green for your text color. Coloring your text in such a contrasting color will draw more eyes and will have your message stand out.

6. Visually Direct Eye Flow

Eyes can be incredibly easy to direct. A clever use of colors and images can have your readers’ eyes flowing through your design just how you want. With the “North Beacon” design mentioned above, the viewer’s eye is directed very well. There are several pine trees and a bird. The trees are the first thing the viewer notices with their fine details and familiarity. The trees are pointing upward, as trees do, and that leads the viewer’s eye to the bird, which is the most interesting point of the composition. The viewer’s eye is then led to the logo and text which will remain in the viewer's mind for some time, especially when they think of seagulls or pine trees.

7. Find the Right Printing Service

This may be a tempting place to skimp out and save on, but this may be one of the most determining factors of how your finished banner will look. There are many local printing services and there is likely one in your area. Or, trust an expert commercial printing service like Banners.com and receive a quality banner print in the mail! Click here to learn more about submitting an artwork file for printing at Banners.com.

8. Choose a Focal Point

The best way to make sure that you are communicating your pole banners’ message as efficiently as possible is to choose its focal point. Every pole banner should have an area of interest or point of contrast that draws attention. When you have a spot on your banner that is guaranteed to draw attention, you can more easily direct their attention throughout the rest of the banner. Commonly used focal points for pole banners include attention-grabbing words or photographs with big expressions. Or in this example, the center of a leaf.

9. Right Colors for the Right Industry

Some colors work with some industries better than others. Take construction for example. Yellow is a color that works very well with anything related to construction. This is likely due to the large amount of construction equipment and vehicles that are yellow. So, a large majority of construction signage is colored yellow and black.

9. Proper Pole Banner Installation

If anything can turn a potential customer off to your pole banner, it would be if the pole banner was installed incorrectly. Below this section is a video where we show how to properly install your custom pole banners from start to finish.

To properly install your custom pole banner, the materials you will need include: the included bracket system, a drill, ladder, the pole banners itself, and steel cutters. You will start by putting together the pole banner bracket system. On the Brackets, there are two arrows. Make sure these arrows are facing away from each other. Take one of the rods and insert it into the hole. Then take the pin that comes in the bracket system and fit it through the holder and the rod. Then you can take the metal ring that comes with the bracket and fit it around the pin.

Now it is time to place it around the pole. Take the top bracket and wrap it around your desired pole. Fasten the bracket to the pole using a drill and the steel bands provided. After you have fastened the brackets to the pole, take your banner and slide it onto the top bracket system on the pole. Then slide the bottom bracket system into the pole pocket on the bottom of the banner. After the bottom bracket is in the pole pocket, secure it to the pole using the remaining steel bracket. Make sure the rubber tips are still at the ends of the pole banner rods

Now you can begin to secure the pole banner to the brackets using zip ties. Take the zip ties and fit them through the pole banner grommet and the bracket’s metal rings. And once you have the pole banner installed, you will want to trim off the excess steel banding from the brackets using steel cutters.

Conclusion