Effects of UV Rays on Vinyl

One of the problems associated with vinyl banners used outdoors is that it is at the mercy of the Australian sun. We have all lived through an Aussie summer (well those Aussies reading this article have) and we know how harsh it can be.

The effect sun light, UV radiation in particular is that it will eventually fade the life, the colour out of vinyl (or any other fabric) that stays exposed to the sun long enough, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.

What we can do however is find ways to put off the inevitable, to slow down the process and extend the useful life of our banners by months and hopefully years.

The burning question (sorry I could not resist the pun) is how do we delay the onset of colour fade on 3 square metres of digitally printed coloured vinyl?

You may be thinking of a sun block like the ones we use to avoid sun burn our bodies. Well if you are, you’re on the right track, though I have to admit, the thought of pink zinc painted all over your banner may slow down the fading but who will be able to read your message anyway?

The answer to this problem is fabric protector. I use a popular off the self product that is designed for auto use, it Amours my vinyl banners and reduces the fade quite considerably.

These fabric protection products are specifically designed to preserve vinyl and plastic surfaces and while reducing the amount of UV light that they let in to do damage, they still allow the underlying surface (in this case your sales message) to shine through.

There are a bucket full of different types of these vinyl fabric products available, some cheaper others are well… not so cheap. Regardless of which brand you decide to use on your new vinyl banner, make sure that the solution you use is water based not solvent based.

If you are not sure if your fabric protector is OK, try using just a little bit of it on the corner of your vinyl banner, I usually experiment around the eyelets just in case there is an issue. If you can see no apparent problem in say half an hour after application, you should be fine to try it on the rest of your banners surface.

Be gentle when applying the fabric protector. I prefer to apply it with a damp cloth, an old T-Shirt is good, spray some solution onto the damp fabric and rub it gently onto your banner.

You may have to do this every now and then depending on your local conditions, thought in the long run you will not only protect and increase the life of your vinyl banner. It will stay looking good far longer and do it’s job better for you for a longer period.

If you have any tips on protecting your vinyl banner, I would be pleased to hear from you.

Cheers

Steve

Vinyl banners colour & size are important

To get the most impact from your vinyl banner, you not only have to consider the size of the font (the character size) you use. Proper use of colours is also vitally important to the overall effect.

New vinyl banner buyers will often concentrate on making their new banner look nice. Now this is certainly very important, though keep in mind the main purpose of your banner is to deliver your message.

Company colours of course have to be taken into account, though if your message gets lost because of your company colour considerations there is no point in having a vinyl banner to promote your business or organization in the first place.
One of the most important factors in choosing good colours for your vinyl banner is contrast. The colours with the highest level of contrast (no surprise here) are black and white. I know that these are not really colours in the true sense but lets not get side tracked.

Black text on a white background is usually the best, though white on black is also OK if you have some degree of back lighting. White on black for instance is fine for ads on your computer monitor.

The reason we don’t see much black and white used for advertising purposes in the real world (apart from news print) is mainly because it is boring. Think of the last newspaper you read, your eyes usually gravitate towards the coloured ads, not the black and white.

That said, this does not mean that we should use all the colours of the rainbow either. Ideally what we are looking for is a combination of high contrast, eye catchability (yes, I just made up that word), as well as something that is easy for us to digest visually.

The simple answer here is yellow background and black text. This combination answers the contrast question, yellow and black demonstrates about 70% of the contrast of black and white while at the same time offering an eye catching space to look at that is also easy to read.

Have a look at the example image included with this post, examine it from several different distances and see which colour combinations are the easiest for you to read.

There are certain situations where you have no choice with the colours you have to use on your vinyl banner. In some instances we can cheat a little by adding a fine black border to the banner text we use.

This increases the contrast around the text as well as helping our eyes to separate the text from the background. This technique is used when the overall contrast is low. Have a look at the sales banners and business banners in the b2bjv.com website. You will see I have used this method on many of the banners to improve there legibility.

If you have any questions about this feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I will be happy to help you.

Cheers

Steve