Banner Printing at Image Craft brightens the message

Banner Printing: An evolution in sign painting

Banner printing is to sign painting what word processing is to handwriting. Banner printing has come far in the past twenty-five years. Not that long ago, it was rather novel to see someone print a message on tractor paper by running it through a dot-matrix printer in order to make a banner. Today, it is not all that uncommon to see banner printing on 20 feet by 20 feet sheets, but it takes some highly specialized equipment, materials, and skill to handle it.

Banner Printing comes in two parts

There are two main parts to successful banner printing. First, there is the science of banner printing, which includes the technology, materials, hardware, and software. Second, there is the art and craft, which includes the artistic eye, sense of visual balance, creativity to turn a phrase and knowledge of the materials. 

Banner printing is more than just a quick message in large type; it is an image craft. That is where our name comes from, Image Craft, and that is what we do.

Thank goodness for an easier language!

English is what it is because of the invention of the printing press. Words like trough, dough, bough, through, rough, drought, and thought were compromises to the many regional spellings and pronunciations in the English-speaking world. Shirt and skirt, at that time, were the same word. Such words are part of the reason that many foreigners find English so difficult to speak, although it does not seem particularly difficult to learn to read and understand.

The printing press changed the way we speak

The printing press made mass circulation of the English word possible. So, with the help of people like William Caxton, England's first major printer, and Samuel Johnson, and his singularly important Dictionary of the English Language, and the healing of time as the language evolved, English spellings and pronunciations began to standardize with the forms used around London, Oxford, and Cambridge. Sounds and spellings evolved to something recognizable to what we see and hear today.

Imagine if English still had so many spelling and speaking dialects that if you printed a banner for someone you would have to know where the sign would be hung in order to write the copy! Consider, too, that spell-check on your computer would be about worthless, too. Thank goodness we are free to focus our problem-solving skills on something more productive.

Modern Banner Printing has a lot of technology behind it

Banner printing takes sophisticated equipment. Aside from a powerful computer with processors and overhead memory to handle large type and graphics, banner printing now involves specialized inks and media. The cutting edge of inks is moving from paints to eco-solvent and latex soluble coloring cured with ultra-violet light. It is a very sophisticated business, and as you can tell, there is a lot of overhead to the business. For people who make such an investment, their own skills, imagination and creativity must be an integral part of the business.

To look at one of these printers, it would seem to appear more like a printing press than what we identify with printers.

Computers have changed the world—of printing

Computerization has brought banner printing (sign-painting) light years ahead of where it was even a few short years ago. Computerization has changed the world of printing much the same was as printing changed the development of the English language. That, and the addition of new technology and materials to use in printing and print medium, the signs you order today are bigger, better, longer lasting, and more brilliant than those you could have ordered just a couple of decades ago. Adding the second part—the art and craft—can provide you a banner printing project superior to anything you might imagine. That's Image Craft.