Signs & Large Format Print
Paper or banner: two ways to do a billboard
A billboard can be done in two ways, and that is the first decision to make.
A paper poster is the classic for commercial media. The media owner has a board onto which a new poster is pasted each campaign, usually wet, with paste. Paper is cheap, quick to print and easy to replace. Most roadside billboards rented for a campaign period work this way.
A banner on a frame makes sense when the billboard is yours (on your premises, at the factory entrance, on your own plot by the road) and the advert is to stay up for a long time. A coated banner lasts about 2–3 years outdoors, whereas paper is designed for one campaign cycle.
If you are planning your own structure, we also make galvanised steel 6 × 3 m billboard structures, from approx. €1,730 net, excluding foundation and installation.
The most popular formats
| Medium | Poster size | Material |
|---|---|---|
| Standard continental billboard (6 × 3 m board) | 504 × 238 cm | Blueback paper 120 g |
| Billboard on your own 6 × 3 m frame | to frame size | Coated banner 510 g + webbing |
| Large format 12 × 4 m | to the media specification | Frontlit banner or paper in sheets |
| Citylight (backlit display case) | most often approx. 118.5 × 175 cm | Whiteback paper 150 g |
| Framed indoor poster | any | Satin poster paper 170 g |
Formats vary between media owners and countries (in the UK and Ireland, for example, the 48-sheet at 6096 × 3048 mm and the 6-sheet at about 1200 × 1800 mm are typical), and on top of that comes the split into sheets, the strips from which the poster is pasted up on the board. Before you start designing, ask the media owner for the specification: trim size, size with overlap, number and order of sheets, overlaps. If you send us the specification, we will print exactly to it.
Blueback, whiteback and the rest: which paper
Blueback 120 g is the billboard standard. Its blue back blocks whatever is underneath. When a new poster is pasted over an old one, nothing shows through, even when there is very contrasting artwork underneath. It is also the cheapest large format medium we print.
Whiteback 150 g has a white back and higher opacity. It is used in backlit citylight cases and indoors, where light from behind must not reveal the paper structure.
Satin poster paper 170 g is for interiors: poster frames, corridors, halls. It has no odour and can be hung straight after printing.
Outdoors, where a poster has to survive rain without paste and a board, a banner or synthetic paper is a better choice than paper. A comparison of banner materials is in which banner material to choose.
What billboard poster printing costs: worked examples
| Paper | 1–4 m² | 5–15 m² | 16–49 m² | 50–99 m² | 100+ m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blueback 120 g | €8 | €5 | €4 | €3.30 | €3.05 |
| Whiteback 150 g | €10 | €7 | €6 | €5 | €5 |
| Satin poster paper 170 g | €11 | €8 | €7 | €7 | €6 |
Examples:
- One 504 × 238 cm poster on blueback. Approx. 12 m², band 5–15 m², rate approx. €4.90. 12 × €4.90 = approx. €60 net.
- Ten posters of the same format for a campaign in several cities. Approx. 120 m², band 100+ m², rate approx. €3.05. Total approx. €370 net, or approx. €37 per poster.
- Ten 118.5 × 175 cm citylight posters on whiteback. Approx. 20.7 m², band 16–49 m², rate approx. €6. Total approx. €125 net, approx. €12.50 each.
- Banner for your own 6 × 3 m frame. 18 m² of 510 g coated banner × approx. €8 = approx. €144, plus webbing around the edge 18 lm × approx. €3.05 = approx. €55. Total approx. €200 net.
For shipping, posters are packed on a roll or in a tube (approx. €4.25 net per package) so they arrive without creases. We send by courier across the EU, to the UK and worldwide, including to several addresses at once.
- 24 hexpress printing (UV inks need no drying)
- approx. 3 daysstandard lead time
- up to 14 dayslarge and custom projects with installation
Plus courier delivery. Tell us your date — we plan production around it.
Billboard artwork and lead times
A billboard poster is seen from a distance and on the move. That sets the design rules: little text, big letters, strong contrast, one image. A driver has literally a few seconds to read it.
Technically:
- file in CMYK, PDF or TIFF, at 1:1 or 1:10 scale (in which case say so in the file name),
- resolution at 1:1 approx. 30–50 dpi: a 504 × 238 cm poster at 50 dpi is approx. 9,920 × 4,690 px,
- logo and text as vectors or converted to outlines,
- sizes and sheet split according to the media owner's specification.
More on resolution in what resolution for large format printing. If you have no design, our own studio will prepare one; see graphic design and artwork.
Our standard print turnaround is about 3 working days. When the campaign date is tight, 24-hour express is possible: UV inks need no drying time, so the poster can go out to the client straight after printing.