How to Find High Quality Printed Banners

We all want the highest quality signage and banner products and all printed banner companies wants to be your one stop shop for all your signage needs. With the newly developed corporate world where marketing and selling products has become such a focus point, how do you see through all the marketing jargon and seek the best product and the most suitable price. The answer is research.

Shop Around: Research
Type in any key words such as printed banners, mesh banners, banner mesh, printed shade cloth etc. into google and you’ll get a thousand different links and options. At a minimum it is essential to visit at least 3 different companies websites, each will have photographic examples of their products, product descriptions and quotes. Compare, contrast, analyse, be thorough in your research and seek out of the best signage and banner based on these descriptions. Go on social media, visit Facebook and Instagram pages, observe the public image and the ratings they receive on their social media pages.

Be Careful: Pricing
Don’t be naive, we want the best and lowest price available for our signage and banner options but at the same time we don’t want this to fly in the face of quality. Remember quality is everything, don’t be fooled by the word ‘cheap’ which is thrown around foolishly be many suppliers. Get more than one quote from a number of suppliers to best decipher price for quality.

Don’t be afraid to ask: Product Samples
The great thing about the competition in the market is the creation of an intense relationship between you as customer and the supplier. This meaning that suppliers are more than willing to work very closely with you and send out samples of a wide range of banners and signage products that you are interested in. This will allow you to further compare, contrast and analyse the product to allow you to gain the highest printed banner substrate quality and the best print resolution that you desire.

• banner design
• Banner Mesh
• branded banners
• building signs
• building site signage
• Building Wraps
• construction advertising
• Construction signage
• Shade Cloth
• Vinyl

Did Your Printed Banners Survive the Storm?

At Mesh Direct, we pride ourselves on the quality of our mesh banners but even our banners may not be able to withstand a once in a lifetime storm! If your banner suffered some damage this weekend gone, then we may be able to resurrect it with our banner repair service*. If the cable ties holding your printed banner to the fence have been destroyed, we recommend replacing them immediately before more damage is caused**.

Get in touch with us today on 1300 368 978

Watch this!
This quick video explains what printed banner substrate and finishing feature is best if your next project is in a high wind area.

*We will have our courier pick up your printed banner and return it to our workshop where we will add new eyelets. In sever cases, we may need to cut the banner down and weld a new edge on your banner before re-eyeleting. Please note that costs are involved but repairing your banner costs considerably less than the replacement of your banner. Repairs may take up to 14 days.

** Not using all the eyelets creates excessive strain on the eyelets that are being used which can lead to eyelet failure. Once an eyelet fails there can be a chain reaction as escalating strain is placed on each eyelet. This can cause banners to flap around which can lead to ink cracking and mesh fraying – let alone the sight of your wonderful advertising in disarray.

• banner design
• Banner Mesh
• branded banners
• building signs
• building site signage
• Building Wraps
• construction advertising
• Construction signage
• Shade Cloth
• Vinyl

How to Extend the Life of Your Printed Banners and Signs

Extending the life of your printed banners and signs starts with placement and maintenance. Being an out-of-home advertising medium, banners are more susceptible to damaging weather and vandalism throughout the year, so it is critical to take extra care to extend the life of your printed banner.

Hear are a few points to ensure your printed banners and signs are looked after and look the best they can:

Sunlight and Heat
Different substrates withstand harsh environmental elements better than others. For example, vinyl banners are better protected against moisture. Direct sunlight and heat have huge permanent effects of your printed banners and signs by breaking down the chemical bonds in the ink, hence major fading. In order to keep your vibrant colours, either place the sign in a shady area or undercover. However, at Mesh Direct we only use the finest UV stabilised ink for printing on our banner. This ensures minimal fade to your high impact printed banners and signs.

Wind
Wind is the biggest killer for signs, tearing the materials and pulling it away from its structure. Two thing that will help preserve your printed banner is perfect installation and the perfect tension. The installation of the printed banner is a huge part of extending its life. Whatever type of banner mesh you have, it is likely to have supertuff edging and a nylon welded backing, giving it that supreme strength. When installing, the most important step is tensioning; make sure you use cable ties in each eyelet so there is no chance for your banner to sag, fold, or come loose during high winds. The tensioning overall, should be significant and is the best way to prevent any tears.

Cutting holes into the sides of your banners is another idea. Without cutting into the graphic design, this will simply allow wind to flow through and not just push the solid banner. Although, one type of banner mesh that is perfect for windy conditions is shade cloth, as it is a permeable substrate which creates a light load on the structure, and allows wind to move through the banner easily.

Vandalism
Limiting your risk of costly vandalism is a contributing factor. This is a smart move as it will save you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in damages and aid in keeping the appeal of your banner. The anti-graffiti coating comes in a matte and gloss finish, perfect for any look. They both have the ability to simply wipe off graffiti on your printed banner quick and easily without damaging the colour. Adcoat is a highly praised anti-graffiti coating which ads a layer above the original ink, so in the act of being vandalised, your signage can be easily restored to its original appearance. It is particularly recommended when your hoarding or large scale project is easily accessed in an urban area where vandalism is highly likely to occur. For more detail information on anti-graffiti coating, check out our blog post ‘Anti-Graffiti Coating: How to Protect Your Signage’.

Regular Maintenance
Regular cleaning expands the life of your printed banners and signs and keep them looking sharp, as being outside will attract a lot of dirt and grime. A solution of warm soapy water and a damp cloth is an ideal way to wash off all dirt and dust. Then with another clean cloth, wipe off all excess suds and thoroughly dry.

Perfect Installation
Your beautifully printed banner and signs have cost you a bit of money but is now all set to repay you in conveying your message – all you need to do now is to install it. Installing banners on fencing us usually a fairly simple task if you know some basic tips and the cornerstone of those tips is tension. A banner that is crooked, sagging or flapping in the breeze can be more damaging than helpful, displaying a lack of care and sloppiness.

• banner design
• Banner Mesh
• branded banners
• building signs
• building site signage
• Building Wraps
• construction advertising
• Construction signage
• Shade Cloth
• Vinyl

4 Tips to Achieve Great Event Signage

Events are the ideal opportunity to put your brand out there in front of your audience. Use your next event to promote your brand and ‘wow’ your attendees every where they look with great event signage.

Here are out tips to having high impact event signage:

1. Print it big. Print it bright.
Event signage should be big, bright and ideally be high impact. Mesh banners are a great way of presenting your brand or message. Big banners are always better if you want to have high impact signage.

2. Consistency is key
Creating and following a theme give your event or festival a coherent message, an inclusive vibe that ties the event together. Your wayfinding signs, stage covers, directional signage, toilet signs, fence signage and entry/exit point signage should all be within the theme. Focus on keeping your event theme consistent across all signage.

3. Wayfinding signage is integral
Event patrons will more than likely be unfamiliar with the event facility or grounds. Wayfinding signage needs to be specific, prominently placed and concise. Make sure your attendees can safely navigate your event with wayfinding signage at your next event.

4. Safety First
Safety is at the forefront of effective event planning for any large gathering. Large crowds can be unpredictable, but proper safety signage assists attendees, officials and emergency teams react promptly and appropriately. Safety signs should be bold and strategically placed. You should also consult industry body safety regulations to ensure your signs and festivals are compliant.

• banner design
• Banner Mesh
• branded banners
• building signs
• building site signage
• Building Wraps
• construction advertising
• Construction signage
• Event signage
• festival and event signage
• safety signage
• Shade Cloth
• Vinyl

Quick Guide to Construction Safety Signs

Specific health and safety laws that concern construction sites in Australia require that people on or near construction sites are warned of all hazardous activities taking place before any construction work begins. Builders and site managers must ensure that an adequate number of general construction safety signs, depending on the size and complexity of the job site, are erected at the workplace. Adhering to the rules and regulations in regards to safety signs will ensure you avoid fines and non-compliance.

To make it easy to identify construction safety signs, there are 4 broad categories:

Mandatory signs
Mandatory construction safety signs indicate that an instruction must be carried out. All mandatory signs can be identified by a blue circle with a white picture within. They are used to designate required safety equipment within a certain area, or to communicate an action that must be carried out. Examples include: ear or eye protection required, hard hat zone, dust mask or respirator required, switch off after use, wash hands, use protective clothing, keep locked etc.

Warning signs
Warning signs are used to warn of a hazard or a hazardous condition that is not likely to be life-threatening. Warning signs can be identified by a yellow background.
Examples include: flammable material, slippery when wet, heavy equipment zone, work overhead, low voltage electricity, asbestos present, falling hazard, toxic vapour present etc.

Danger signs
Danger signs are used to warn of a particular hazard or hazardous condition that is likely to be life-threatening. Signs in this category incorporate the word ‘danger’ in white letters on a red oval shape against a black background.
Examples include: high voltage, radiation present, crane working overhead, deep excavation, asbestos removal process, danger of explosion, confined space etc.

Emergency
Emergency signs are used to indicate the location of, or directions to, emergency-related facilities such as exits, safety equipment or first aid facilities. General emergency information signs can be identified by a green square with white writing or pictures.

Don’t get an unnecessary fine for not displaying adequate safety signage on your job site. Give Mesh Direct a call on 1300 368 978 to see how we can help you with your branded construction safety signs. We print our branded safety signs on corflute which is a hardwearing and waterproof substrate which is ideal for construction safety signs.

• banner design
• Banner Mesh
• branded banners
• building signs
• building site signage
• Building Wraps
• construction advertising
• Construction signage
• construction site safety
• construction site signage
• safety
• Shade Cloth
• Vinyl

Advertise Your Construction Business Effectively

Advertising serves a critical purpose in the construction industry as an integral communication tool which enables your business to productively and effectively compete with others for the attention of your target market. The construction industry is largely dominated by word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing but the need for an external reinforcement is critical in gaining more customers for your business.

Advertising of any sorts should be your primary objective to reach a larger sales audience, and in doing so, adheres to the recognition or product recall of your company. It is important that the message you are conveying in your advertising campaign is clear and informative across all platforms.

Advertising not only invites consumers to evaluate your product or service, but creates an environment in the marketplace for companies to learn of their competitors and plan accordingly to meet sales targets. Competition allows small and new businesses to successfully enter and expand in the marketplace through varying strategies. These strategies are all based on differentiation; showing customers what makes your product or service distinctively better than those offered by your competitors, giving your company a competitive advantage. Having an advantage is the key to greater profitability; when a customer is relying on your services or products they create a higher expectation for your company, convinced that this purchase is the best one for them. With quality products or services and this perception by consumers you are able to enjoy greater repeat sales, expanding your business and cementing a reputable image.

With advances in print technology, alluring graphics and attractive designs to capture the consumer’s eye, industries who choose to advertise on banners, signage or billboards, have an advantage using a budget advertising medium. This yields a high impact result and branding opportunities on a grand scale without the necessity of a monthly maintenance cost. The ultimate advantage of out-of-home advertising is that your signage and brand is exhibited on a large advertising space that appears 24 hours a day to a wide audience.

At Mesh Direct, we are Australia’s leading large format printers supplying the construction and events industry. Specifically, grand format printing has a high visual impact and is an easy way to capture your target audiences attention. Call us today on 1300 368 978 to speak to one of our friendly sales consultants about your next project.

• banner design
• Banner Mesh
• branded banners
• building signs
• building site signage
• Building Wraps
• construction advertising
• Construction signage
• Shade Cloth
• Vinyl

Product Videos – Shade Cloth, Banner Mesh & Vinyl

Take a look at our new product videos that were created to provide our client base with some quick facts about each substrate available at Mesh Direct.

Shade Cloth/Scrim

Premium Banner Mesh

Standard Banner Mesh

Vinyl Banners

Corflute

• Banner Mesh
• Corflute
• Shade Cloth
• Vinyl

Anti-Graffiti Coating: How to Protect Your Signage

Graffiti and tagging on banners, hoarding and billboards is an unfortunate reality these days. When you install a banner you might want to think about taking precautionary steps to limit your risks of the costly effects of vandalism.

Graffiti vandals can strike anywhere at anytime, even in respectable areas where graffiti is rare. These pests use a wide variety of pens, spray cans and other implements, all of which can be used directly onto mesh or solid vinyl substrates. The cost of graffiti removal can quickly run into thousands of dollars, if possible at all. To remove the graffiti you need to use a solvent which will most likely remove the ink your banner is printed with.

What can you do to protect your signage?

Anti-graffiti coating is one way of protecting your signage investment. At Mesh Direct, we offer only the best graffiti protection provided by Adcoat Graphic Solutions. Adcoat Tuffcoat anti-graffiti coating is available in two variations which differ between levels of graffiti protection. Both are applied to signage after printing by a special liquid coating machine.

The anti-graffiti coating comes in both gloss and matt finishes. Not only does Adcoat Tuffcoat offer the ability to easily clean graffiti off printed banners but it creates an outstanding finish making images and text jump off the substrate.

Adcoat Tuffcoat graffiti coating makes graffiti removal quick and simple without damaging the inks. Adcoat Tuffcoat anti-graffiti coating adds a layer above the original ink, this layer is not impervious to graffiti but it does mean that your signage can be easily restored to its original glory. This is hugely effective in areas of high vandalism activity. Rather than reprinting the entire sign or sections of it, it can be simply cleaned. Over the course of some projects, this would run into the tens of thousands.

Features and Benefits of Anti-Graffiti Coating

• Resists scuff marks, graffiti, gummy adhesive tapes and all stains
• Easy to clean with water
• UV protection
• Weather resistant
• Non-stick, slippery coating
• Mildew and mould resistant
• Durable
• Non-sacrificial (does not lose its properties after cleaning)
• 4 years of graffiti and fade free protection with a 60 micron coating.

Adcoat Tuffcoat anti-graffiti coating is not for everyone or every banner installation. The price of the initial application could double the price of your order but in areas where repeated vandal attacks are likely this is a small price to pay relative to replacement or repair costs. Decision makers will need to weigh up the risks of using Adcoat Tuffcoat anti-graffiti coating but in some cases it is not only desirable but it is virtually mandatory.

We strongly recommend using Adcoat Tuffcoat anti-graffiti coating to protect vinyl covered hoardings against graffiti, particularly when the hoarding is easily accessed and in an urban area. On large scale projects that will last 18 months plus there is a possibility that graffiti vandals will attack your expensive signs multiple times and then the cost of the coating seems relatively cheap compared to replacement costs.

To find out more about protecting your signage with Adcoat Tuffcoat, contact Mesh Direct – 1300 368 978 or visit www.meshdirect.com.au/get-a-quote/.

• Anti-graffiti
• Anti-Graffiti Coating
• banner design
• Banner Mesh
• branded banners
• Building
• building signs
• building site signage
• Construction
• construction advertising
• Construction signage
• installation
• Signage
• Temporary fencing
• Vinyl

[Latest Work] Eight Development Project

Here is a sneak peak at one of our latest projects for a development project.

Mesh Direct worked alongside the construction design agency, Grenade, to provide a brand solution for the Eight development in Maribyrnong, Victoria.

The project brief included the skinning of a double stack container with vinyl banners, mesh banners for temporary fencing and vinyl banners on sail track.

Thank you to Magnify Installations in Melbourne for a fantastic installation.

• Banner Mesh
• Building
• Construction
• Corflute Signage
• Premium Banner Mesh
• Real Estate
• Shade Cloth
• Signage
• Standard Banner Mesh
• Temporary fencing
• Vinyl