Designing Your Sports Banners

If you have a sports team it is important to have a banner to display your team's name. This can work in several different ways to promote your team and can be used as a way to entice sponsors for your events.

A sports banner should be designed around these principles: Your team's colors, its name and its logo. These three design elements are integral to your entire banner and should be selected carefully. Here are some tips on how to design the perfect banner for your team.

Design Tip #1 - Utilizing colors. Most teams have a different color scheme for at-home games and away games. Instead of designing two different banners, it is a good idea to test both schemes out first. For example, if your team's jerseys have a blue background and white text for home games, and a white background and blue text for away games, see which one works best for your banner.

The text should be easy to read and the colors should weather well. In this case, a blue background will not show dirt as easily as a white background, and the white text on the banner will pop-out. This is a good example of how to pick the prevailing color for your banner.

You may also need to use a third color, to draw attention to a specific area of your banner. For example, if you have a sponsor for your team, their message should also be clearly visible, but it may not necessarily share your team's colors. A sponsor message in yellow would work well using our example of a banner with a blue background.

Design Tip #2 - Your Team's Name. The team name is the main component upon which your banner exists. It should be in bold text, in a large font that is easy to read from a distance. Try testing this out using several large sheets of paper. Try out different text sizes until you find the one that can be seen from the furthest distance. This will give you an idea of how large the text on your banner should be.

Design Tip #3 - Your Team's Logo. If you have a logo or a mascot, this should be included in your banner. This creates a visual recognition element that will help people instantly know who is on the field that day. The logo can be displayed next to the team's name, on either side of the text, or in a corner. The logo should be large enough to see from a distance, but should not dwarf the main text of the banner.

Design Tip #4 - Sponsor Logos or Messages. If your team has a sponsor, you should include this sponsor on your banner. This is typically done by including the sponsor's name, in a different color, either on the top of your main text, or on one side of the banner.

You may need to check with the company that is sponsoring your team to make sure that they approve of your design before you order your banner. They may also have graphics that you can utilize or specific design elements that they want on your sign.