Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Why Mya® Personal Tables Make a Great Gift


The Holiday Season is upon us, and you may be asking yourself: “Hmmm… what to buy for that special someone?”
Each year around this time, a number of people from Kalamazoo and surrounding areas return to Consort to order a new supply of Mya tables to give as gifts. Their commitment to Mya comes as no surprise; they make the perfect gift!
Mya Personal Tables are extremely customizable. You decide from the L, J, or I-Series table styles, choose the appropriate height for the recipient, and of course, select the perfect table top from our vast selection. With so many different options, you could create the ideal table for practically anyone on your shopping list.
Mya tables are appropriate for those who enjoy entertaining, especially when there are no tables near the seating. And, know that Mya tables can be used outdoors as well and we might suggest the teak or tile tops for exterior use. In fact, several of our customers enjoy taking their Mya tables camping. With the right top, these tables are extremely durable and able to withstand the elements; a fitting gift for those who enjoy the outdoors on your list.
People who live in small apartments will especially appreciate the added convenience. The I-Series footprint measures just 7.5” square, making it easy to place where other tables would simply be too large.
No matter how large the room, Mya tables are comfortable. With just a 5-3/4” square top they perfectly hold your drink with unparalleled flexibility in their placement. Mya’s have many additional uses including a place for keys, sculpture, speakers and plants, making Mya tables a handy, quality and personal gift year after year.

Monday, December 6, 2010

The Best: Not Always the Most Expensive - KBW Banner Brackets Are a Bargain

     Because Kalamazoo Banner Works’ BannerFlex Banner Brackets are literally the leading and most trusted products in the street light banner bracket business, most people assume they are also the most expensive.
     Not true.
     There are two main reasons this assumption is false. First of all, the actual US dollar cost of our BannerFlex products are in the mid-price range of banner brackets. Even though they are superior, this is possible because they are designed using contemporary technology and materials, resulting in high strength and high efficiency profiles for the castings and greater flexibility in the arms. Our products are designed by professional engineers and industrial designers using the latest in CAD formats to take advantage of modern material-attributes versus mechanics and machinery, in order to reduce wind force. I say this because many of our competitors are producing “under-design” or “over-design” consisting of either not-quite-enough strength or more-than-enough strength - the latter example resulting from heavy castings and / or big spring-mechanisms with too many parts, culminating in higher prices, higher shipping costs and eventually maintenance and costly repairs, because mechanical gizmos always require upkeep.
     Secondly, based on life-cycle-assessment, KBW products are not the most expensive because of the long-term durability and proven track record of astute design and superior manufacturing. Our ten-year warranty is a perfect example of our commitment to provide excellence at a reasonable cost. Because of our technology-base and 27-year experience, we are comfortable with offering a decade of warranty for Kalamazoo Banner Works banner bracket hardware. If you have a problem, we will replace the product. We only ask for a photo or two and a reasonable description of weather or traffic conditions (we don’t warranty brackets being hit by trucks but if you don’t think that’s what happened, we will believe you and you are covered).
     So there you have it. KBW – superior quality, service and value.
     Please let us know what other Consort Display Group related questions or topics you would like us to address.

Roger Lepley

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Golf Course Geese Stay Away From Dori Pole Pennants!


“These pennant things are amazing! The geese are actually afraid of them,” cites golf pro, Dick Stewart, of the Kalamazoo Country Club who, along with the golf course superintendent, John Fulling, has tried “everything” to deter geese from making a mess of the 12th tee and green and the 13th tee. This Michigan country club has an extensive shoreline on a small urban lake where the geese have taken on their own dues-free membership on the beautiful and well-maintained grounds.
                  According to Fulling, the 100-year-old club has tried wires and shiny ground-hugging ribbons as well as dogs and much more, without much success (the dogs are effective but invariably become “pets” of the members and eventually lose interest in chasing birds). For the past five weeks Consort has helped the club with a test using four of their Dori Pole Pennants spaced about 80 yards apart along the shore, but strategically positioned to be out of range of golf shots. The 20’ high, 15’ long pennants float in the prevailing breeze and make the geese uncomfortable, as though a larger bird of prey were swooping around.
“The effect is uncanny”, says Stewart. “But, in those rare times when there is no breeze at all the geese start to move onto shore and trot right back up to the green and tees. Fortunately, we get enough wind that the pennants are probably at least 80% effective”.
John Fulling is encouraged and hopeful that the birds won’t get “used-to” the pennants and just ignore them after awhile. “But, even if they do, we can put them out and take them in for special events and tournaments and I suspect they’d work well for that. We’ll just have to see but currently, the news is all good!”
The country club already owned six Dori Poles with the club colors which they have periodically put up through the year for outdoor special celebrations including the annual “Invitational Tournament” and the February Winter Carnival, among other events. The tall pennants are also an income stream as they can rent them for the many outdoor weddings, where the bridal couple can choose special color pennants.
If you know of a golf course that would like to try Dori Poles for bird control or for outdoor display, please refer them to our Dori Pole website, doripole.com. Also, view our Dori Pole and bird deterrent videos.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

MYA: Small Tables That Make a Big Statement

Part of Consort Display Groups Abstracta line of furniture is the Mya. Mya is a collection of "personal" sized drink tables designed for arm's reach convenience. Mya tables are perfect for serving anywhere or for accenting smaller spaces. Mya models come in varying heights from 19" to 28" to perfectly suit your taste. Choose from indoor-outdoor finishes of black or silver powder coat.

All Mya tables offer 5.75" square interchangeable tops including familiar and exotic hardwoods, tile, acrylic and a unique cigar ash urn. Mya can be accessorized with a number of tops from traditional tile to exotic wood species. With additional tops you can coordinate with the decor of any room. Of course you don't have to simply accessorize for the home. Tile and acrylic tops are well suited for outdoor use as is the durable powder-coated finish available on any table. All table tops fit the I-Series, J-Series, and the L-Series Mya Tables. The Mya tops measure 5-3/4" square.

The Mya Cigar Table offers a new level of style for the discerning cigar enthusiast. Praised by "Cigar Aficionado", Mya is perfect for the den or patio and is designed for tapping within an arm's reach. The ash tray top can be replaced with any of our other interchangeable tops when the cigar is extinguished and a table is desired.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Residential Application of the Dori Pole Pennant System



Many homeowners have been using Dori Poles in a wide variety of ways. Thats right, Dori Poles aren't only the perfect addition to an event, festival, or business; they are also a great for residential use. 

The pennant system is being used to define a sense of space and place for the homeowner. Gardeners truly enjoy using the Dori Poles to draw attention to their gardens. The pennants blow and flail in the wind, and keep unwanted birds away from gardens better than even the most realistic of scarecrows.

Show support for your favorite local sports teams by flying their team colors in your front-yard.   If the 19'-22' poles are too tall for your yard, don't worry, we've got you covered. Our Dori Pole Jr. is a two piece 12' fiberglass pole with a Dori Pole Jr. rotating yoke and 8' colorful pennant. This smaller scale is perfect as an eye-catcher for home parties, the beach, or to make your favorite teams colors fly in the wind! 

Dori Poles are a fantastic way to decorate for celebrations or birthday parties. With so many colors and pole lengths to choose from, Consort Display Group offers Dori Poles that would enhance any special occasion at www.consort.com.  So get yours for that next big celebration today!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Abstracta Furniture Featured in New Fall 2010 Design Quest Catalogue

Design Quest, one of America's leading Scandinavian furniture stores, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is featuring Abstracta furniture in their current catalogue. The title of our page is “Danish-American Innovation” and features some of our favorite Abstracta pieces. 
  
Our unique  little “Mya®” personal-sized beverage tables are designed for arm’s reach convenience and are easily moved around as needed. The multifunctional design is also useful as pedestals for sculptures, vases or plants, speaker stands, bedside tables, or outdoor patio tables. The wood, tile and acrylic tops are interchangeable to fit the décor and location.

Abstracta's Nesting Tables are shown and described as a way to “add a striking expression to your home with this modern version of a classic Danish design”. The nested tables give you plenty of surface space and provide attractive storage when all not in use. 

The Design Quest catalogue also features Abstracta's Bunch Tables. “These beautifully functional cubes are expressions of the simplest of forms. The minimalistic, sturdy construction is appropriate in any setting. Bunch Cubes are elegant as stand-alone singles, or group several in your own configuration for a eye-catching 'bunch'.” 

Please check out Design Quest's fall catalogue to see Abstracta in print! Or, visit Consort's Abstracta Furniture Page to view the full line of Abstracta furniture. 

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Dori Poles and the Marina: The Perfect Combination

Dori Poles can attract attention to any business. The high flying fifteen foot pennants, on our non-tangling, swiveling “Yoke” bracket would catch the eye of even the most inattentive potential customer.   Not only does the Dori Pole grab people's attention, it is a great, green, eco-friendly bird deterrent. It is for these two reasons that Marina's love to use the Dori Pole pennant display system; they are the perfect match.

MarineMax Marina, located in Wilmington, NC, has heavily implemented the use of Dori Poles within their company. They have found the pennant display system to be extremely versatile, using it for several different applications.

The marina docks host several red, white and blue pennants flying up to twenty-two feet in the air. The bright, eye-catching colors attract plenty of attention, and serve as a great welcome back to marina members. Pesky birds are deterred by the flailing pennants, keeping the dock, and boats, clean and sanitary. 

While on outings and cruises, MarineMax uses a Dori Pole on the lead boat as they cruise down the river, making it easy for all following boats to distinguish where they are headed. They also mark their stops at various islands and beaches with Dori Poles, not only to serve as markers for stop points, but to create a sense of festivity and fun as well. Outing participants truly enjoy seeing the pennants flying in the air, and are able to see that MarineMax has a special eye for detail, and a commitment to making their time off-shore as enjoyable as possible. 

Friday, September 3, 2010

What You Need to Know About Wall-Mounting Exterior Vertical Banners

Increasingly, our outdoor street light banner bracket sales folks receive questions regarding wall mounting vertical banners on exterior walls. Because there is much to know before you install this type of banner, KBW/Consort does have dependable and creative solutions to accomplish this.

The challenges in selecting the proper mounting methods include several factors such as the width and length of the banners, how high off the ground the mounting will be, what construction the wall surface material is and what surrounding environmental conditions exist that would either increase or reduce potential wind load on the banner.

What most new-comers to the wall-mounted banner world don't realize is that wind force is a formidable and relentless force with which to be reckoned and typically the higher off the ground the more intense the wind force. The wind seems to want to remove what man puts up. And, the constant breezes and resulting vibrations on banners tend to slowly eat away at the wall at the edges of the Main Casting with banner installations that are not properly planned and executed. For this reason, we almost always recommend the use of an intermediate steel or aluminum mounting plate between the Main Casting of the Banner Bracket and the wall. This plate spreads the wind force vibrations onto a much wider surface area. And, subsequently will keep the banner bracket's Main Casting from wearing away at the wall surface material. Even if the wall is concrete a plate is recommended to disperse the force and to provide extra fastening points. With our plates, we provide four (4) mounting holes as shown on the photo. Note that our plates are provided with two threaded studs welded onto the front to secure the Main Casting. Also, custom powdercoat colors and ornamental shapes are available.

With weaker wall materials, we will often suggest that through-bolts be used, if possible, where the bolts would go all the way through the wall to a second plate or large washers on the interior of the wall. As for whether to use lag bolts, anchor bolts, screws or through-bolts - if you have questions about which to use - we suggest you contact a local architect, engineer or contractor to assist with those decisions. That person can inspect the site if necessary and determine what sort of fastening is appropriate for the construction and materials involved. In some cases the location of an intended exterior wall banner may be significantly protected from excessive wind force due to neighboring buildings or trees or, the opposite effect is possible, where certain conditions will intensify wind force in a sort of wind tunnel effect. A professional can assist with that determination. They will need to know the size and height of the banner to determine wind load.

This particular blog is meant as a primer for this topic and may raise more questions than it answers. But, they are very important questions and we encourage all of this be taken very seriously. For more complete information, please see these links: our BannerFlex Banner Bracket Wall-Mount website and our Wind Force Calculator as well as the KBW BannerFlex Banner Bracket options including the new more flexible Airow bracket.

Questions? Email or call us today!  info@consort.com and 800.525.6424, ext 0
Roger Lepley

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Screen Printed Banners versus Digitally Printed Banners: How to Choose

In our KBW vertical street pole banner division, we are often asked about which is best: screen printed or digitally printed banners. It’s an excellent question and I’m happy to say there is often NOT an easy answer. The reason I say “happy” is because I personally prefer screen print for the vibrant inks and rich, durable marine acrylic fabrics. And, it was our very first product line back in 1983 and we’re really good at it!

However, digital technology is difficult to beat when it comes to all that now makes up the digital world: photographic images, complex tones and tints, image manipulation, easy customization and on and on.

But, as I’ve written before, many folks “over use” that digital capability and try to do too much and show too much. But, when digital designs and files are accomplished with real skill and finesse, digital banners can be wonderful, bold and intriguing. With the spot-color screen print that we produce at KBW, graphic artists are more limited in the complexity of images and, therefore, the tendency is for the content to be simpler, bolder and more “readable”. Not a bad combination. (click here for screen print file specifications)

With the question of durability, the two options compete fairly well. In the “old days” of digital (only ten years ago), the inks were not as durable or the substrates or fabrics not as varied or interesting. You would see a lot of shiny, faded vinyl digital banners. Not so much anymore. Much has been accomplished to make them richer and more UV resistant. Also, up until about five years ago screen print was most always less expensive for a run of five banners or more. Now, digital is very often less expensive. The only caution is to make sure that the chosen vinyl is strong enough for 70 mph-plus winds (and make sure you have the best outdoor banner hardware). At KBW we guarantee that it will be.

And with all that, how do you choose? We have dedicated customers that ALWAYS want screen print because the fabrics are rich, bold colors that last virtually forever (it’s Sunbrella® - A Sunbrella awning or boat cover will serve well over 15 years). And, again, the images tend to be simpler and the inks richer. With larger runs, such as 20 banners and up, the price is very close with both methods and will generally only vary by 10% either way. Again, with digital you are offered complexity, easy customization with typically quicker turn-around time on short runs.

So, consider those differences, and if you need sample swatches of both methods to assist you, we are happy to send those free of charge.

My first choice is screen print if the images work in favor of that method due to the inherent richness.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Super Podia Tabletop Display vs. Podia Classic - A True Tale

        OK, I laughed out loud when I heard that this tale about one of our discontinued products. Here’s a true “marketing” oriented story that illustrates how a little information, when left out of a tradeshow demonstration is, well, sometimes kind of funny.
        We have five videos on our Podia Table Display website that show how durable this amazing product is. For example, in one video a Pontiac drives over one, in another an elephant steps it and it another we toss it from the roof of our building onto the parking lot pavement, and so on. Of course, the wonderful gizmo survives all the abuse. But prior to this newer, 2006 version of the clear polycarbonate capsule, we had the original model that was terrific in all respects except that it was not durable enough to withstand quite the excesses of misuse as the newer version is shown to do in the videos.
        At a tradeshow a few weeks ago I demonstrated the product durability to a bright and energetic young fellow, who is also a relative and who shall remain nameless (Jason Whitmore). He was very impressed and a few days later he was in his office in downtown Kalamazoo where they actually had some of our Podia Tabletop Displays in use. He was so enthused about how wonderful the product is that he asked a fellow worker, “Have you seen how durable this thing is?” No, the person said so the hero of my story took it to a nearby room with a hard tile floor and threw it down, much like the video showing the toss from our roof. Well, of course, this was the older version and it busted apart into a scattered array of plastic parts! As he tells it, “Boy, was I surprised and was my face red!"  Well, apparently I hadn't thought to mention that there was an older version the won't "pass the test".
        As they say, don’t try this at home! Unless you have our Podia MenuPro model and then you can drive over it, crack walnuts with it and use it for batting practice. For a happy ending to the story, I have since congratulated the young man for his uncommon exuberance, treated him to lunch and replaced the older version with Super Podia MenuPro!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Dori Poles Welcome Shoppers to the New Kukui‘ula Shopping Center in Poipu, Kauai, Hawaii

Of course, Dori Pole pennants have been in thousands of outdoor settings over the past 25 years, but to me they always look best in the newest and latest installation! Maybe that’s the point. The 20 foot tall fiberglass pole with the 15 foot long flowing nylon pennant has its own, unique never-out-of-style kind of flavor.

In this installation, the shopping center is a new development at the south end of the island of Kauai near Poipu. And, although this “garden island” setting with palm trees and other lush greenery may seem like it doesn’t need “decorating” the added flowing color and inviting nature of the pennants make one take a second look at what might be offered in the development beyond.

Other examples of Dori Poles on Kauai are shown below and include the Hanalei Dolphin restaurant in Hanalei, Kauai along the Hanalei River. The blue pennants not only add color and movement but also help a bit with bird control for the outdoor seating (birds don’t like being under the pennant’s moving shadow). If you go to Kauai, be sure to visit the Dolphin for lunch or dinner – this is clearly one of the best restaurants on the island and has a superb fish market in the back.


The next example includes the yellow and green pennants at the Princeville Ranch, just 5 miles south of Hanalei. These three pennants are always moving and inviting folks to glance eastward to the Ranch that is just slightly off the road. As a center for horseback riding and zip lining, it gets a lot of attention but the Ranch finds it easier for folks to spot with the inviting pennants along the road.


I’ll bet you know a place or two that could benefit from the inviting color and flutter of Dori Poles. If so, please send them our way!

Monday, February 15, 2010

The Most Important Facts to Know When Choosing Banner Bracket Hardware for Outdoor Light Pole Banners – Or, How to Avoid A Banner Blow-out at 30 MPH!

If you’re looking to purchase banner hardware, I suggest you read this NOW!

With the installation of light pole banners (vertical banners on street poles), the primary challenge to sign companies and to banner companies is to do the best possible job they can in choosing the correct hardware. The next challenge is to install it according to the manufacturer’s instructions and guidelines. Too many times we have seen sign companies and end user customers base their banner bracket hardware choices on price alone. Or choose a bracket because it “looks” like it works and not make the choice on its real engineering or long-term durability.

This can be a dreadfully costly mistake. The hardware choice for vertical street banners is the most important decision in the entire process. I’ve heard some folks say, “the banners will only be up for a weekend” (or a month, or a summer, etc.) not realizing that a significant wind may come up the very next day to rip apart the cheap, unstable installation that looked so wonderful on that, gloriously calm day before (I actually observed this very phenomenon in Kalamazoo about 24 years ago when Tyvek® banners were placed on these ingenious (but very weak brackets made out of electrical conduit for a local art fair – the next day they were all flopping around in the shrubbery and fountains after a 40 mile per hour, blustery morning obliterated the entire grand presentation) ( I suppose I was the only one in town that thought it was funny…).

Besides any esthetic factors however, the real fact of the matter is that these banners and brackets are placed above people’s heads on city sidewalks or within parking lots. That, alone, should be about all you need to know to make sure that you choose hardware with care. You simply must make your selection based on the engineering and practical experience of manufacturers who have designed and tested the products to last and who have bothered to write instructions, guidelines and application suggestions based on technical knowledge. This is the same kind of expert manufacturer which can give you recommendations and testimonials from customers.

If this all sounds like a blatant advertisement for a product that meets all those qualifications, it is! We (Kalamazoo Banner Works by Consort) are the ones to talk to! I have written more about this in previous blogs titled something like “Banner Brackets and Fly Fishing Parts I, II & III”. But, I bring it up again in a slightly different way to emphasize the main point that the choice of which manufacturer you use, is the single most important decision when looking to put up these wonderfully popular vertical street banners. I will end this writing with three facts to ponder on this subject. First, I’ve never seen a reliable bracket that was made in China. Second, be wary of brackets with mechanical systems to rust and wear and, finally, be certain that the attachment method to the light pole (banding or bolts) are sized correctly for the size and number of banners your displaying (there is no room for “seat of the pants” theories here). If your supplier doesn’t give you that information, call or email us. We’ll get the job done properly.

Roger Lepley

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

“China, You Drive-a Me Crazy” or “Getting Knocked-Off Is Not As Much Fun As It Sounds”

As a product designer, I’m reminded too many times that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. And, after 30 years of hearing that, it still never fails to tick me off. It happens every time some jerk in our industry can’t come up with his own product innovations so he just can’t help himself from copying what we’ve designed here at Consort. Flatter me some other way (like: “nice double bogie, dude”…).
And, what makes it worse, these counterfeiters don’t even ask if it’s OK! (Well, of course they don’t ask. Jerks are jerks for a reason…)

Just today I received a package that contained a Chinese copy of one of our (formerly) unique Messenger®-X banner stand products. From a few feet away, one might be surprised to know that it isn’t our product – a pretty good knock-off, you might say (a “knock-off”, in case you aren’t familiar with the term, is defined as an unauthorized copy of something). However, once you really compare the two stands in operation, sophistication, weight (ours is precise aluminum tubing, theirs is heavy steel) and overall strength and stability, you know why it’s cheaper. But, of course, uninformed buyers tend to opt for the less expensive products, don’t they?

How many emails have you received lately for Rolex watches? I’ll bet there are plenty of those knock-offs being sold every day in the US.

The good news is that we design and manufacture things that people like. The not as good news is that some people like them enough to copy them (some are protected by US property rights laws – an expensive proposition - and some are not). Our challenge always has been to trust that higher quality and excellent customer service will drive the best and most discerning customers to us. Fortunately, it has usually worked that way for us.

As for China, the masters of counterfeiting and knock-offs, we do purchase our RTR Retractor Banner Stands from China because they are the only folks making those and they do a pretty good job. But, I hope to limit our Chinese purchases to only what they do well and to avoid buying Chinese knock-offs of other US manufacturers' products.


Roger Lepley

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Here’s A New Term for You: “Bird Deterrent”! Or, Caution Geese: You Are Entering A Dori Pole Zone!

With Consort’s festival Dori Pole Pennant System, we receive quite a few questions similar to, “Does the Dori Pole really keep birds away from wherever it’s installed?” The amazing answer is, “Yes!” it really does do all that! I’m not even exactly sure how we discovered that it had that effect on birds. I believe it was about three years ago when someone, who had bought one to put on his lake dock just for the color and flutter, wrote to us with, “Did you know that the pennants seem to discourage geese from loitering under them?” Well, no we really hadn’t made the connection ourselves, surprisingly enough.


After that email we immediately did a bit of research that resulted in the honest conclusion that birds, any type of birds, including geese, ducks, blue heron (unfortunately!) and so on, just don’t want to be under that flowing pennant and are probably also frightened or distracted by the large moving shadow that is created with the movement. With our own lake dock in Michigan, where we have three pole installed at 20’ intervals, I then realized that we hadn’t had any of the typical goose mess that we’d had in the past. And furthermore, this past spring, I hadn’t quite gotten the Dori Poles up quickly enough after we had installed our canopied Shore Station that the birds had started to make nests under canopy. We’d been away from the cottage for longer than usual in the spring and when we’d returned we had birds constantly flying under the canopy. I then installed the poles and pennants and the birds never returned.

So, there you go. A bird deterrent! And, with no obnoxious chemicals or funny noises. Yes, a "humane" bird deterrent.

Of course, the tall, elegant and colorful pennant product was not invented to be a bird deterrent, but it has become a main selling point for use at lake homes and cottages. I’m told that a few golf courses have installed Dori Poles strategically behind ponds, etc. (but hopefully away from the normal line of play -“normal” for me covers all of the course, nearby woods, parking lots and nearby tennis courts…).

We do know, however, that a gentle wind is also required for the effect to work. That is, at least three mile per hour breeze will do the trick. A lake friend of ours installed three poles with bright red pennants and immediately sent me an iPhone photo showing a gaggle of geese grazing gentle under the three poles shown on an absolutely still day. No breeze. None. The accompanying text said: “They don’t work!” I texted back: “Take another pic tomorrow”. He did exactly that. The new photo had the pennants moving and geese nowhere in sight! So, yes a bit of a breeze, as is common almost all the time anywhere in the world, is a necessary component. And, we do know that water not only attracts birds, it also attracts breezes, thank goodness!
Roger

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Digital Design and Printing – The Perfect Storm for Over-Design

As an architect, I learned early on that too much design or “over-design” is often the easy way out. The really difficult solutions and, more often than not, the best designs are the result of meticulous and thoughtful efforts to simplify the end result to the barest and, hopefully, most elegant solutions. In my opinion, this generally applies to all forms of design: architecture, graphic design, industrial design and so on.

After 25 years experience with our Kalamazoo Banner Works line of vertical street pole banners we've seen about every possible graphic design format possible for a vertical piece of fabric 30" wide by 94" long (our largest typical size) - from refined, effective and striking to graphics of mass confusion that are virtually unreadable. And, it seems, the confusing ones are becoming more common.

Let me explain. These banners are the ones that you see mounted on city light poles, among other places, that more and more cities install to show “pride of place”, announce events and celebrate holidays. When we began designing, manufacturing and marketing these types of banners back in 1983, it was and still is our goal to have the banners, which we design, be simple, bold, readable and pleasing to the eye. What we try to avoid is a look that might remind one of the typical "billboard" similar to what you see on the side of major highways where there is plenty of space to say more than you need to know. Urban light pole banners are best when the design is simpler, bolder and more striking and, I feel, should provide color and interest and enough information to make someone want to know more. We don’t look at the banner as the only element to a program’s communication needs. This just is not the medium for “everything you need to know”. There plainly is not room on a narrow banner nor is too much copy nor are complex photo images easy to read or understand when driving by at 30-plus miles per hour.

Through the years, our clients have tended to agree with our concept as their primary goal is to "dress up" their streets and venues and provide color and the type of design that would be more appropriate in the typical urban setting. This look for which we strive might be described as a sort of anti-billboard (of course, I understand that I may be accused of arbitrarily condemning all billboards, when some may be deemed acceptible) and as soon as it looks like a particular design might be approaching the billboard look we caution the client and present our advice to simplify, if possible.

Our "purist" approach, I believe, had initially helped to make the idea of urban street graphics palatable and popular. The challenge right now, however, with the amazing capabilities provided by digital design and digital printing, has provided designers the “perfect storm” for overdesign. It’s just too easy nowadays to throw images together and shade and screen and half-tone and impose image on image until every trick in the book appears on the banner concept. The end result is often unreadable and difficult to understand. I firmly believe that one of the most significant reasons that urban street banners became accepted by city planners and marketers was their inherent simplicity. This simplicity occured somewhat naturally because the only methods of manufacturing them were via screen printing and appliqué. These methods, back in 1970 to 2000, were either the only reasonable way to construct the banners or were certainly the most cost effective. Digital printing of banners did not become cost effective until after 2000. That’s when designers began to feast on the wonders of digital tools and apply more design elements than are sometimes necessary.

So, my message here is the same one that architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe made popular: Less is More. Or, others might refer to it as K.I.S.S.