Single vs Double-Sided Banners: Cost, Uses and Specs

How Much Does a Double-Sided Banner Cost?

Double-sided printing adds about 60 percent to the price of the same banner single-sided, at every size we stock on 18oz. It is a near consistent uplift, so you can work it out on any size before you open the order form.

There is a second number worth seeing, because most people are not comparing 18oz single to 18oz double. They are comparing the cheap banner they had in mind to the double-sided one. A 3 x 6 on 13oz standard vinyl is $133.00 and a 3 x 6 double-sided on 18oz is $278.19. A 4 x 8 goes from $229.00 to $470.79. That is the real jump, and it is worth naming out loud before you decide.

Everything on both lists includes hems and grommets, a free digital proof with every order, and 3 business day production after you approve it. Shipping is a flat $10 per order either way, so it does not change the comparison.

How Is a Double-Sided Banner Printed?

There are two ways the trade builds a banner that reads from both sides, and the difference is what sits between the two designs. One way prints both faces onto a single panel of heavy, opaque material. The other bonds two printed panels together with an opaque layer sandwiched between them, so a cut edge shows three layers: a printed face, a dark core, and a second printed face.

What matters to you as a buyer is the same in either case: the material has to be opaque enough that the front design does not read backward through the back design. That is why the second face is offered on 18oz heavy duty vinyl, the heaviest scrim we run, and not on 13oz or 15oz. If you are pricing this at another shop, ask which method they use and what the material weight is. A cheap double-sided quote on light vinyl is usually a print-through job, and print-through is what people mean when they say a double-sided banner looked muddy.

When Is a Single-Sided Banner the Right Choice?

Single-sided wins any time the back of the banner is against something or facing away from every reader. In those placements the second side is not a compromise, it is simply not visible.

• Mounted flat to a wall, a fence panel, a building face or a construction barrier
• Loaded into a retractable or X stand, where the back sits inside the hardware
• A step and repeat backdrop, which only gets photographed from the front
• A storefront window banner, read from the sidewalk only
• Hung against the back wall of a trade show booth or a stage
• Any banner on a fence line where people only walk or drive on one side

For all of these, take the money the second side would have cost and put it into size or weight instead. A 4 x 8 on 13oz at $229.00 outperforms a 3 x 6 double-sided at $278.19 on a wall every time, because the thing that gets read from a parking lot is letter height, not the number of faces. The full size ladder is in banner sizes.

One material note: mesh banners are single-sided only, because the perforations that let wind through let light through too.

When Does the Second Side Pay for Itself?

The second side pays when two different groups of people approach the banner from two different directions, and neither group can see the other side. Then you are not buying a second face, you are buying a second audience for about 60 percent more.

• Banners hanging from light poles or street poles, where drivers approach from each direction
• Banners bracketed out perpendicular to a building, so foot traffic reads it coming and going
• Hanging banners over a trade show aisle or an exhibit hall walkway
• Banners strung between two posts at a festival, market, fair or stadium event, with crowds on both sides
• Directional banners at an intersection, pointing drivers in from more than one road
• Any banner suspended over an entrance people walk through in both directions

If anyone will ever approach the banner from behind, price the second side. If the answer is no, you already have your answer.

Are Double-Sided Yard Signs Worth It?

Yes, and they are the one place where double-sided is the default rather than the upgrade. One 18 x 24 yard sign is $53.49 single-sided and $64.19 double-sided, so the second face costs $10.70 on a sign that gets planted at an intersection.

That is the whole difference between the two products. On a yard sign the second face is a small flat fee. On a banner it is a percentage of a much larger number, which is why a banner deserves the walk-around and a yard sign usually does not. Real estate, contractors, campaigns and event directional signs all default to double-sided for that reason.

How Do You Design the Back of a Banner?

Design the back as a second front. The most common way to waste a double-sided banner is to treat the back as a place to repeat the logo at half the size, which turns a paid second face into a decoration.

Give the back the same headline hierarchy, the same letter height and the same contrast as the front. It is often the same layout with one change: swap the call to action for the one that fits the direction that reader is traveling. A banner across a festival lane can say the booth number on one side and the offer on the other. A banner on a light pole can carry the event name facing traffic coming in and the date facing traffic going out.

The rest of the layout rules are the same on both faces, and they are collected in our graphic guidelines for banner design.

Two production notes that only matter on double-sided work. Everything still has to sit at least 2 inches inside the finished edge on both faces, because the hem folds over both of them. And if either face has a hard vertical element like a border or a split color block, keep it well inside the safe area, since the two faces are aligned to the finished size rather than to each other's artwork.

What We See in the Shop

The pattern we see most is a banner ordered double-sided for a wall. Somebody reads that double-sided is the better option, checks the box, and the banner ends up screwed flat to a brick face where the second design will never be seen by a single person. We catch it by asking one question on the proof: where is this hanging. It is a free question before the ink goes down and an expensive one afterward.

The opposite version shows up at events. A single-sided banner gets hung across an aisle or between two posts, and by the second morning somebody has zip tied a second banner to the back of it, off center, with the grommets fighting each other. Two banners tied back to back also catch wind like a sail and pull at the grommets, which is exactly the failure a proper double-sided panel avoids. If the placement is a hanging one, buy it as one double-sided banner the first time.

The third one is quieter. A back side arrives as a low resolution logo pulled off a website, because the front was designed properly and the back was an afterthought at 11pm. Blown up to four feet that logo is a blur, and it is the side half the crowd is standing in front of.

A Three Question Decision Tree

Ask three questions in order and the answer falls out of them.

1. Can anyone physically see the back of where this banner will hang? If the back is against a wall, a fence, a stand or a booth, stop here. Order single-sided.
2. Are the people on that side customers? A back face pointed at a parking lot wall or a loading dock is visible and worthless. It has to point at people you want.
3. Is the second face worth what it costs at your size? Work it out on the table above. At a 3 x 6, the second face is $107.00. At a 5 x 10 it is $267.50, and at that price a second single-sided banner in a different spot may reach more people.

If all three answers are yes, order double-sided and design the back properly. If any one of them is no, spend the difference on a bigger banner.

What to Send Us

Send a print ready PDF for each face, built at the bleed size, CMYK, full size at 100 to 150 dpi, with fonts outlined or embedded and all text at least 2 inches inside the finished edge. Label the two files clearly as front and back so the proof comes back showing the faces the way you intend them.

Send any image, Canva export, PDF or logo through AI image to print and we make it print ready, covering size, bleed, resolution and color, for $14.99 once per item. If you have no design at all, Design it for me is +$29.99 on an item under $499 and free at $499 or more, which covers the larger banners in the tables above, and a designer builds it from scratch with two revisions included. Either way you see a free digital proof with every order before anything prints, and production is 3 business days after approval.