Pull-up banners: sizes, costs and design tips for Sydney events
What size to buy, what you'll pay in 2026 and how to design one people actually read — the workhorse of expos, fêtes and open days.
If you're standing at an expo, fête or open day this spring, the safe default is a standard 850 × 2000 mm pull-up banner — one cassette, one print, up in under a minute, from $137 printed at our Moorebank studio. This guide covers the sizes that matter in Australia, what you'll pay in 2026, and the design rules that decide whether people read it or walk past it.
The sizes that actually matter
Three sizes cover almost every event in Australia — and one of them covers most:
| Size | Where it wins | |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 850 × 2000 mm | The expo default — fits standard booths, carry bags and every venue aisle |
| Wide | 1000 × 2000 mm | Big halls and shared stands where you want more art room and more presence |
| Compact | ~850 × 1200 mm | Tabletops, counters, demo stations and school halls with low ceilings |
The 2000 mm height is the magic number: it clears the table, the stock and the crowd, and it reads across a hall. If you only ever buy one banner, make it the 850 × 2000 — it's the size every cassette bag, spare part and venue floor plan assumes.
What a pull-up banner costs in 2026
- The honest baseline. A standard cassette-plus-print pull-up starts from $137 at our Moorebank studio — frame, printed skin and carry bag included.
- Where the money goes. The cassette mechanism is the quality: a good one retracts straight every time and survives years of set-ups. Budget online kits save on exactly this part — thin feet, a wobble in the wind, prints that never sit flat again.
- Re-prints are the cheap part. The frame is reusable. When your design, pricing or team changes, we reprint just the skin for a fraction of a new unit — and we keep your art on file, so a re-order is one email.
- Double-sided costs more. Roughly double the print, plus a two-sided cassette — worth it only where traffic comes from both directions (more below).
Design rules: the six-second test
- Logo high. Top third, at eye level — the zone that reads across a hall, over heads and stock.
- One message. A headline of about six words, readable from 10 metres. The letter-height maths is in our banner text-size guide — most banner text is set far too small.
- Give the QR a job. Chest height, with a reason to scan ("see the price list", "book a site visit") — and never as the only call to action. Plenty of people never scan.
- Respect the cassette. The bottom 150–200 mm of artwork retracts into the base. Keep phone numbers and web addresses clear of the floor zone or they vanish.
- Send print-ready art. A full-size PDF with bleed is ideal — our print-ready files guide covers it. Only have a JPEG or PNG? Send it anyway; we redraw logos into vector art at no charge.
Double-sided, fabric or vinyl?
- Double-sided. Worth it when people approach from both directions — island booths, centre-aisle positions, entry foyers. If your banner sits against a wall or your own backdrop, single-sided does the job and saves the difference.
- Fabric. No glare under hall lighting, no curl at the edges, washable — the premium pick for events where photos get taken.
- Vinyl. The workhorse: wipeable, tough, and the standard for a reason. Either finish rides the same cassette, so choose on budget and venue lighting.
Turnaround and venue delivery
- Standard turnaround across event printing is 3–5 working days; pull-up banners often go in 48 hours, and we hold rush slots every week for tight calendars.
- Delivered to the venue. We print at Moorebank and deliver Sydney-wide — including direct to your stand for load-in day, so nobody's carting a banner on the train.
- Order it as a kit. Banner + table throw + flyers + A-frame is a common one-PO order; our trade show checklist ranks what actually earns its space in the ute.
FAQs
Standard event printing runs 3–5 working days, but pull-up banners often go in 48 hours — and we hold rush slots every week. Call 0478 231 759 and we'll fit your event date.
Yes. The cassette mechanism is built to last years. When your design or pricing changes, we reprint just the skin for a fraction of a new unit — and we keep your artwork on file so re-orders are one email.
If people approach your stand from both directions — island booths, centre-aisle spots, foyers — yes. Against a wall or your own backdrop, a single-sided banner does the job.
A print-ready PDF at full size with bleed is ideal. Only have a JPEG or PNG? Send it anyway — we redraw logos into vector art at no charge before anything goes to print.
Setting up for an event? Pair your banner with the rest of our promo and event printing, compare formats in our Australian banner sizes guide, or see what we print for South-West venues on our events page.
Event coming up? We hold rush slots weekly.
Pull-up banners from $137 — designed, printed and delivered Sydney-wide from Moorebank, with 48-hour turnaround when the calendar gets tight.