The artwork deadline nobody plans for

Every part of an event build has slack in it except one. Freight can be expedited. A crew can start earlier. Artwork cannot be compressed, because a printed graphic has to be laid out, proofed, approved, printed and dried before anyone can put it in a van.

Approved artwork is due at least 14 days before your delivery or install date. Both of those words do work, and both are the reason this deadline catches people out.

It is two dates, not one

Read the deadline carefully and there are two dates hiding in it.

Approved does not mean sent. It means you have seen a proof and signed it off in writing — which is what releases the job to print. So the 14 days is not the window in which we lay out, proof and print your artwork. It is the window that starts after sign-off.

Install date, not event date. If the wall bumps in the evening before your event, your deadline is a day earlier than you think. On a multi-day programme with an early bump-in, it can be several.

Put together: if artwork lands on the 14-day mark, it is already late, because layout and proofing still have to happen. Send files with enough room to see a proof and respond to it — a few days at minimum, more if the artwork needs work or a sponsor is still moving.

What the fortnight is actually for

Once you approve, the fortnight covers:

1. Print. Dye-sublimation onto tension fabric, in-house.
2. Build. The frame is pre-assembled and checked before it leaves.
3. Freight. Typically 5–10 business days by state, and faster in Sydney.

Which is why it is 14 days and not a token week. Interstate freight eats most of it.

What to send

Supply print-ready PDF, AI or EPS. Vector artwork is what you want for logos and type — it stays crisp at any size, which matters when a logo that is 40 mm on a business card becomes 900 mm on a wall.

If all you have is a raster file, send us the largest version you have and we will tell you honestly whether it will hold up at print size. A 1200 px logo pulled off a website will not.

About colour

Screens vary, which is why we always confirm colour on a proof rather than over email. If a brand colour is critical — the kind where the brand team will notice a shift — ask for Pantone matching and we will quote it.

That conversation is much easier before print than after.

Late sponsors are normal — and they are a reprint, not a rebuild

This is the part worth understanding, because it changes how you plan.

On a tension-fabric wall, the printed graphic is a separate skin from the frame. The aluminium structure is one thing; the fabric that stretches over it is another. So a sponsor tier that lands a fortnight out means reprinting the fabric — the frame you booked does not change.

That is why we would rather you book the frame early on your best guess at the sponsor list, and finalise the graphic later, than delay the whole booking waiting for a signature.

One caveat: production starts when you approve the proof in writing, and approval covers the lot — spelling, logos, colours, layout, dimensions. Anything that changes after that needs a fresh print, so it is worth pricing the change before you sign off rather than after. If you know a logo is still moving, say so at proof stage. Our terms set out how artwork and approvals are handled.

The practical version

• Work back from your install date, not your event date.
• Mark “artwork approved” at 14 days out — and “artwork sent” several days before that, so there is room to proof.
• Send vector where you can.
• Turn the proof around the day it arrives. Approval is the only step in the chain you control.
• Flag critical brand colours early.
• Do not hold the booking for a late sponsor — hold the graphic.

Working to a tighter deadline than that? Send us your date anyway. We will tell you straight away whether it is achievable rather than let you find out late.