Fun ID’s – Your Way
Identification is extremely important, that is why we always carry them around. When emergency strikes or when we simply need to prove our identity, ID cards come in handy. For employment purposes, ID’s give the hint whether to give an employee access to certain facilities. Even in small gatherings and meetings, ID cards or badges (from hereon) are used to easily identify the participants.
Indeed, ID badges give important details and are always useful. However, especially for the young ones or for those who just want something unique, ordinary ID’s can look plain, bare and boring. When you attend a special event where you use an ID badge, you would want to keep this as a souvenir to commemorate (or show off) your participation, wouldn’t you? So why not give ID badges a twist – and make it fun!
Of course, fun is a loose term. A company or government ID must include information that must not be forgotten upon printing. Also, the picture must not look wacky or blurred. Professionalism must be present on the ID. One must consider these when trying to do some small changes to make their ID’s fun.
Okay so what changes can we do to make our ID’s fun? Upon designing the layout for the card, try playing with colors. ID’s usually are put on all the time, so look at it as if it is an accessory. Also, experiment with different shapes – not just the common rectangle and square for the picture. Try adding semi-circles or swishes then rotate them in an interesting angle. You can also play with opacity and blur. Also play with various fonts – you need not to use one font for every word in your badge. You can use a curvy font for the first letters, and then use the “sans” font-types for the rest. Awaken your inner artist!
Upon printing, choose an ID badge printer that can print the color combinations you have used to the closest color as that on your computer’s monitor – I have experienced using an ID badge printer that does not print quality graphics and colors, and in effect, the ID badges that I printed looked drab.
Once the ID badges are printed, use an ID holder that is fun and colorful. There are lots of colors and styles to choose from for your ID holder! They also come cheap, at around one dollar each. Also, why not use a unique sling or pin to come with it? Slings can be colorful also, but consider the event or place that the ID’s are going to be used. You do not want puppies-and-kittens printed slings on a formal meeting, do you?
Once again, I would like to stress how important it is to maintain the professionalism of the badge especially if it is going to be used in a formal gathering. The background and overall theme may be fun and unique to look at, but be sure that the important details of the badge (name, contact details, position, logos, etc.) are readable.
So you see, ID badges need not be serious and boring to be effective. In fact, making ID’s fun can even make them less likely to be forgotten at home!