How to design the perfect event badge

Have you ever found yourself talking with someone at a conference and trying desperately to avoid staring at their badge because you can’t quite read their name or where they’re from?

Creating name badges for events is harder than it looks. Not everyone has a professional designer on hand and some organisers struggle to produce badges that are not only visually appealing but also functional.

Poorly presented name badges can lead to confusion, missed connections, and a surprising amount of grumbling about an otherwise brilliant event.

At AttendZen we invested a lot of time and effort developing our clever drag&drop badge builder, along with our smart badge-on-demand software, for conferences and events of all kinds. It makes it easy to generate professional, branded badges – exactly as you need them.

But what should you put on those badges? How big should they be? And how should you arrange the content so that it’s easy to read and looks amazing?

Fear not. This is our practical guide to ensure your name badges are stylish, readable, and sustainable.

Where to begin

When creating your event badge, always start with the golden trio. No, not Harry, Hermione and Ron. This trio comprises: the attendee’s first and last names; their company affiliation and / or job title; and the event brand. This is the core information every badge needs. All the other elements we’ll look at are secondary to this trio.

Start with the name itself. Make sure the first name is prominently displayed and easily readable from a distance.

Think about it: If I’m meeting someone for the first time, I need their first name more than I need their last name. So consider making the first name larger than the last name and giving it its own line on the badge.

Get the size of the name right and introductions are easier. It’s also much less awkward to run into someone you know whose name you’ve forgotten. And, importantly: if the badge wearer is a woman, you’re not asking other attendees to stare at her chest – which is understandably uncomfortable for the badge-wearer. Good badge design discourages creepiness!

Typefaces with a large x-height (the relative size of the lower case letters in relation to the capital letters), clear character design, and suitable weight will be easier to read from a distance. Examples are sans-serif fonts such as stalwart Helvetica or the more characterful Frutiger, and serif varieties like Noto Serif and Roboto Slab.

You need to be using font sizes that range from roughly 28 to 38 points to be sure that names and other information are legible at a glance.

Avoid block capitals because THEY’RE HARDER TO READ AT A DISTANCE!

As with all graphic design, the key is to establish an information hierarchy, with the attendee’s first name in a larger, bolder font followed by their last name, and then their affiliation in smaller, supporting fonts.

Remember to test how your badge functions. You should be able to read a badge with a quick and non-obvious / non-lingering glance from a distance of at least 10 and preferably 15 feet.

De-emphasise the conference logo

It’s always tempting to make the name and / or logo of your conference the biggest element on the badge and have it right up in everyone’s faces. But it’s a good idea to resist this temptation.

Why? Because that big bright and distracting logo at the top of the badge competes with and distracts from the attendee’s name – making it harder to read. Everyone already knows which event they’re at.

So consider making the event logo smaller and put it at the bottom of the badge; or if you want to have it at the top, try making it as subtle as possible.

Scantastic

Integrating QR codes into conference badges can enhance attendee engagement and provide access to additional information. QR codes can link to an attendee’s contact details or pretty much anything else you need.

You’ll need to make sure there is sufficient space on your badge for the code. To ensure most smartphones can scan the QR code, the minimum size should be 20mm x 20mm, or 0.8 in x 0.8 in.

Contrary to popular belief, QR codes do not have to be rendered in black and white. They can be in (almost) any colour you like providing you ensure that the code itself and the background colour have enough contrast, which means that you don’t necessarily need that ugly white box around your code. Nevertheless, always test a printed badge with your phone’s camera before you commit to your layout.

Categories

Larger events often need to use the badge to differentiate between different attendee types (delegate, speaker, VIP, staff etc).

The best way to do this (without taking up too much real estate on the badge) is by using a neatly contained coloured strip of some kind as well as the category text.

Sponsor and partner logos

If you’re including sponsor logos make sure these are appropriately sized and positioned relative to the event brand itself (and the critical badge elements). Think of the attendee name as centre stage, the event logo as side stage, and the sponsor logos as back stage. They’re all important, but there is a hierarchy.

It’s important to maintain a balance between the event and sponsor branding to avoid overwhelming the badge layout. This ensures sponsors get appropriate recognition without overshadowing the event’s identity, while ensuring that your badges look professional. This way, the star of the show – the attendee – remains the focal point.

Getting the balance right

Once you’ve settled on the information you need on the badge, it’s time to optimise the layout.

Balance is essential in design, ensuring all elements on your name badge are visually harmonious. There are two main types of layout: symmetrical and asymmetrical.

Symmetrical layout involves arranging elements evenly on a central axis, resulting in a traditional appearance. Asymmetrical layout can allow elements to be arranged in a less uniform and more imaginative way, which, when done well, can result in a more dynamic visual appearance.

Organise text, graphics, and blank space across the badge according to the needs of the information hierarchy you have decided upon. Avoid overcrowding one section with too much information, which can detract from your intention.

Balancing your layout enhances readability and makes your name badges more visually appealing, contributing to a polished look for your event.

Use hierarchical typography to distinguish different levels of information. The attendee's name should be in a larger, bolder font to draw attention immediately. Additional details, like job titles or company names, should be in smaller, supporting fonts. This approach not only enhances readability but also creates a clean and organised look, making your name badges both functional and visually appealing.

Limit your use of colour

Aim to work with a colour scheme that complements the event theme while enhancing readability – high-contrast colours for the name and affiliation text will help here. Your name badges are likely to be the smallest pieces of marketing collateral at your event, so resist the temptation to deploy your whole brand palette. Limiting the number of colours on the badge will help to avoid visual clutter and maintain a clean, cohesive appearance.

Size matters

Selecting the appropriate size and format for your conference badges depends on multiple factors including the scale of your event, your budget, printing method, brand / design guidelines, etc.

As a general rule though, it’s probably a good idea to go large if you can.

Larger badges provide more space for the various information elements.

The larger the badge, the larger you can make the attendee’s name without compromising other information elements (branding, QR code, tag information etc). An added bonus is that larger badges are less likely to flip around as attendees move about.

A popular size we see used is 150mm x 100mm (hxw) – or roughly 6 x 4 inches. There’s no shortage of printable badge stock around this size, including good print-on-demand (fanfold) and eco-friendly products that balance cost and performance.

Spinning around

Despite conference name badges being around for roughly a century now, and humankind having managed to construct the International Space Station and track down the Higgs boson, we still see a lot of conference badges that are turned round the wrong way.

Ideally, the lanyard shouldn’t allow the badge to spin, flip, tilt, or otherwise do anything but lay flat against the person wearing it.

This problem invariably occurs if the badge’s lanyard has just one attachment point. To address this you could specify a lanyard that attaches at both top corners of the badge (and a badge stock that has holes on both corners).

Of course, you can just print the same information on both sides, but why not use the reverse for something useful like a map of the venue or basic agenda information? And if you do, print that information upside down so that it’s easy for the wearer to flip their badge and read it.

Don’t be afraid to experiment!

We’ve seen some terrible badge layouts out there in the world, but we also see plenty that look great and functional.

The key to success is to experiment with your particular brand – identity, colours, etc – while sticking to the general principles discussed above. Then test, test, test!

But keep it simple

However beautiful and sophisticated your event branding is, try to avoid the temptation to make your badge into an art project.

Low-contrast type, abstract shapes, odd patterns, and names printed top-to-bottom or on the bias all make it harder to read badges when at a busy event.

So rather than using detailed photographic images or complex graphics in your design, think about whether you can take a detail from an element or abstraction and incorporate it into the layout in a way that doesn’t compromise the readability of the most important information. Remember: while your badge needs to look harmonious with the rest of your event branding, it doesn’t need to include everything you have on screens, brochures, and other collateral.

Great badges are essential for good networking

Of course, when you’re running a conference you’ve got a million moving parts to worry about. It’s stressful and exhausting, and it’s easy to overlook details like badges. But remember: networking is far and away the most important reason people come to your events.

And they don’t need to break the budget

People often assume good name badges have to be expensive. They really don’t. AttendZen gives you everything you need to create amazing, branded badges, and print them on-site in seconds. Badge stock can cost as little as 40 cents per attendee and high-quality professional badge printers can be rented for a few hundred bucks.

If you have to give people name badges, you might as well give them great name badges.