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Event badge maker
One layout, a colour for every role, printed in batches as the registrations come in.
No signup. No watermark. Your data never leaves your browser.
About the event badge maker
An event is rarely one kind of badge. There are the people running it, the people speaking at it, the people who paid to be there and the ones who turned up on the day, and a steward has to tell them apart at a glance from four metres away in bad light.
The way to do that is one layout and a colour per role. Same size, same typography, the name in the same place, and a band across the top that changes colour and word. It looks deliberate rather than improvised, and it means nobody has to read anything to know who can go backstage.
Registrations do not all arrive at once, so print in batches. The project is saved on this device, so you can print Friday’s list on Friday and open the same file on Monday for everyone who signed up over the weekend.
Your badge data stays in your browser. Names, spreadsheets and photos are never uploaded, and never reach any analytics. Your work is saved on this device only.
Start here
Templates for this
Each one opens in the editor with the fields already set up. Change anything you like.
What goes on an event badge
- Badge type
{{attendee_type}} - Crew, speaker, guest, press, contractor. This is the word in the band, and it is the only thing a steward on a door actually reads.
- Name
{{name}} - Second in the hierarchy but the biggest type on the badge. Stewards work from the band; everyone else works from the name.
- Role
{{role}} - What they do, not their job title. Stage manager, front of house, first aid. It is what tells a lost attendee which of the four people in black to ask.
- Phone
{{phone}} - The production number, printed the same on every crew badge, in small type along the bottom. Radios run out of battery and somebody always needs a number they cannot remember.
Anything in double braces is filled in per person. Put {{name}} on the badge once and it becomes every name on your list.
How it works
Four steps, and none of them is signing up.
- 1
List the roles before you design anything
Write down every group that needs a badge, including the ones people forget: sound, security, the caterer, the photographer, the venue’s own staff. Each one needs a word and a colour.
- 2
Build one badge, then recolour it
Lay the crew badge out once. For the next role, change the band colour and the word and leave everything else alone. Identical positions are what makes the set look like a set.
- 3
Import each group separately
Filter your list by role in the spreadsheet, export that group as CSV, import it, print it, then repeat. Sorting one badge type at a time beats sorting a mixed stack afterwards.
- 4
Print the late ones on the morning
Reopen the project, add whoever signed up overnight, and print one more sheet. For a single badge, a 300 DPI PNG is quicker than making another PDF.
Colour-coding roles, and printing in batches
Colour is the fastest signal on a badge. A steward on a door has a second and a bad angle, and a red band means crew whether or not they can read the word underneath it. Pick colours that stay distinct at four metres under event lighting: a strong red, a deep blue, a yellow, a green. Two mid-greys will not do it, and neither will red next to orange.
Keep the number of types down. Four or five is manageable. Nine means the stewards need a printed key, and by hour three nobody is looking at the key. If two groups get the same access, give them the same colour and let the word underneath be the only difference.
Then print in batches, one role at a time, and keep the stacks apart. It sounds obvious until you are standing at a registration desk sorting a mixed pile while a queue builds. Filter the spreadsheet, export, import, print, band the stack, write the role on a sticky note, next role.
The last batch is usually printed on the morning, because registrations keep arriving. The design lives in this browser on this device, so open the same project, import the newest export and print only the rows you added. It also means the file is not sitting in a cloud account somebody else can open — but equally, it will not be on the other laptop if you turn up with the wrong one.
- Crew: one strong colour, worn all day, name plus what they actually do
- Speakers: their own colour, name and talk title, no logo clutter
- Guests and exhibitors: the neutral badge, name and company
- Contractors and suppliers: a distinct colour and an end date, so they read as temporary
Event badge sizes
| Badge | Size | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Lanyard badge | 3 × 4 in · 76.2 × 101.6 mm | Portrait, and the default for anyone wearing a badge all day. 4 per US Letter sheet. |
| Large crew badge | 4 × 6 in · 101.6 × 152.4 mm | When the role word has to be legible from the far side of a hall. 1 per US Letter sheet, 2 at quarter-inch margins. |
| Clip-on badge | 3.5 × 2.25 in · 88.9 × 57.15 mm | Landscape holders for staff who come on and off shift. |
| Stick-on guest tag | 3 × 2 in · 76.2 × 50.8 mm | Day guests who do not need a lanyard. 10 per US Letter sheet. |
Order the lanyards and holders first, then set the badge to fit them. It is much easier to change one size here than to change 400 holders.
Questions
Where to next
- Conference badge makerThe delegate half of the job, with a QR code.
- Volunteer badge makerTeam and shift on the badge for people working a rota.
- How to print badges from ExcelFilter by role, export the group, print the batch.
- Printable name tagsStick-on tags for day guests who are not getting a lanyard.
Make your event badge now
The editor opens straight away. Nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.