How To Create An ID Card

Clients often ask “What features should I put on my ID cards?”

Of course every organization will have different requirements for what is needed to be printed on the ID card. ID badges can be as simple or complex as you would like them to be when creating a template. The more features an organization puts on their card, the more secure that card will become as it makes it that much harder for people to counterfeit. Adding more features to an ID card will often help increase efficiency within that organization, such as using a barcode for clocking in and out. Whether you are a university, corporation, or hospital, these are a few different items that would be beneficial to add to your cards to make them more secure and harder to counterfeit.

Photos

 

Adding an employee photo is easily done using an ID camera, a digital camera, a cell phone, or using a photo file such as a JPEG. We recommend putting photos on ID cards simply because it is hard for someone to claim they are the cardholder when their face very clearly does not match the person on the ID card. Be sure to use a good quality camera with good lighting to ensure when the ID badges are printed, the person on the card can be seen clearly. If you are having issues with the cards coming out looking significantly different than the individual. Try using a light blue backdrop!

Names

 

Putting an individuals name is one of the most common things organizations like to do. It helps build credibility of that individual when visiting prospective clients. With longer names we recommend having multiple lines (word wrap) on the ID card to ensure the font size is still large enough to read from a distance.

Titles

 

Titles are easily added to ID cards. Though sometimes titles can be quite elaborate, we recommend keeping the titles as short and sweet as possible so they do not become overwhelming. It is quite difficult to read “Vice President of Sales and Marketing for North America” will be pretty difficult to read from a distance so perhaps consider shortening this to “VP of Sales & Marketing”or “Vice President”.

 

Barcodes

 

Barcodes come in all different configurations but the most common type of barcode on an ID card is known as code 39. This is mostly used with your common handheld scanners commonly used in cafeterias, time clock systems, and more. Depending on your software, you may also be able to create QR codes that can direct people to a web URL for easy access to something they may use frequently. Barcodes are great for speeding up lines and increasing efficiency too. We have customers that use barcodes to speed up lines and not need people to touch different surfaces such as the cafeteria, to check in and out visitors quickly, and for time clocks, just to name a few.

Colors

 

We see more and more organizations using different colors to distinguish quickly between cardholders. For example in education, faculty like the ability to tell by grade level quickly so we have assisted dozens of schools with creating different colors for different grade levels. In heavy equipment corporations, we have created different colors based on equipment a person is certified to use. This way supervisors can tell quickly everyone using a forklift for example should have a yellow badge which means they have received forklift training. Or perhaps you want to have different colors for departments within your organization to quickly tell who is in the marketing department or who is in HR.

Images

 

The different images a client can put on their ID card is endless. Most common images used on ID cards would be a company logo or a school logo of some sort. We often times try to design the ID card templates around this image so everything is on the same color spectrum and visually appealing. In some ID card software solutions which you can see on our website HERE , clients can adjust transparency of the images too. This allows customers to create more of a watermark behind text, or photos to add another layer of security to their ID badges.

Signatures

 

Often times in government agencies, clients want signatures to be displayed on their ID cards. Perhaps it is a signature of an officer or supervisor. There is a couple different ways this can be done but the easiest way to do this is by using an electronic signature pad. Be sure this signature pad integrates with your ID card software since not all devices will work.

 

Fingerprints

 

In government agencies we sometimes get requests to put fingerprints on the ID badges as well. Similar to a signature pad, there are a couple different ways this can be accomplished. The easiest way is by using a digital finger print scanner. There are significantly less fingerprint devices that integrate directly into different ID card software solutions, so make sure you are looking into the compatibility of that particular device.

Really when it comes down to it, most things you want to put on an ID card are often times easy enough to add. Here at Newbart we take more of a consultative approach with all of our customers to provide the best solutions. This way we can help ensure you are getting the correct items with the correct capabilities to help make your ID card issuance process as seamless as possible!

We have over 35 years experience in the ID badge industry and will definitely be able to help with a solution.

You can reach us at 281-561-5557 or email us at sales@newbart.com