Whether you want a simple, one-size-fits-all badge, or a series of customized badges unique to various attendee groups, Onsite can do it all! Creating badges is intuitive, simple, and even a little fun.
This article guides you through each step of designing a badge in Webex Events Onsite. Keep reading, or watch the following video for a demo!
Create a new badge
From your Event's Onsite menu, click Badge to access the badge page.
Click New Badge.
In the Create New Badge modal, enter a Badge Name that will help you and your staff understand who this badge is for.
If you want to limit the badge to only people assigned to specific exclusive groups, select the groups.
When you're ready, click Create. This takes you to the 'Edit Badge' page.
Design considerations
Before you start adding and arranging elements on a badge, there are some important aspects to consider that may influence your design.
Pre-printed badges
The ZD-620 and ZD-621 printers that Onsite supports only print in black and white and shades of gray. If you're using pre-printed badge stock with a color background, carefully consider how the elements you add to the badge will appear. Light elements may not provide enough contrast against a dark background, making them difficult to see.
Images
Images only print in black and white, and image quality may vary depending on the badge type you choose. In general, we recommend pre-printing your company logo and any other images that will appear on all badges to make sure the images are crisp and clear.
We don't recommend pre-printing images that will only appear on some attendee badges since that would add too much complexity to printing at check-in.
When creating the images you'll upload to the badge designer, keep in mind that the printer prints at 300 DPI/PPI, and you can scale images to suit your needs. In general, a 300 x 300px image works well. If an image will take up more than one square inch of the badge, consider a higher resolution. Supported image formats are JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIF, and BMP.
How to use the badge designer
The 'Edit Badge' page contains the Design Tools panel and the Badge Preview. Let's review each of the tools at your disposal. 🔧
Design Tools - These five tabs let you select your badge's size and layout and add elements to the badge.
Add New button - This button appears on the 'Add Image', 'Add Text', and 'Add Shape' tabs.
Settings menu - After you add an element, click this Settings (⋯) icon next to the element to rename, delete, or set up a visibility rule for it.
💡 Keep in mind, visibility rules let you control which badge elements should print for certain types of attendees. Read our article about Onsite visibility rules to learn how to use them.
Style bar - After adding an element to the badge, click on the element in the Badge Preview to select it. Use the tools in the Style bar to change the element's color. When selecting 'User Info' or 'Text' fields, you can also set the font, size, alignment, style, and case of the text. If you select multiple elements of the same type with shift + click, style changes affect all selected elements! 🎨
Element - An element is anything you add to the badge. After you add an element to the badge, click on it to select it. When selected, an element has a yellow frame around it. Hold the shift key and click to select and move multiple elements at the same time, and press the escape key to deselect elements.
Click and drag or use the arrow keys on your keyboard to position selected elements on the badge. Use the circle icons around the perimeter to resize or rotate the element. Red "smart guides" appear when an element is aligned with another element's center or edge.
💡 Keep in mind, if you select a double-sided layout, arrange elements in the top part of the Badge Preview.
Element tools - When you select a single element, a floating toolbar appears below it in the Badge Preview. Use this toolbar to layer, rotate, align, or delete elements. You can also delete elements using the backspace (Windows) or delete (MacOS) keys.
Zoom - Use these buttons to zoom in and make fine adjustments to elements on the badge. If you're editing on a touchscreen device, pinch to zoom in or out.
History tools - Click the clock icon to undo all unpublished changes. This will undo all work you've done since entering the Edit Badge page. Use the undo and redo buttons to revert or recall the last change.
Grid - Click this button once to add a 0.5-inch grid and twice to add a 1-inch grid to the Badge Preview. This helps you align elements with each other and make sure elements don't overlap pre-printed aspects of the badge.
As you make changes, your progress automatically saves. When you're done adjusting elements in one of the five tabs, simply leave the tab.
Now let's examine each Design Tool tab. 🔍
Design Tools
As you add each type of element, use the editing tools previously described to move, resize, style, and adjust the element as needed. Use visibility rules for individual elements to achieve an incredible level of control over which elements print for which attendees.
Layout
This section of the badge designer determines the size, orientation, and type of your badge. For more information on available badge types and printing methods, read our Onsite Badge Types article.
Printer - So far, we only support specific sub-models of the Zebra ZD620 and ZD621 to guarantee consistent, high-quality printing. Currently, you can only select Zebra ZD620 since badge sizes are the same for both printers.
Badge Size - Use this drop-down to select the size, orientation, and material of your badge. Your selection should match what you ordered from your badge vendor. If you have questions, start a chat with our awesome support team or email us at support@socio.events.
⚠️ Caution! If you change the badge size after adding elements to the badge, double-check the positioning of all elements on the badge.
Mirror Badge - If you selected a double-sided Badge Size, you can mirror the badge so that the same elements will print on both sides of the badge. If you want unique information on each side of the badge, leave this toggle deactivated.
If you're using a double-sided badge and you didn't activate the 'Mirror Badge' setting, the Back View tab in the badge designer inverts the Preview. This lets you adjust information, images, text, and shapes on the back of the badge.
When you're done selecting Layout options, click the User Info tab.
User Info
The 'User Info' tab lets you choose which attendee information prints on the badge, including questions and answers.
💡 Keep in mind, we recommend using only First Name or Full Name. Using First Name and Last Name together may cause inconsistent formatting.
To add a user information field to the badge, activate its toggle.
When you're done adding and positioning attendee information, that means you've completed the minimum configuration needed to print badges, and you can publish Onsite!
However, there's much more customization available with images, text, shapes, and visibility rules. Keep reading to learn more. 📖
Add Image
Adding an image to your badge is a great way to dress up your badges or add distinction to different types of badges. For example, you could add logos for each of your sponsors and then use visibility rules, so the personnel for each sponsor get the right logo on their badge.
To add an image to the badge:
Click the Add New Image button.
In the modal that appears, follow the instructions to select an image file from your device.
Click the Edit button to crop the image or adjust its rotation or zoom.
Click Upload to finish.
Add Text
To add custom text to the badge:
Click the Add New Text button, and a new text box is added to the Badge Preview.
Click inside the text box on the Badge Preview to edit the text.
Use the style bar above the Preview to adjust font, color, size, alignment, and styling.
Add Shape
To add a shape to the badge:
Click the Add New Shape button.
Select your preferred shape from the drop-down. The shape is automatically added to the Badge Preview.
Use the style bar above the preview to change the shape's color. Remember that printers only print in black and white.
Manage badges
After you create badges, manage them from the Badge page. Click the Settings (⋯) icon next to a badge to edit its name and exclusive groups, edit or clone the design, or delete the badge.
💡 Keep in mind, cloning a badge only clones the design. Exclusive group assignments and visibility rules aren't cloned.
Badges show one of three statuses:
Needs Design - The badge doesn't have any information on it yet.
Ready to Publish - The badge has at least one information field on it or its design was changed. 'Ready to Publish' doesn't always mean that the badge is print-ready. Carefully inspect each design before publishing.
Published - You've clicked Publish, and the badge is now live!
⚠️ Caution! If you edit a badge design after setting up the check-in iPads or iPhones at the venue, you must refresh each device by tapping the 'Refresh all onsite data' button on the Onsite App's settings page.
After publishing badge designs, you can preview an attendee's badge on their profile to check how badge elements will print for that attendee. Here's how:
In your Event navigation bar, click Attendees.
On the Attendees page, click on an attendee to open their attendee profile.
On the Overview page of the attendee profile, click the Show badge button to open the badge preview modal for that attendee.
Now that you've made your badges, you're ready to publish Onsite!
Pro Tips! 😎
If you're pre-printing backgrounds, the event name, logos, or other information on badge stock, upload the blank badge image in the designer and resize it to fit the whole badge, then toggle the image off. After you add elements to the badge, toggle the image back on and layer it to the back to make sure you aren't accidentally covering pre-printed elements. 🌟
Add a QR code that opens your Event App's promo page to promote Event App adoption.
If you're using thermal transfer roll stock, consider ordering ribbon that matches or complements your event colors to bring your badge design even closer to your brand.
If you're setting up a badge that prints a different shape or logo depending on an exclusive group, such as sponsor logos, and you need to stack similar elements in the same physical space on the badge, use the Bring Forward or Send Backward tools to adjust each element as needed. Then, simply set up visibility rules so that only the right image for each attendee prints.
Questions? Chat with us or email support@socio.events.