If you think the Onsite App is super customizable, then the badge design process is sure to impress. Whether you want a simple, one-size-fits-all badge, or a series of customized badges unique to various attendee types, we have you covered. The best part? With Webex Events Onsite's Badge Rules, the check-in experience is the same for everyone, no matter how their badge is customized.
This article guides you through each step of designing a badge in Webex Events Onsite. 🎨 Read on, or watch the following video for a demo! Please note that the video currently shows the old Webex Events Platform menu structure. The process for designing a badge is the same, however.
⭐️ Keep in mind, any change to a badge design after setting up iPads at the venue requires that you publish changes in the Webex Events Platform and refresh the Onsite App on each of your check-in iPads.
Contents
Access the Badge page
From your Event's Onsite page, click Badge. From here you can create new badges, manage existing ones, and edit attendee types. Before we start designing a badge, let's learn a little more about Attendee Types.
Attendee types
You can use attendee types to design and print unique badges for different types of attendees. If Webex Events Registration is active for your Event, each ticket becomes an Onsite attendee type. If you're not using Webex Events Registration, you can create Attendee Types when importing or adding attendees manually. Refer to our Onsite Attendees and Attendee Types article for more information about this process.
Edit printed value
If you want to print attendee types on badges, we recommend reviewing and editing the Printed Value on the Badge field in the Attendee Types modal. Simply click the Attendee Types button to change the text that prints for each type. If you don't edit the printed value, the default value prints.
Click Save Changes when you're done.
Create a badge
To make a new badge, click the New Badge button. In the modal that appears, enter a Badge Name that will help you and your staff understand who this badge is for. If you imported Attendee Types or they synced from Webex Events Registration, select one or more Attendee Types. Otherwise, leave it blank and add Attendee Type later.
⚠️ Caution! While you can create badges and publish Onsite without selecting an Attendee Type, badges won't print unless you assign at least one Attendee Type to the badge.
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 things to consider that may influence your design.
Contrast and color
The ZD-620 and ZD-621 printers only print in black and white and shades of gray. You can upload color images to go on the badge, and the preview will show it in gray. It's best to upload black and white images for the best results, however.
If you're using pre-printed badge stock with a color background, carefully consider how the elements you add to the badge will appear. Lighter elements may be difficult to see against the color background. In general, black is best.
Double-sided badges
If you turn on the Mirror Badge setting in the Layout tab, simply make adjustments to information, images, text, and shapes in the top part of the Preview. The bottom part will update automatically.
If you're using a double-sided badge, and you didn't turn on Mirror Badge, click the Back View tab. The Preview will invert, and you can adjust information, images, text, and shapes in the top part of the Preview.
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.
Designing a badge
The Edit Badge page consists of 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 - Click this Settings (⚙️) icon to rename or delete an element, or set up a visibility rule for it.
⭐️ Keep in mind, visibility rules are an incredible way to control which badge elements should print for certain types of attendees. We wrote a whole article about Onsite visibility rules to help you understand 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 - This is the term for 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 shift and click to select and move multiple elements at once, and press the escape key to deselect elements.
Click and drag elements or use the arrow keys on your keyboard to position them 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 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, you can 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/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 is very helpful to ensure individual elements are aligned with one another and won'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 5 tabs, simply leave the tab.
Now let's closely review each tab in the badge designer. 🔍
Layout
This section of the badge designer determines the size, orientation, and type of your badge material. 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.
Badge Size - Use this drop-down to select the size, orientation, and material of your badge. Your selection should match what you ordered with your Webex Events Onsite kit. If you have questions, please reach out to our awesome support team via email or chat.
⚠️ 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 choose to mirror the badge, which means 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 set to 'No'.
When you're done selecting Layout options, click the User Info tab.
User Info
The User Info tab lets you choose which attendee fields to print on the badge. If Webex Events Registration is active in your Event, all the information fields and custom questions from your checkout forms are listed as available fields, in addition to the basic fields such as First Name and Email.
⭐️ 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 info field to the badge, simply change its toggle to Yes.
Once you've finished adding and positioning User Info fields, 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. 📖
Images, Text, and Shapes
You don't have to add images, additional text, or shapes to publish and print a badge. If you need a higher level of customization based on attendee types and registration question answers, these options offer an incredible level of control and complexity — especially when paired with visibility rules.
As you add each of these elements, use the editing tools described earlier to move, resize, style, and adjust the element as needed.
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 to print the right logo for sponsor personnel based on registration questions.
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 automatically added to the Badge Preview. Click inside the yellow box on the Badge Preview to edit the text.
Add Shape
To add a shape to the badge, click the Add New Shape button and select your preferred shape from the drop-down. The shape is automatically added to the Badge Preview.
Manage badges
After you create badges, you can manage them from the Badge page. Click the Settings (⚙️) icon next to a badge to edit its name and Attendee Types, edit or clone the design, or delete the badge.
⭐️ Keep in mind, cloning a badge only clones the design. Attendee Types 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. 'Ready to Publish' doesn't always mean that the badge is print-ready. Carefully inspect each design before publishing to make sure it's ready.
Published - You've clicked Publish, and the badge is now live!
⚠️ Caution! If you make changes to a badge design after setting up the check-in iPads at the venue, you must refresh each iPad by tapping the 'Refresh all onsite data' button from the Onsite App's settings page.
Now that you've made your badges, you're ready to publish Onsite!
Pro Tips! 😎
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 Attendee Type, 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 is printed.
Questions? Chat Us or Email support@socio.events