Which card for a lanyard name badge? 400 gsm punched, a 300 gsm insert or laminated

In conference badge printing and event badge printing, the card is decided by what happens to the badge after printing: punched, slid into a wallet or pinned, each wants a different stock.

Punched card or an insert in a holder?

A punched name badge needs heavy card, because the hole removes material from exactly the place that then carries the whole badge. On the last-minute job written up in our case study, 300 double-sided delegate badges were printed on 400 gsm for that reason, once the agency confirmed it would punch them. 400 gsm is also the heaviest sheet we run digitally, as listed in our paper stocks guide.

Silver Image Print & Signs uses 300 gsm card for badge inserts that go into clear holders, because the wallet carries the load and the card only has to sit flat and stay readable. Heavier is not automatically better here: in our last-minute badge case study, a thicker insert is described as bowing inside the sleeve and jamming when a delegate swaps it, so the insert is checked against the holder it goes into. If you already have holders, measure the inside of the pocket and send that size, so the insert is cut to fit the holder.

Card alone is not described as tear-proof on our specification: encapsulation is the finish we list as waterproof and tear-proof, so a laminated badge is the option to ask about for an outdoor or multi-day event.

Where does the hole go, and who punches it?

The punch position on a name badge depends on the lanyard clip, so the hole is set once the clip is known. On the 300-badge job the agency had the clips, so the badges went out trimmed and unpunched and were punched at the venue, because a guessed position risks a whole run that does not fit the clip. Tell us which clip you have and send a photo of it; we confirm the punch type — a round hole or a slot — and its position before production.

Clearance from the edge matters as well as card weight. On the conference badges we printed for Imperial College London, the hole was set far enough in that a pull on the lanyard is carried by board on all sides of the punch, and the logo was moved down, away from it. Keep logos and names clear of the top of the badge. Both jobs are written up in full: last-minute badge printing and conference name badges for Imperial College London.

What size should a name badge be?

A name badge’s size has to fit two things: the holder or fixing it goes into, and the longest name and job title on the delegate list at a readable size. If you already have holders, their inside dimensions set the insert size, and the longest entry is then checked against it. If you do not have holders, check the longest name and job title, not the typical one, when choosing the badge size, layout and fixing. A smaller badge is not automatically safer, because the type shrinks with the card. On the Imperial College London job the badge moved from A7, 105 × 74 mm, to 90 × 60 mm after the second proof, and every badge was checked again because some names sat outside the perimeter. Those sizes belong to that job; yours follows from your list.

Badge artwork follows the same rules as other card work on our specification: 3 mm bleed on every edge, text 5 mm clear of the trim, and headshots at 300 dpi at the finished size. You can check a photo’s resolution before sending it. What each file type does is in our file format guide.

One side or both?

Printing the name on both sides keeps it visible when a lanyard name badge turns over, and a badge on a lanyard turns round often. The back can also carry something else, such as an agenda, set as its own page in the file; if the name has to stay visible, it goes on the back as well.

How should the delegate list be sent?

Silver Image Print & Signs prints the names on each badge from a spreadsheet, one delegate per row and one piece of information per column, spelled exactly as it should print. Delegate badge printing is only as accurate as the list, because the merge prints what is in the file: send the names as they should appear, not as they were collected, with consistent capitals and full names rather than initials. QR codes and barcodes for check-in are generated from their own column in the same list.

Accented letters, curly apostrophes and non-standard characters can change during import or merging. Retyping them does not prevent later import errors: check every name on the final proof. On the Imperial College London job the proof went out one badge per PDF page, five proofs in three days; on our mail-merged place cards job, a guest listed with an initial merged perfectly and was still wrong. The same list can drive place cards for the event.

If staff, speakers and guests need different badges, each group is its own artwork version — a different background colour, for example — and a column in the list says which version each row takes. If the badges have to arrive sorted for a registration desk, say so in the brief: printing in alphabetical order is easy, but the guillotine mixes the order, so alphabetical packing is a separate hand operation after trimming.

Blank badges and spares

Blank name badges — printed with the logo and the design but no name — cover late registrations and unconfirmed guests without a reprint. Put the number of blanks in the order alongside the named badges, and say whether they need holders too. Spares are a separate choice: on the Imperial College London job, 10 spare badges were added to a run of 104 delegates in the same print.

Lanyards and holders

Name badges with lanyards can be supplied complete: Silver Image Print & Signs stocks standard lanyards and plastic card holders and can include them with a badge order, and if you have your own lanyards, the badges are punched to suit them. Tell us at the quote stage which you want, and how many, because it changes the card: 400 gsm recommended for a punched lanyard badge, a 300 gsm insert for a holder.

Checklist before you ask for a badge quote

• The fixing — punched for a lanyard, insert for a holder, encapsulated, or a pin-and-clip sleeve.
• The clip — if the badges are punched for your own lanyards, a photo of the clip.
• The size — CR80, A7, A6 or custom: the inside of your holder if you have one, then checked against the longest name on the list.
• One side or both, and what goes on the back.
• The list — one row per badge, spelled as it should print, with QR or barcode data in its own column.
• Versions — staff, speaker and guest badges, and which row takes which.
• Blanks and spares, and whether they need holders.
• Packing — whether the badges go into holders, and whether they must arrive sorted alphabetically.
• The deadline — the time the badges have to be at the venue, and the name of the person receiving them.

In name badge printing, the card, size, quantity, merge and finishing all move the figure. Every order is quoted on its specification on the ID badge and name tag printing page, and what drives print prices generally is in how much printing costs in London. Badges are printed, punched and packed at our 24/7 London print shop, and the overnight route is on the 24 hour printing page.