Things change, which is a good thing! Recently, here at Baudville Brands, we decided to give our own internal ID badges a fresh new look. It’s been about five years since we last designed them, so an upgrade felt necessary.
Updating your ID badges has multiple benefits and is easier than it sounds.
We’ll dive into why we thought it was important to update our badges and how we implemented those changes. Maybe you’ll get inspired to give your ID cards a new look too!
We documented the whole process, so you can learn how to do it in your office.
Purpose Behind the Change
There were a few factors that drove us to make the update. The main reason was that we felt our previous ID card design was not fully representative of Baudville Brands. We house four brands within our building and not each brand was being properly showcased. We needed to change that.
Another reason behind the change was that many of our employees have been with our brands for many years and have seen promotions, job shifts, and new hair styles. Our ID badges needed to also represent our staff properly.
Not only does keeping our ID badges up-to-date better reflect our brand and growth, it helps with overall employee identification and security.
New Card Design
The possibilities are endless with your ID card design. After rounds and rounds of design mock-ups our design team brilliantly created a simple and contemporary look, which is totally on brand!
For design comparison, our old ID badge is left and our new one is on the right.
The design inspiration behind the ID cards was mainly focused on unifying our brands and highlighting the employee photo and job title. Danielle, our graphic designer who designed the new cards, had this to say about the design:
“My main inspiration behind our new ID cards was actually the brands themselves. The simplistic and contemporary design really speaks to our company’s style as a whole. I’m proud of the final design and appreciate the team effort that was put into creating our new badges!”
When interviewing Danielle about the whole process, she also stated that the new ID badges help with a sense of belonging to the company. It’s a badge we can wear with pride.
Another element, which is also a great way to tie into your company recognition program, is to list the awards your team members have been awarded over the year. We have two big awards that are given each year to two hardworking team members. If they received one of our awards it is listed on their badge.
When designing an ID card, it’s important to keep in mind the branding and functional elements that matter to your company and your industry. We have a library full of more ID samples that are broken down by industry to help inspire you!
Process of Change
Designing our card was step one in this change process. Next, we needed to figure out what ID card fits our needs most. In the end we decided to go with the Magicard proximity card. We wanted a prox card smaller than clamshell cards and this is just as reliable as any HID card but at a better price.
Once we knew what type of card we were working with, it was time for picture day (some would argue this is the best part of the process)!
We gave staff a week notice to prepare for picture day and offered scheduled out time on two different days that allowed employees to come as their schedules fit. We also incentivized them by handing out cookies after they were done getting their picture (highly recommended)!
A good ID photo is a crucial component to any ID badge. No one wants a bad ID photo. Setting up a thought-out photo station will help eliminate photo day mishaps.
If you were to ignore all the other tips for taking a great ID badge photo, don’t ignore THIS one. Lighting is everything in photography and there is no exception for employee photos. If you are going to use a lighting kit, do your best to match the light warmth that is already in the room. For example, we went with soft, warm-tone bulbs since the area we chose to take the picture tends to have a warm glow.
Make sure you test your lightening before it’s show-time on photo day. You’ll want to test light placement and subject placement to eliminate or at least reduce shadows on the photo subjects.
We also recommend giving your employees a guideline to their dress code for that day. It’s better to wear darker colors and to stay away from shiny jewelry.
When taking pictures, it is also a good idea to let employees preview their photo before they take their cookie and leave. Remember, no one wants a bad ID photo. This may take a little more time to take the photos, but in the end, everyone will be happier. You can set up a preview program, we used Adobe Lightroom, so that you can keep your camera on its tripod.
Once we all smiled for the camera it was time for the printing fun to begin. We have well over 100 employees and were not going to plug all their information on to each card manually. With ID Maker 3.0, we were able to upload a file with all our employee information and use that to auto-generate each card. Interested in learning more about ID Maker 3.0? Check out our video library.
We used a reverse transfer printer like our Prima 4 so we were able to get an extra clear print that went full edge-to-edge on the card and it looks awesome! The colors are true-tone and vibrant, just how we wanted them.
Overall this implemented change was well received by everyone. If you are feeling like it might be time of an ID upgrade for your staff as well, our tech support team is ready to help answer any questions you may have and we’ll give you everything you need to build an ID.
What are you waiting for?! Let’s get started!
