What makes a custom event badge stand out?

Event badges are full of important details for attendees, but that doesn’t mean they must be flat and dull. Make your badges pop by adding vibrant colors, impactful graphic elements, and innovative features.

In addition, event badges should be seen as an essential branding element that can make a huge impact on your event. For this reason, you should clearly display your organization’s unique branding in your badge design. 

By adding your logo, brand colors, and unique style to your badge, you can further increase brand awareness and leave a lasting impression. Not only will a strong custom badge design help attendees identify the event, but it will reinforce your organization’s branding.

In order to make your custom badge stand out, you need to integrate some specific and impactful elements, such as color, innovative design, high-quality materials, and even a few functional tools. 

Set your attendees up with all the details they need on their event badges.

Add more customization to your attendees' event badges with Expo Logic’s Badge[On]Demand solution.

Learn more

Incorporating colorful elements

Badges are traditionally made in black and white, and while the color scheme works for some events, it doesn’t work for all. If you want to make your badges pop, add vibrant colors and impactful graphic elements.

Wondering what badge color to use for your custom-made badges? 

Take a look at some color psychology in branding and marketing, by understanding the emotive qualities that correspond with each color:

• Red: energy, excitement, and passion
• Orange: action, fun, and playfulness
• Yellow: warmth, optimism, and cheerfulness
• Green: balance, health, and sustainability
• Blue: security, trust, and confidence
• Purple: wisdom, opulence, and imagination
• Brown: simplicity, adventure, nature, and the great outdoors
• Black: luxury, sophistication, and being edgy
• White: cleanliness, softness, and timelessness

Check out the following popular color palettes featured on famous websites for some inspiration. 

According to current research, the most common logo colors are as follows, with 95% of brands using two colors, while 5% use three or more:

• Blue: 33%
• Red: 29%
• Black, gray, silver: 28%
• Yellow, gold: 13%

If you want the full effect, don’t be afraid to mix and match different colors. But to keep it cohesive with your brand’s identity, we suggest getting inspiration from your brand’s logo or social media posts. Doing so will tie everything together and make the badge reflect your brand.

On the flip side, something is to be said for the benefit and beauty of very clean, minimalistic designs. The name of the game with this type of custom badge creation is clarity and simplicity. Ensure that the information is uncluttered, easy to read, and aesthetically pleasing. 

Innovative design

As with any aspect of custom badges, your design should reflect your brand story and message. In addition, it’s a good idea to make your badge stand out even further by incorporating some innovative design elements, such as:

Unusual shapes and sizes

Your attendees are expecting a rectangular-shaped badge. Instead, surprise them with unusual shapes, such as circles, ovals, triangles, and hexagons — the sky’s the limit. If possible, consider a shape that mirrors your logo or other graphic elements in your marketing collateral. 

Fun materials, such as foils or holographs

Another way to up the fun and add some customization flourish, incorporating eye-catching elements like foil paper or holographs can also set your event badge apart from the rest. 

Custom or illustrated visual elements

If possible, commission an artist or graphic designer to create illustrated badge components, especially if those components represent the theme of your event or company. 

Fun, yet clear fonts

Take a break from Times New Roman and instead opt for more visually enticing fonts and typography. As always, the ideal choice will reflect your brand guide, and still be legible so that your attendees can appreciate the creativity while still being able to clearly read the information. 

Consider a butterfly badge

Another interesting idea to customize your event badges is to consider what’s called a butterfly badge. This is a type of badge that’s printed on an A4 sheet of paper, which you can fold in half and attach to your lanyard.

Because of its size, you can include more details about the event, such as the program schedule, amenities, venue layout, apps to download, and Wi-Fi passwords.

Besides its size, what’s great about a butterfly badge is that it’s strong and durable. If you have training or physical activities in the program, you can rest assured that this badge will remain intact until the end of the event.

Interactive badges

We have come a long way in creating badges and are no longer limited to just printed paper. With the advances in technology, we can now create interactive name badges to enhance the overall event experience.

Some of the available interactive badge ideas you can explore include QR code badges and augmented reality.

With these types of badges, you can incorporate gamification elements that will promote audience interaction and drive engagement to a whole new level. One example of gamification is giving away coupons and rewards, which will no doubt make people want to become more involved in your event.

High-quality materials

Think outside the box when it comes to your badge material when you want to really make a statement. While most badges are typically created from cardstock, look into the possibility of plastics. Depending on the nature of the event and your company’s mission, you might consider custom badges made from metal or wood. 

Functional tools 

This is a fun and unexpected way to offer even more value to your event attendees. In addition to the badge lanyard, you might also offer some sort of useful attachment, like a branded pen, stylus or coupons. Some creative event managers have even included keychains, bottle openers, pen-sized flashlights, whistles, and USB storage devices. 

Reflect on your last event experience and try to isolate a specific item that would have been useful to have on hand and then see what it would take to attach a small version of it to your custom badge and lanyards.