When creating identification cards for your organization, there are four factors that you should consider before beginning your design. There are many uses of ID cards throughout the world and being in the industry and developed cards for thousands of customers, we have seen and experienced several of the benefits and downfalls of their use. Regardless of your reason for creating a photo ID card these factors should at least be reviewed.
Landscape VS Portrait
The first thing to consider when it comes to the orientation of your card is what will be its primary method of being used. If the card is going to be stuck in a wallet only displayed for specific events or functions, then doing a landscape card allows more information be placed on the card. When using a landscape format, you have more room for lengthy titles or the personal information of the carrier.
If you want your staff to wear their identification on their jacket, lapel or worn on a lanyard, then it’s best to use a portrait setup. Wearing a landscape card commonly gets in the way because of its width. Also, it doesn’t seem to stay as upright and keep your staff looking as sharp. A portrait card hangs better simply because of the effects of gravity. Also when you want your staff to wear a card, you should consider what information you want to be displayed to the world on their credentials.
Individual's Personal Information
When it comes to the information you want your staff to have on their photo id cards, it should be limited to the information you want the readers to have access to. If your purpose is for the person to wear, then it’s best to keep the information limited to the individuals name and title. If the card will be carried in a purse or wallet, then you can put more information on the card since the card will only be displayed when the person chooses to show the ID card. Items such as height, sex, and weight can help better describe the carrier.
If you are creating a card for a specific industry or to comply with the regulations for identification set by another organization then make sure you are following their guidelines. One example of this is police identification cards. Several states have created legislation that describes exactly what is required and these specifications must be followed. Another example is for organizations that do contract work for another entity. Commonly these entities have suggested some guidelines to follow. Be sure to check any requirements set by organizations such as these.
Overall, we suggest that you limit the amount of personal information for corporate identification cards. The exception is for individuals that need personal information in case of an emergency such as fireman, police, or any hazardous industry or profession. In these cases, we even suggest placing any pertinent medical information that would be useful in the event of a medical emergency.
Back of the Card
The back of the card is commonly not used and this is valuable real estate that you can make good use. Some organizations use the back of the card for additional personal information especially if the card is formatted in a landscape orientation. Some of the best things that we have seen on the back of a card are something that you want your organization to live by such as a company’s mission statement or company’s statement of purpose. Another item that you should consider is a mailing address that the card should be sent to if the card was lost and then found by someone. It’s common that the post office will forward the identification card if it’s simply dropped into a mailbox.
Barcodes for time clock or job tracking, and important phone numbers are other things that can be useful to place on the back of the card as well.
Other Uses
Before you begin to design your card it’s best to consider what other uses you might be able to make of your companies new identification cards. There are time clock applications that can use the cards by adding a simple barcode. There are more sophisticated solutions that have to do with access control, but this commonly adds a much larger investment for the hardware to read the cards and unlock access to secure areas.
In summary, it’s most important to start with the primary reason you need identifications cards for your organization. Their benefits come in many ways ranging from corporate reorganization and branding, to having critical medical information available for individuals in hazardous industries.
Creating Plastic ID Cards? First Review These Four Considerations.
