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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 your staff will be wearing their identification on their jacket, lapel or worn with a lanyard, then it’s best to go with a portrait setup. When the card is setup portrait, it doesn’t seem to get in the way as often as compared to a landscape card. Although when you are planning on your staff wearing their badges, then it should be a large enough font to be easily read by another person without having to study the card. Another item to consider when creating a card that will be worn is what information should be on their credentials. Personal Information The amount of personal information that you place on your staff’s identification cards should be limited to the information that you want the readers to have access to. If the card is going to be displayed or worn, then it’s best to limit the amount of information to the individual’s name and title. If the card will be carried in a wallet, then you can put more information on the card helping to either identify the individual with items, such as height, sex, and blood type. If you are working in an industry that has mandated or suggested that your staff have company identification, then you should be sure to check their guidelines. An example of this is for police identification cards. Legislation has dictated what is required for law enforcement officers in several states. Another example is for individuals doing contract work on another’s premises. Commonly these organizations have some suggested guidelines that should be followed. Be sure to check any requirements set or suggested by these organizations. 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. Other things we have seen this real estate used for are things such as important phone numbers, barcodes for job tracking or time clock tracking. 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. Article Source: http://www.articlewheel.com
Allen Richardson is the founder of Virtual Tournament Director, a company handling registration and ID cards for amateur sports participants around the nation, and www.fullidentity.com a company that provides similar services to the business community. He also serves as consultant to Southwest Airlines, Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railway as well as several other companies in the United States. Additionally, he is the author of Personal Discipline: Tools for Consistent Success.
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