Badge templates

A badge template is the design used to produce a badge: the paper it prints on, and the elements laid out on it, for a given kind of ticket. Check-in uses the template to print the right badge for each attendee. This page covers designing a template. For how and when badges print, see Badge printing.

Create a badge template

Registration → Badge Templates

Set the paper, lay out the elements on the canvas, and save.

You design a template on a canvas that represents the badge. Set the paper first, then add and position elements on top of it.

Paper and size

Paper size. Choose a preset or set a custom size. Presets include plastic cards (CR80, CR79), photo sizes (4 by 6 inch, A6, A7), Brother label rolls including continuous stock, and small label sizes. For anything else, set a custom width and height in millimetres.
Orientation. Portrait or landscape. A rotate control swaps the two.
Resolution. The print resolution in dots per inch, from 150 to 600. Match it to the printer you will use whenever you can. If you are not sure, 300 is a good default.
Background. You can set a background image for the whole badge, and choose whether to print it. Turn printing off when your badge stock already has the background pre-printed and you only want to add the variable parts.

Elements

Everything on a badge is an element, stacked in order on the canvas. Every element has a position, a size, and a rotation (0 to 359 degrees). The element types are:

Text. Shows a value, usually a field such as the attendee’s badge name. See Binding a field and Fonts.
Filled rectangle. A solid block of colour, for a banner or a panel. Give the colour some transparency to lay a shaded panel behind text, so the text stays readable over a busy background.
Border rectangle. An outline, for framing part of the badge.
Image. A fixed image, such as a logo.
QR code. Encodes a field value as a QR code. The default is a link to the attendee’s public bio.
1D barcode. Encodes a field value as a Code 128 barcode. The default is the ticket id.

Colours are set per element and can include transparency, which is what makes a shaded panel work. A QR code or 1D barcode has a foreground colour and a background colour, which defaults to white.

Binding a field

A Text, QR, or barcode element shows a field value. The available fields include:

The attendee: ID, Badge Name, Badge Number, Legal Name, Date of Birth, User ID, User Email, Public Email, Public Telegram, Public Discord.
Related records: Booking Type (title, day-pass day), Room (name, location code), Event (id, title).
Links: a base link, the event link, and a link to the attendee’s public bio.

The ID, Room, Booking Type, and Event fields come from records related to the ticket, so they are only available where that relationship exists.

Prefix and suffix

You can wrap the field value with a prefix and a suffix. For example, a Badge Number field with the prefix # prints as #0421. To print fixed text with no field, put the text in the prefix or suffix and leave the field empty.

Link fields are a special case: they already hold a full web address, so they take no prefix, and a suffix must begin with ? so it reads as a query string added to the link.

Fonts

Text elements use a font:

Built-in fonts. A curated set of fonts, each available in regular and bold, plus a monospace option that suits IDs and numbers. The default is Inter.
Your own fonts. You can upload your own TrueType (.ttf) fonts, kept with your other files under Files, and use them alongside the built-in ones.

Set a font size in points, or leave it at 0 to size the text automatically to fit its box. Text can be aligned left, centre, or right.

Which template applies

Each template has a priority and a rule that decides which tickets it applies to. When more than one template could apply to a ticket, the highest priority wins. Because the rule matches on ticket fields, it is a ticket rule.

Verifying the right badge

If you add a QR code or 1D barcode carrying the ticket id, an operator can scan it at handover to confirm the right badge went to the right person. This is especially useful for pre-printed badges, where attendees with similar names are easy to mix up. See Badge printing.