Custom Printed Badge Designs; the budget-friendly solution.
We were recently contacted by a customer who had an idea for a name badge that they wanted to “award” to work colleagues as an informal way of introducing everybody in a jovial way. The badge was to be based on the British Transport Police logo as pictured below:
If this badge was to be manufactured it would require a sophisticated die to be cut to enable the badge to be stamped on a press machine. The irregular shape would need to be clipped to get rid of any waste metal and then the badge would need to be plated, assuming it wasn’t stamped in precious metal in the first place. Finally, hard, cold enamel would need to be applied to the badge by hand to pick out the areas of colour, before being polished back to the badge surface. In summary this badge would be expensive to manufacture!
To overcome this issue, we have developed a range of stock badges in various shapes and sizes, that can be printed with the sophisticated eco-uv printers that are located onsite in our Droitwich-based printing facility. All our badges are finished in polished silver or gold and come complete with either a brooch pin or pin and clutch fitting on the reverse. Before being printed each badge is coated with a special solution to help the print adhere to the badge surface, ensuring durability and scratch resistance. Our skilled Graphic designers work alongside our clients to create accurate artwork, which not only meets the clients’ expectations but is also set up primed and ready for print. We have made specific jigs to ensure the accuracy of the print registration to the stock badges and this enables us to provide a quick turnaround service for your order.
We worked alongside the client to produce artwork based on the British Transport Police logo and eventually we narrowed the design down to two different alternatives as pictured below:
The first design had the benefit of the nickname being larger and hence more visible, whereas the second incorporated the nickname into the badge better allowing the overall size of the printed logo to be bigger. We printed a sample of each design on a badge and the client felt that the second option was the preferable solution.
In conclusion, by choosing a custom printed badge design the client saved significant costs on manufacturing processes. The badge design was recreated in 2D CAD software to retain the charm of the original reference badge and the client was able to try different versions and see final samples before making an informed decision and committing to a final design. Our designers can recreate any artwork you have in mind, so contact Merit to get your next badge project started.