Set badge size, bleed and safe margin

Get this right before you lay anything out. Changing the size afterwards moves everything on the badge.

Steps

1. Open Badges and select your template.
2. In Media, choose the stock: Paper badge, PVC card, Bracelet or Custom.
3. Set Width (mm) and Height (mm) if you chose Custom.
4. Set Bleed (mm) and Safe margin.
5. Set a Background (color or image URL).
6. Tick Event default if this is the badge for anyone without a specific one.
7. Save.

Bleed and safe margin

Two settings that sound technical and prevent the two most common printing disasters.

Bleed is extra background beyond the finished edge. Printers cut with a small tolerance, so if your background stops exactly at the edge you get a white sliver down one side. Bleed means the background is oversized and the cut lands inside it. 3mm is standard.

Safe margin is the opposite: an inner boundary that your *content* must stay inside. Same cutting tolerance, other direction — text too close to the edge gets trimmed off. Keep everything important inside the safe margin.

Choosing the stock

Paper badge — cheapest, fine for a one-day event, goes soft in heat.

PVC card — durable and looks considerably better. Worth it for multi-day events and for anything with a photo.

Bracelet — wristbands, for festivals or where badges get removed and swapped.

Custom — any size, when your holders are non-standard. Measure the holder's window, not the badge.

Backgrounds

A colour, or an image by URL. A per-attendee-type background colour is the cheapest way to make types recognisable across a room.

Keep backgrounds pale behind text. A dark photograph under black type is unreadable at any size.

What happens next

The canvas resizes immediately. Elements keep their positions in millimetres, so a size change can push things outside the new safe area — check the layout after changing dimensions.

Common problems

A white line on one edge. No bleed, or less than your printer needs.

Text trimmed off. Content outside the safe margin.

The badge does not fit the holder. You measured the holder rather than its window. The window is smaller.

A background image looks blocky. Too low resolution. For a 100mm badge you want an image around 1200px wide.

Nothing looks right after changing the size. Expected. Reposition the elements.