The pandemic has affected every aspect of our lives in profound ways, including normalizing online meeting rooms, uncomfortable silences during online calls, and our makeshift home offices. Being on a virtual meeting - whether it’s attending back to back work huddles, or one-on-one meetings, or even just hanging with your work buddy, can be completely and utterly exhausting. After a while, there is a disconnect that sets in, your mind starts to wander, it gets harder and harder to stay alert.
From an employee’s point of view, this shift has seen a massive adjustment and a strain on work-life balance - homes are the new work offices, closets are meeting rooms, work timings are stretched beyond evenings. Everything is on double-duty! Companies and leaders across the world are starting to rethink new and improved ways of structuring communication tools to engage and connect with remote employees to keep the morale high and to avoid digital burnout.
How will this paradigm shift affect our social interactions? What is the future of our online virtual workplace? While we wait as these answers unfold, name badges can begin to seem like a nifty little tool to add a little zhuzh to your everyday online meetings.
Name badges play a key role in creating the physical connection that has been long lost since the onset of Covid 19. Having a name or an identifier goes a long way in expressing a collective sense of belonging. It’s a ‘we’re all in this together’, not ‘them or ‘us’. Research shows that ‘small talk’ is not so small after all. It ignites communication, builds engagement, and helps people bring their best selves to an online work environment.
There is growing concern over isolation and loss of attention within the remote working population. While it might take a while for things to get back to normal again, a personalized name tag is a great way to build loyalty and trust. It gives employees a sense of purpose and association. Video meetings often add an extra level of stress to an already fast-paced work environment. Name badges bring a sense of familiarity amidst dynamic work culture and little downtime. It can keep your employees listening. They serve as an emblem of belonging, like an invisible thread, holding values and goals of an organisation together.
One thing is certain, work will never be the same again. As leaders come up with innovative ways to anchor employees to company values and retain a sense of attachment while freeing us from exhaustion and inefficient meetings, custom name badges can be the beginning of something small but powerful.
Whether you want to rally your team for a fun virtual meeting or just need to represent your brand at a virtual event, here are some rules to follow when creating your perfect name tag for online meetings.
Color and Material
Choosing a good badge color and material type is crucial when making a personalized name tag. In our journey to find the best name tag for online meetings, we tested a few different types of materials - white, brass and silver metal, plastic(acrylic). While brass and white metal worked really well in terms of legibility and readability, you have to keep in mind to use contrasting colors to really bring out the name of the person. A light font color is hard to see on a light background as compared to a dark font on a light background.
Silver metal on the other hand was a little less legible when tested under various lighting conditions. We found that it reflected light and did not work well to project the logo or name. Don't forget that badges look different when seen from the computer screen than the final printed product. So choosing the right material is very important.
We also tested the engraved acrylic badge in a custom cut shape. When making a badge keep in mind the end goal of the product. In this case, it was to connect and engage. The engraved acrylic badge did just that! It can be used for special online events or virtual classes, to add a little spark to an otherwise mundane event. Our designers are able to test out shapes, patterns, colors suited best for your brand style and identity. Talk to us now for a free online consultation.
Fonts and Font Sizes
When creating custom name badges it’s best to choose fonts that are large enough for everyone to see clearly during an online meeting. A sans serif font in sentence or upper case, 28 -38 points, is ideal for a name badge used during online meetings. Use a font that is easy to read, such as Gotham, Arial, Myriad Pro, Helvetica, or Futura. Steer clear from cursive, serif, or italic fonts. Make sure that the text is horizontally and vertically aligned, to fit perfectly within the name tag space. A good sans serif font, spaced evenly, will accomplish the desired result. Choose the right font and size for your name to be legible, a clear font that is simple to read.
Types of Product Sizes
Here are the product sizes we tested that worked well in terms of readability, color, presentation, and most importantly, visibility on the computer screen. When choosing the product size, avoid the temptation of overdoing it. In this case, keep it very simple and concise. Don’t have more than 2 elements on the badge. For internal meetings, just use a name and a unique identifier. When testing permanent plastic badges, we were able to customize them to speak our brand story, personalized for each employee. It can be personalized by adding humor through simple emoji elements, flags, or pet symbols, guaranteed to ignite a dialogue during your online meeting!
Legibility
It is vital that your name tag can be easily read during an online meeting. It has to strike a balance between including the right information and not having too much information that it becomes hard to read. Our research shows that the distance from the computer screen and light affect the legibility of a name tag. So we tested it under various conditions during an online meeting. Our tests revealed that black background with white text in matte acrylic worked wonders for the legibility of the name. It produced less shine and also reflected less light.
The white background with black text also worked side by side with the brass background with black text. We recommend picking these when creating your personalized name tag.
If you’re planning to incorporate this name tag strategy into your online meeting rooms, Imprint Plus has you covered! We have more than 30 years of badge design experience in the name badge and sign industry. We’re proud to help you customize the perfect solution suited for your virtual needs. So whether it’s choosing a permanent name tag to be used over time, or making a reusable custom name badge for a recurring virtual event, we have the solutions ready to go.
Browse through our website to design your own badge with our simple and intuitive design tool. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, our design team can help you from start to finish. We will test different materials, badges, colors, and styles to craft the perfect name tag for your virtual meeting. Reach out to us on 1-855-285-9164 or email us on customerservice@imprintplus.com.
