Identification (ID) cards are a fact of life for students, office workers, and retirees, among others, in modern society because of its many uses. Keep in mind that ID cards contain personal information about their carriers usually name, address, and numbers (e.g., employee number) as well as physical descriptions and photographs.
The goal: To identify the carrier for whatever purpose necessary, such, as identifying bonafide employees in a company. Suffice it to say that these square pieces of laminated paper or hard plastic are must-haves for large and small organizations.
Benefits of Making ID Cards
Did you know that you can actually make ID cards on your own? Instead of outsourcing the work, which can be expensive in terms of time, effort, and money, you can make the cards using affordable ID card kits in half the time and with half the effort in dealing with third-party providers.
Of course, the benefit of keeping personal information safe and secure with a trusted employee instead of a third party provider cannot be beat. The ID cards usually have information that can compromise the carriers safety and security as well, such as in the case of identity theft used for industrial spying activities.
Just imagine letting other persons, who may or may not have honorable intentions, look at the information contained in your employees ID cards and you will get the point.
When you make ID cards on your own, you are also enjoying cost benefits. Think of it: You skip on the third party providers and middlemans profit, which means lower costs in the long run. Your main expense will be the complete ID card kit for the first few batches of ID cards and then additional supplies for the next batches. You can recoup your investment within a few months!
Process of Making ID Cards
The process of in-house ID card manufacture is relatively easy with a complete ID card kit. You can avail of training services regarding the process but, more often than not, the instructions manual will suffice for the purpose.
- Design the ID cards
To make ID cards, the first step is designing the cards according to the identification requirements. You must decide the types of information that will be included in the cards just the name, employee number and rank, and photo, for example, while excluding other pieces of information that can compromise either the employee or the organization. Yu can also use scannable barcodes for greater security especially for use in high-risk areas .
The ID cards can be designed with one of two methods. First, a free online designer with thousands of designs can be used, said designs of which can be easily modified. Second, an image editing program like Adobe Photoshop or GIMP can also be used with ease.
- Print the ID cards
Once you have the ID cards design to satisfaction, your next step is printing the cards truly, an easier task than designing them for obvious reasons. The ID cards can be printed on a wide variety of materials like synthetic paper and microperforated sheets.
Dont worry about the printer either. You can use any inkjet and laser printer in the office; just program the correct settings (e.g., size, color) into the printer and you are good to go!
- Laminate the ID cards
The ID cards must be laminated to prevent premature damage to their surfaces (e.g., bleeding of the colors from exposure to moisture). The choices in laminating materials are butterfly laminating pouches, standard glossy laminates, and premium laminates as well as the 7 mil and 10 mil thickness.
- Secure the ID cards
In modern times, ID cards can easily be used for breaches in security, a fact highlighted by Hollywood movies and real-life cases. The importance of adding security features to ID cards cannot then be overemphasized, said security features of which can include security holograms, ultraviolet black light ink, and scannable barcodes.
So, what are you waiting for? Get your complete kit and make ID cards soon!
