A Tale of Three Nametags

I've been to many conferences and workshops over the years and seen a wide variation in nametags. Invariably the names are too small, making it impossible for me to read without sticking my nose in someone's chest. In this article, John D. Berry rants on the usability (or more often lack of it) of conference nametags.

Aside from dueling jetlags (I was only home in Seattle for five days between the two trips), this juxtaposition provided a classic opportunity to compare approaches to designing the nametags or badges for such an event. I’ve written about this before, in an article about nametags published in FontShop’s Font magazine: “The moment when the design of nametags really matters is when you’re stumbling about at an opening reception, trying to spot familiar names without rudely staring at people’s chests.” Although the organizers might consider the first purpose of a nametag or badge to be labeling someone as a paying (or non-paying) official attendee of the event, for the attendees themselves the purpose is to be able to identify individual people by name. And the distance at which you want to be able to read the name is about three meters (ten feet), well before you find yourself face to face with that person whose name you know you ought to recall.

Conference organizers, please take his advice to heart!