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Free ID Card & Badge Maker

ID card generator

Design a professional ID card or badge with your name, role, photo and logo. Pick a design, fill in the details, and download a print-ready PDF, PNG or JPG at the exact card size. Your photo and details never leave your device.

N
Northwind Labs
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Staff
+ Photo
FULL NAME
Alexa Carter
Senior Product Designer
ID NUMBER
NW-04821
VALID THRU
12 / 2027
PHONE
+1 555 0142
northwind.com

Click the photo on the card to upload. Everything runs in your browser, nothing is uploaded.

  • Files never leave your device
  • Runs in your browser
  • Free, no signup

How it works

  1. 1

    Pick a design

    Choose an employee, student, visitor, event or official style. Your details carry across every design, so you can switch looks with one click.

  2. 2

    Add your details

    Type the name, role and organisation, upload a photo and logo, and turn on only the extra fields you need. The card updates live as you type.

  3. 3

    Download or print

    Export a print-ready PDF at the exact card size, a crisp PNG, or a small JPG, or print straight from your browser onto card stock.

Why use this ID card maker

Made for real printing

Cards render at the true millimetre size at 300 DPI, including the standard credit-card (CR80) badge, so the PDF and PNG are ready for a PVC printer or a print shop, not just a screenshot.

Several designs, one set of details

Employee, student, visitor, event and official layouts share your fields, so you can try every look before you commit. More card designs are on the way.

Private by default

The card is drawn in your browser. Photos, names and personal fields stay on your device with nothing uploaded, which matters for staff, student and visitor data.

Where this helps

Workplaces

Employee badges

Issue staff ID cards for offices, retail, warehouses and small teams, with a logo, photo and ID number for access and attendance.

Schools

Student and library cards

Make student IDs for daily use, exams, library access and clubs. Add a validity year and a photo, and print a class set in one sitting.

Events

Visitor and event passes

Prepare visitor, volunteer and delegate badges for seminars, workshops and exhibitions, sized for a clip or a lanyard holder.

Freelance

Field and contractor IDs

Give technicians, delivery agents, contractors and service staff a clean identity card with a contact line and a company mark.

Tips that help

  • 1

    Keep only the fields you need

    A name, role, organisation and photo cover most cards. Optional fields stay hidden until you switch them on, so the layout never carries an empty label.

  • 2

    Choose CR80 for plastic cards

    The credit-card size, 85.6 by 54 mm, fits standard lanyard holders and PVC printers. Use the larger sizes for paper event passes worn on a clip.

  • 3

    Upload a transparent logo

    A PNG or SVG logo with a clear background lets the header colour show through, instead of sitting inside a white box that breaks the design.

  • 4

    Use PDF for the print shop

    PDF locks the page to the exact card dimensions so a printer cannot scale it to fit a sheet. PNG is best for screens, JPG for quick sharing.

  • 5

    Prepare the photo first

    A plain background and a head-and-shoulders crop read best at card size. Clean the background with the passport photo tools, then bring it here.

How to design an ID card that prints cleanly

A good identity card does one job well: it shows who someone is at a glance, and it survives being printed at a small size. That means readable text, a clear photo, and only the fields that matter. This guide covers the parts of a card, the sizes that print correctly, and the small choices that separate a sharp badge from a blurry one.

Start with the fields that earn their place

The strongest cards are not the busiest. A name, a role and an organisation already tell most of the story, and a photo confirms the rest. Add an ID number when the card controls access or attendance, and a validity year when it expires. Everything else is optional and hidden until you switch it on, so a blank field never leaves an empty label on the card.

ID card generator

Type the details and watch the preview redraw. If a line looks cramped, it usually means the card is carrying a field it does not need. Turn off what is not essential, and the layout breathes. The optional toggles for phone, email, date of birth, blood group, address and signature are there for the cases that genuinely call for them, such as a hospital staff card or a school bus pass.

Pick the right size before you print

Physical size is the part people get wrong. The standard badge is CR80, 85.6 by 54 mm, the same footprint as a bank card, and it fits every common lanyard holder and PVC printer. Choose it when the card will be laminated or printed on plastic. The larger event badge and A6 sizes suit paper passes worn on a clip at a conference.

This tool renders at the true millimetre size at 300 DPI, so the download is print-ready rather than a screenshot. Use the PDF for a print shop because it locks the page to the exact dimensions. If you print at home, the Print button sets the page size for you, so you can pick Save as PDF or send it straight to the printer without it being scaled to fit a letter sheet.

Read more

Make the photo and logo work

A card photo should be a head-and-shoulders shot on a plain background, framed so the face fills most of the box. Click the photo area on the card to upload one, and the tool crops it to fill the frame without stretching. If you need a clean background first, the passport photo maker and change background tools handle that, then bring the result here.

For the logo, a transparent PNG or an SVG looks best because the header colour shows through the gaps instead of sitting in a white box. Keep it simple: a logo on a card is the size of a fingernail, so fine detail disappears. A bold mark or a monogram reads better at that scale than a full lock-up with a tagline.

Choose colour and type for contrast, not decoration

The accent colour sets the header and the highlights, so use it to match a brand rather than to add noise. One accent is enough. The text stays dark on a light card for the body, which keeps it readable when the card is photographed under bad lighting or printed on a cheap printer.

For type, a clean sans-serif suits a modern company, while a serif reads as more formal for an official or institutional card. Whatever you pick, the cardholder's name is the largest element, because that is what people look for first. Keep the role and the fields smaller and quieter so the hierarchy is obvious at arm's length.

Finish, download and reuse the file

Once the card looks right, download the format that fits the next step: PDF for a print shop, PNG for a screen or a digital pass, JPG to send quickly. The file is named after the cardholder so a batch stays organised. Because nothing was uploaded, you can make a card for a colleague next without anything from the last one lingering on a server.

If you are issuing many cards, the rest of the ImgKilo tools pick up from here. Resize the export to a layout's exact pixels, or compress it to a KB limit when a portal or HR system caps the upload size. Everything runs in the browser, so the personal data on each card stays on your device.

Frequently asked questions

Honest answers to what people ask before using this tool.

Further reading

Independent references if you want to go deeper on the formats and tradeoffs.

ID cards and badges by type

Open the generator set up for a specific card, each with a short guide to making it well.

Popular ID card searches

Jump to the card type or detail people look for most.

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