[ST] [Publications-staff] Ribbons

[Carsten Turner]

On badge size:
We've never been locked into the credit-card type badge. I've asked 
Shayde in the past, and he's never said that he couldn't make paper 
badges like we've had in the past.

Going to a paper badge yields some advantages:
A. They're cheaper.
B. Assuming we get a "six-up" 8.5x11 card of badge stock, we can print 
badges at con on a common ink jet/ laser printer.
C. In the past, fans have liked them, as typically the badge holder can 
be used as a place to stash one's ID and maybe a few bucks if one's 
costume doesn't have pockets.
D. Paper badges are bigger, so a sticker won't obscure so much of the 
badge. On top of this, there's more room for artwork, and we can print 
the attendee's name in larger type, so those like myself (who have 
vision problems) can actually read the things.

Your Evil Overlord,
-=>Carsten:-)

On Oct 31, 2006, at 1:11 PM, Jack Dietz wrote:

> On stickers,
>
> I see two interlocking problems with stickers, and they have to do
> with the size of our badge.  The badge is credit card sized (3 3/8" x
> 2 1/8") and has to have at least the wearer's name the convention
> title, and any specific type-of-membership text visible (Saturday-
> only, etc).  That doesn't leave nearly as much room as a 2"x6" ribbon
> hanging below for information about what privileges the wearer gets.
> (And we cover up the artwork on the badge)  I believe that we want it
> visible at a glance whether someone's entitled to go into the Staff
> Den or to tell con members that they need to stop crowding the 
> elevator.
>
> Moreover, many people have multiple roles at the con: staff AND
> program participant AND masquerade participant, each of which lets
> them enter different parts of the convention.  So, the stickers need
> to be small enough, say 1"x1.5", to let multiple stickers be affixed
> and to still permit the badge name to be seen.  It'll be hard to make
> the stickers be as interpretable at a glance as our ribbons are.  I'd
> also worry that it'd be easy to stick stickers such that the badge
> can't be optimally filled, if someone didn't expect to get a
> battlefield promotion.
>
> We could get around the badge being too small by having some kind of
> a badge extension (like a ribbon) on which people affixed their
> privilege stickers.  However, that cuts into the savings of using
> stickers, and it wouldn't look as intentional or professional as
> either badge stickers or ribbons.
>
> In addition to the space problem, there are other organizations
> handing out stickers at cons, to promote parties or Worldcon bids or
> silliness.  We'd need to make our STAFF sticker stand out really well
> against one of those.  And, it's harder to go down to Kinkos and get
> ribbons that match ours than it is to get stickers that would match
> ours, though we haven't seen a counterfeiting problem in the past.
>
> I think that it'll be difficult for us to replace ribbons with
> stickers.  Cutting down on the number of different ribbons we have
> sounds like a reasonable way to cut costs and take more advantage of
> the high-volume discounts.
>
> Jack
>
> On Oct 31, 2006, at 10:35 AM, Val Grimm wrote:
>
>> I agree with Sharon. But I also think it might be good to investigate
>> the price of stickers.....e.g. http://www.websticker.com/labels.htm
>>
>> If the thing just had the Arisia badge and said staff....maybe a foil
>> thing even to ensure no duplications.
>>
>> On 10/31/06, Sharon Sbarsky <sbarsky at panix.com> wrote:
>>> They've restructured their pricing scheme.
>>>
>>> 2" x 6" vertical with tape top (Arisia's standard order) is:
>>>
>>> QTY     1-99    100-499 500-999 1000-4999       5000+
>>>         $0.51   $0.38   $0.29   $0.24   $0.19
>>>
>>> plus ~6% shipping, minus 10% winter discount (assuming the order
>>> doesn't
>>> go in today. :-) No tax.
>>>
>>> There is a charge to change the "title" i.e. CLUE --> COMMITTEE of
>>> $.75
>>> per line (though they may have changed this recently also.) And
>>> there may
>>> be additional charges depending on how many colors of ink are used.
>>>
>>> IMHO, it is better to have generic "STAFF" ribbons than specific
>>> department staff ribbons. It's cheaper (fewer title changes and fewer
>>> "wasted" ribbons) and more unifying for the convention.
>>>
>>> But since Arisia doesn't put year, etc on the ribbon, previous
>>> year's can
>>> be reused if they are saved and inventoried between each year.
>>>
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