A card designer that isn't tied to a PC
If you’ve ever used desktop badge software, you know the drill: install the application on one computer, hope the licence key works, configure the printer driver, and pray it doesn’t break when Windows updates.
Need to make a quick edit from home? Log in on a different machine? Hand design duties to a colleague? Too bad — the software lives on that one PC.
Cloud-native card design
CaptrID’s card designer runs entirely in your browser. Open it on your laptop, your tablet, or any machine with a web connection. No installation, no licence dongle, no single-point-of-failure workstation.
The designer is drag-and-drop with a live preview. Place text fields, photos, logos, shapes, and barcodes on a canvas. Resize, align, layer, and style them visually. See exactly what the printed card will look like — with real data from your roster, not placeholder text.
Live data preview
This is the feature that changes everything about card design. Instead of designing with “First Name” and “Last Name” as placeholder text, you see actual person data rendered on the card in real time.
Scroll through your roster and watch the card update for each person. Catch issues before you print: a name that’s too long for the text box, a photo that’s cropped awkwardly, a barcode that doesn’t fit.
This eliminates the “design, export, print one, realise it’s wrong, go back and fix it” loop that desktop software forces on you.
Template variables, not hardcoded fields
The card designer uses template variables — placeholders like {{first_name}}, {{department}}, or {{photo}} that map to fields in your data source. This means one template works across different sessions and roster configurations. Map the variables when you link the template to a session, and it adapts automatically.
Need a slight variation? Duplicate the template and adjust. The original stays untouched.
Dual-sided cards
Design front and back independently. The back might have emergency contact details, a barcode for scanning, or compliance text that the front doesn’t need. Both sides preview with live data.
Print-ready export
When you’re ready, export to print-ready PDF. The output is designed for standard CR-80 card stock (86mm x 54mm) with proper bleed and margins. Send the PDF to your card printer, your print bureau, or your office printer.
No proprietary print drivers. No vendor lock-in on hardware. If it can print a PDF, it can print your cards.
Design once, use everywhere
Templates are organisation-level — they’re available across all your sessions. Design your “Staff ID” template once, and use it for every onboarding session, every annual refresh, every photo day. Update the design, and every session using that template gets the update.
Session-specific overrides are available too: custom field mappings, default values, and per-session branding (add an event logo or a year label without changing the master template).
Why this matters
Desktop badge software was built for a world where one person at one desk managed all the printing. That world doesn’t exist anymore. Organisations need multiple people to design, review, and export cards from different locations.
A cloud card designer isn’t a luxury — it’s how design tools should work in a world where your team is distributed, your data lives in the cloud, and your workflow shouldn’t depend on one machine staying healthy.
CaptrID’s card designer is built into the platform — no extra software to install. See the card designer or start a free trial.