Designing Name Tags for
UCSD Summer Program
2022 & 2023
Timeframe
Year 1: May - June 2022
Year 2: May - June 2023
My Role
Visual Designer
Researcher/Interviewer
Digital Tools
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Canva
Background
Each summer, UC San Diego’s TRIO Upward Bound hosts a three-week program where low-income and first-generation high school students experience campus life to prepare for college.
I was tasked with designing durable, visually appealing name tags for 60 students and 30 staff members. The two main goals were to capture the essence of summer and make the tags memorable and relatable, encouraging participants to wear and keep them beyond the program.
The Problem
The TRIO Summer Program brought together students from various San Diego County schools and new staff, meaning most participants were unfamiliar with each other. Given the program's short three-week duration, quickly breaking the ice was essential.
To facilitate this, I designed colorful & eye-catching name tags to encourage continuous use and help students and staff learn each other's names. By making the tags visually appealing, I aimed to increase engagement while meeting my supervisors’ criteria. This was especially important as the 2022 Program was the first in-person program for many students post-pandemic, enhancing their ability to connect in a simulated college environment.
Challenges
Prior to conducting research, I spent time identifying potential challenges that I foresaw as potential difficulties in creating my designs.
1. Understanding what makes a compelling visual design.
To promote name tag usage, I needed to research visual design principles to create appealing tags for the staff and students.
2. Visually differentiating staff name tags.
Making the staff name tags look different from student tags, but still similar enough to show they are part of the same program (to avoid confusing them with other summer programs at UCSD).
3. Name clarity.
For the tags to serve their purpose, I needed to balance compelling visual design while ensuring the names be clear, easy to read and legible from a few feet away.
Research
To create a lasting impression on users, I dedicated time to research how to design in a way that is both memorable and compelling. I found many common themes in my research and brainstormed how I could integrate them into my designs.
Tell a story
Keeping with the theme of the summertime, I wanted the story to represent the different sights that stakeholders were likely to see at UC San Diego in the summer (beautiful blue skies, the sun high in the sky, the waves in the ocean, & warm sunsets).
Use color effectively
I learned that simple color choices that visually pop and don't over-clutter the space would be ideal to ensure that the designs would be as beautiful up close as they would be from afar.
Utilize empty space
Providing enough space in the middle of the tags to draw attention to the name, as the visual designs of the cards served as a playful frame for the important information on the cards; the names of the stakeholders.
Keep it fun
To make the designs light and playful, I focused on a whimsical, simple and almost child-like representations of an ocean landscape. This helps visually foreshadow a care-free & fun summer for the students whose very first experience with the summer program is receiving their name tags and a lanyard.
Finding a Visual Style
First hand-drawn Student iteration.
The first iteration began with two distinct elements: sunshine as a top border and ocean waves as a lower border. To avoid clutter, I kept the middle of the cards free of obstructions to make sure that the names were clear. 
First digital Student iteration.
In the first digital iteration, I avoided having solid objects and instead stuck to waves (sun rays & ocean waves) to keep attention on the names and not be too distracting. However, it was clear that this was too basic and didn't feel distinct enough to also be fun.Second digital Student iteration.
For variety & more visual distinction, I decided to add clouds and replaced the sun's rays with the sun. I also pulled the layers of the waves apart to give more dimension. At this point, I liked the bottom half of the cards, but the top half still felt incomplete.In the interest of guaranteeing that the staff & student cards look similar, I decided to start with the student tags first and then allow the staff tags to be a modified version once I had the foundation of the design down.
Applying my research and the following ideas for the designs, my goal was to create name tags that were simple, fun & representative of summer.
Using simple shapes and avoiding clutter were two key guides that I followed closely for my designs.
‘Student’ Prototypes
First hand-drawn Staff iteration.
I knew from the initial prototype that I wanted the Staff cards to resemble the sunset to contrast the mid-day look of the Student cards. I also wanted to provide a space for each of the staff cards to have the specific role of each staff member (aka 'role space').‘Staff’ Prototypes
First digital Staff iteration.
The sun and waves I was able to pull from the final 'student' tags, but with the adjustment of putting the sun on the horizon. My initial solution for a 'role space' was to use a cloud to serve as a background, but it felt a bit awkward in the sky by itself.
Second digital Staff iteration.
Similar to the student tags, I added dimension to the sky by doing a harsh orange gradient. I also removed the lone cloud in the sky and used thinner text to create the visual distinction between the role and the name.Testing the Waters
As the designs began to take shape, I printed some prototype copies for staff members to wear in the office and on-campus to gauge their initial reactions and hear their feedback. Since I couldn't reach the program’s students, I communicated with TRiO staff members who would also be wearing the name tags.
While the initial designs were well-received, there were a few recurring sentiments among my interviews
“I think the name tags should give the students some form of self-expression” - Jenny E.
“I like the Student tag design, but the Staff one feels a bit too busy” - Joel B.
“It would be nice if there was a way for the cards to communicate the students’ gender identities” - Carri F.
“The designs are good but they don’t seem fully fleshed out” - Jose D.
Final Designs
2022 Name Tags
The theme that I ascertained from the first two pieces of feedback were that the cards would benefit from some sort of personalization.
Since it would be impractical to source all of the gender identities of the students & staff, I decided it would be best to add a white space for them to write that information if they wanted to. Alternatively, this space could be used by stakeholders to add a nickname or anything they wanted, given it fits within the provided space.
In order to flesh out the design more, I minimized the amount of visual clutter in the staff tags by eliminating the red-orange gradient and put clouds instead. I also redesigned the sun to look more wobbly & dynamic in the student tags, which makes the entire design look less uniform & more fun.
Finally, I added yellow borders around both tags to make them look more like actual physical name tags instead of digital designs.
Third & final Student name tag design
Third & final Staff name tag design
Bringing Them to Life
2022 Name Tags
Results
The name tags for the 2022 Summer Program were a big hit, as the students and staff consistently made efforts to wear them through the entirety of the program.
Many of the students took advantage of the blank space on their cards, mostly using it to write their gender identities.
By the end of the 2022’s program, one of the common problems & critiques of the name tags among the students and staff was that since their names were only printed on one side of the cards, oftentimes the tags would flip around and just show a white blank ID card.
Lesson Learned
Despite the universal popularity of the tags, them frequently flipping onto the blank side effectively rendered them useless half the time.
This presented a brand new challenge for how I would approach the card design for 2023’s name tags.
2023 Name Tags
Background & Challenges
Coming from my knowledge of designing the cards the previous year, I had a blueprint for how to approach designing the name tags for the students based on my research, user testing and post-production feedback from interviewing stakeholders.
This background proved very helpful in providing a starting point for the 2023 tags, but there were still new challenges that quickly presented themselves;
Ensuring that the face of the name tag is always visible.
Making the name tags more fun & creative than the previous year.
Maintaining a visual distinction between the staff cards and student cards.
Exploring Solutions
Since ensuring that the cards remained face-up was the biggest immediate challenge, I tackled how to solve that problem first. My brainstorming lead to three potential design solutions.
Plastic Sleeves
Putting the name tags in plastic sleeves that would help prevent them from flipping around.
Double-Sided Print
Printing the card design on both sides of the cards so that the names would always be visible.
Vertical Designs
Creating a vertical card design to see if that promotes less card-flipping.
Finding Visual Styles
I went with the Double Sided Print solution because it felt the most feasible in terms of real-world implementation.
I also saw this solution as an opportunity to make the cards more fun & memorable: I decided to do different designs for each side of the student cards.
This added another unique dimension to the cards and provided a solution to last year’s problem of the cards inadvertently flipping to the blank side while also providing a fun twist.
I built off of the general structure of the 2022 cards, but for variation, I chose day & night as the theme for the 2023 student cards as a visual representation of the program: one where the students have adventures through the day, and then stay on campus overnight.
The challenge with doing this was finding a way to make both of the designs similar enough to show that they represent student name tags and not staff. This was why I chose blue & purple as the background colors, since they’re close enough to where they wouldn’t be confused with the lighter color of the staff tags.
First Staff Tag Prototypes (2023)
First Student Tag Prototypes (2023)
Staff Cards
In upgrading the name tag designs for the students, I also brainstormed how I could do the same for the staff.
My initial instinct was to defer to the staff tags from 2022 and build off of them. Since the students had the hilly side of La Jolla on the designs for their tags, I initially decided to stick with the beach theme from the previous year.
The main changes to the 2022 Staff Tags were:
Including headshot images of the staff members
Including the school they work at throughout the school year
Replacing their ‘role’ with the program we work for (UCSD TRiO)
For the staff, the plan was to have the same design printed on both sides, since differentiating them too much could have been potential cause for confusion.
Gathering Feedback
Upon interviewing members of our staff for feedback on these new student & staff name tags, the feedback about the student tags were universally positive.
They appreciated that the designs had the slight differentiation and agreed that it added an extra layer of fun for the students.
They agreed that double-sided printing would help ensure that the names would always be visible.
The staff had more to say about the staff cards in terms of constructive criticism. Universally, the most common pieces of feedback were:
They thought staff cards should look a bit more “mature” than the student cards (since the staff members are adults while the students are minors).
They agreed that the staff cards should incorporate more UCSD colors (blue & gold).
They liked that the staff cards had pictures.
Re-Working the Staff Cards
In incorporating the Staff’s feedback, I decided to ditch the orange sunset theme entirely.
I also wanted to simplify the staff cards; the second iteration had just a blue background, yet felt too simple. The third iteration included a wavy blue gradient background, both as a way of adding more dimension and also as a subtle nod to the water/wave theme from the previous year.
2nd Staff Tag Prototype (2023)
3rd Staff Tag Prototype (2023)
Having to use UCSD colors for the Staff tags presented a new challenge since the student cards were already shades of blue & purple.
Despite the addition of the “STAFF” label in the top right of the new Staff tag designs, it was clear that these designs didn’t have the immediate & striking visual difference from the student cards.
Since these prototypes of the staff tags have blue-ish colors, they would have a higher chances of resembling the student cards at first glance, which could cause confusion in people not being able to tell who is a student and who is a staff member.
My approach to solving this problem was to zoom out and look back to my brainstorming to figure out how to keep the cards from flipping around, and the next iteration became clear: making the Staff tags vertical.
This design solution provided an immediate distinction between the student & staff cards while still following the guidelines of having a more mature design while also using UCSD colors.
This design also allowed me to maximize the space of each of the individual elements on the tag including the name size, the size of the picture, and the size of the white space. This proved especially valuable since quickness in legibility and immediate differentiation between the staff & student cards were crucial elements to ensuring the tags were effective, beyond just fun and nice-looking.
Final Staff Tag Iteration (2023)
Final Designs
2023 Name Tags
‘Student’ Tags
Third & final Student name tag designs
‘Staff’ Tags
Forth & final Staff name tag design
Bringing Them to Life
2023 Name Tags
Reflections
Once the Students & Staff were given their name tags to use for the 2023 Summer Program, it became immediately clear how much more effective these cards were than the previous years’.
As long as the tags themselves were visible to the viewer, the names and the roles of both the Students and the Staff were visible and easy to differentiate at a glance.
Further, many of the students who enrolled in the 2023 program were also present for 2022’s program, and universally all of the students who were a part of both reported preferring the design of the 2023 tags over the 2022 tags. When asked why, a main reason the students mentioned was the inclusion of different designs on each side of the card (though many students preferred the ‘Night’ side over the ‘Day’ side).
The 2023 Summer Program is the last summer I will spend with UC San Diego TRIO. Fortunately, due to the overwhelming popularity & success of the 2023 Staff & Student name tags, I was asked to give the project files for my designs to the TRIO tech team so they could continue using these Student & Staff card layouts for future summers to come.