Festival credentials
Festival Staff Passes
Print 4 x 6 staff credentials with a role word guards can read from several feet, zone letters, and a date for each festival day.
Events and conferences
Recommended templates
- A tall lanyard pass with a retro sunset, a huge role word and access zones for crews.Use this template
- Tall lanyard credential with the event, a white info card, room for guest details and a big role strip.Use this template
- High-visibility black and yellow staff card with a hazard stripe and ID number.Use this template
Make every name easy to recognize
Equip your festival crew with tall passes that show their role, work zones and valid dates, with distinct group colors for staff and contractors. Print from the approved crew list and give gate staff a matching roster for access checks.
Groups people often use
- All Access
- Artist
- Production Crew
- Vendor
- Volunteer
- Medical
- Security
What to include
- Credential level as one huge word, such as CREW, ARTIST or MEDICAL, readable from several feet
- A solid color for each level that matches your wristband or checkpoint chart
- Zone letters like A, B and D that match a legend posted at every checkpoint
- The date or day name on single-day passes, large enough to catch yesterday's pass
- Name and job title, such as Stage Manager or Runner, with the company or vendor below
- Festival name and a lost-pass contact that goes to the production office, not a personal phone
Setting up festival credential levels and zone letters
Use a bold role strip for crew type and a separate line for permitted zones, keeping labels short enough to read at the gate. Apply the same zone names to the badge, staff briefing and approved access roster.
Rain, sweat and dust: printing passes that survive outdoors
Print a sample on suitable cardstock and protect it in a holder designed for the conditions at your event. Check readability after normal handling and keep spare inserts available, since exposed paper and ordinary printer ink may not tolerate wet conditions.
Daily passes and the limits of paper credentials
Put the valid day or date range where staff can read it quickly, and vary the design between daily passes when useful. A printed pass can be copied, so restricted areas still need staff checks against the approved roster.
How to make festival staff passes
Start with Festival Staff at 4 x 6
Choose the Festival Staff template, which prints 2 passes per US Letter sheet at 4 x 6 inches. Type the festival name and the day, like FRIDAY or DAY 2, as fixed text.
List the crew with level, job and zones
Build a CSV with Name, Title, Company, Level and Zones columns. Map Level to group and Zones to custom1, then use label overrides so Production Crew prints as CREW.
Recolor and export one day at a time
Export Friday's PDF, then edit the date text and the color of the header bar and export again for Saturday. Name each file by day so nobody prints the wrong one.
Laser print, pouch and bundle by department
Laser print the sheets, trim them, slide passes into lanyard pouches, and bundle them by department so each crew lead picks up one stack instead of every person lining up.
Questions about festival staff passes
What credential levels do festival staff passes usually need?
A typical set is All Access, Artist, Production Crew, Vendor, Volunteer, Medical and Security, with zones to fine-tune where each person can go. Keep levels few and obvious, since gate staff have to memorize them. If two levels always share the same zones, merge them. Put the level list and colors on the staff briefing sheet and the checkpoint legend.
How big should the role word be on a 4 x 6 festival credential?
Big enough to read from several feet at night, which usually means capital letters at least half an inch tall, and larger when the word is short. Bebas Neue and Oswald are condensed display fonts that fit words like SECURITY across a 4 inch width. Use label overrides to shorten long level names so auto-fit does not shrink them.
Will inkjet-printed festival passes run in the rain?
They can. Many inkjet inks are water soluble, so a few drops on an unprotected pass can blur the name and zone letters. Laser toner holds up much better when wet. If inkjet is your only option, let the sheets dry fully and put every pass in a sealed clear lanyard pouch before it goes outside.
How do I make copied festival staff passes less useful?
You cannot fully stop copying with paper, but you can make it pay off less. Change the pass color and date every day, keep a staff list at each checkpoint, and pair passes with wristbands or hand stamps for restricted zones. Brief gate crews to check names on the list when a pass looks faded, reprinted or out of place.
Can each staff pass show zone icons instead of zone letters?
Zone details come from a text column, so letters or numbers are the practical choice: A, B and D print cleanly and read fast. Images you add to the design, like a festival logo, are the same on every pass, so per-person icon sets are not possible. Post a legend at each checkpoint that explains every letter.
Can I print passes for a 400-person festival crew for free?
Festival crew passes are free for lists of up to 500 people, including CSV import and PDF or PNG downloads without a watermark. Put the event date and assigned access zones on each pass, then check the roster with your department leads before printing.
Your badges, printed in minutes
Start with Festival Staff, add your logo and names, and print your first set free for up to 500 people.