Most bad ID cards fail for one of two reasons: the photo was the wrong shape, or the artwork was the wrong size for the printer. Both are easy to avoid once you know the numbers.
The card itself: ID-1
The format nearly everyone means by “ID card” is ID-1, defined in the ISO/IEC 7810 standard. It is the same size as a bank card:
| Measurement | Millimetres | Inches |
|---|---|---|
| Width | 85.60 mm | 3.370 in |
| Height | 53.98 mm | 2.125 in |
| Corner radius | 3.18 mm | 0.125 in |
Two other formats show up often enough to be worth knowing: ID-2 at 105 × 74 mm (roughly A7), and ID-3 at 125 × 88 mm, which is passport size. If you are not sure which you need, measure a card you already have.
Pixels: what to export
Printers think in dots per inch, screens think in pixels. At 300 dpi — the usual minimum for a sharp print — the three formats work out as:
| Format | Physical size | At 300 dpi | At 600 dpi |
|---|---|---|---|
| ID-1 | 85.60 × 53.98 mm | 1011 × 638 px | 2022 × 1275 px |
| ID-2 | 105 × 74 mm | 1240 × 874 px | 2480 × 1748 px |
| ID-3 | 125 × 88 mm | 1476 × 1039 px | 2953 × 2079 px |
If your card will be printed by a commercial shop, add a bleed — usually 3 mm on every edge — and keep any text at least 3 mm inside the trim line. So an ID-1 card with 3 mm bleed exports at 91.6 × 60 mm instead.
The photo
There is no single worldwide photo size for badges; organisations set their own. The ones you will meet most often are 35 × 45 mm (common on passports and visas) and 30 × 40 mm. At 300 dpi, 35 × 45 mm is about 413 × 531 pixels.
Whatever the number, the aspect ratio is the part that catches people out. A photo cropped to 3:4 will fit a 30 × 40 mm slot perfectly. Force the same photo into a square slot and you either squash the face or crop off the top of the head. Crop to the slot’s ratio first, then scale.
Getting a usable photo
- Light evenly. Face a window or a soft light, not a ceiling lamp behind you.
- Use a plain background — a bare wall is fine. Busy backgrounds make the crop look messy.
- Leave headroom. Photograph a little wider than you need; you can always crop down.
- Shoot at the highest resolution you have and shrink later. Enlarging a small photo never works.
- Avoid filters. Heavy processing looks odd on a printed badge.
- Check your organisation’s rules before you photograph a whole team. Some places require a specific background colour or a neutral expression.
File formats
- PDF for anything going to a print shop. It carries the page size with it, so the printer cannot silently rescale your card.
- PNG for digital use. It is lossless, so text stays crisp, and it supports transparency if the layout needs it.
- JPEG only when file size really matters — it introduces artefacts around sharp text.
Common mistakes
- Exporting at screen resolution and then wondering why the print is soft.
- Stretching a photo to fit a slot instead of cropping it to the right ratio.
- Putting text within 2 mm of the edge, where the trim can cut through it.
- Using a pure white background for a card that will be printed on white stock, so the card has no visible edge.
Doing it in the app
ID Card Maker for Android lets you add a photo alongside the name, designation, organisation and contact details, then export as a PNG or PDF. If you want the printable numbers to be handled for you, that is the quickest route. If you are printing professionally, send the PDF and tell the printer the finished size you expect.
