What You Should Know about Custom Printed Lanyards

They're everywhere – from schools to hospitals to commercial buildings and malls. There seems to be no stopping the increasing number of people using custom printed lanyards. And for a good reason – it does save you from the hassle of fumbling with your bags or wallet looking for that precious piece of paper or plastic that would let everyone know you work there. Not to mention that these things can be eye-catching too!

Benefits of Custom Printed Lanyards

Fortunately, custom printed lanyards are more than just some piece of strap you can look at. Aside from its purpose as a badge and identification card holder, they can be used to avoid misplacing stuff, especially those little yet important things that you seem to lose on a regular basis – like car keys, your designer pen, eyeglasses and whistles. They also let you carry cameras, mobile phones, portable game consoles and mp3 players without having to lug a bag around. Not to mention that they would help you avoid dropping those pricey gadgets.

However, the ultimate reason why a custom printed lanyard is such a hit is its great value as a promotional tool. If you are in a large commercial building, every time your employees are seen wearing those lanyards, it builds your company's image. Plus your employees find it easier to get into the spirit of things and acquire the hey-I-am-part-of-this-company mindset.

There are various ways to print lanyards with your company name or logo. While the usual course of action is to order lanyards in bulk online or from the local store, you can actually do it in your home or office, especially if you have desk publishing and printing tools.

The first method is hot stamping. In this method, your design is going to be transferred to a film. A metal plate is heated and then a color film is placed right on the lanyard. Pressure is applied on the plate, which causes the film to heat up and consequently, the color and the design is transferred form the film to the lanyard strap. This method makes the most inexpensive custom lanyards but it only uses a single color. This can be used for a whole lot of events – trade shows, name badges and the likes.

You can also print lanyards through screen printing. It provides better quality than the previous method. It is consequently more durable, and the price is higher. The customer's design is transferred to a fine mesh screen, which is then placed on top of the material. Then, colored ink is applied on the screen and the ink is pushed through the mesh screen to transfer the design to the material.

If you want highly detailed text and logos to be imprinted on your lanyards, then you should use the dye sublimation process. In this method, the design is transferred to paper that uses an ink especially used for dye sublimation. It is then placed over the lanyard and heat, as well as pressure, is applied. This makes the image enmeshed into the material. The images that result from this type of printing last longer.

You may or may not print those lanyards at home, but this knowledge would at least help you with your decisions about which lanyard manufacturer to approach. If you haven't decided whether you want those custom printed lanyards, it's about time you realize you need them.