Make a Techie Name Badge

Step 3 Pick and trim keys

The keys come in all sorts of different shapes, with different markings and different heights. Choose a combination you like; perhaps it will look like someone has pushed one or more of the keys. In this case, I particularly wanted the second W of my "name" to look different, since it dates back to an ancient username algorithm: "First five letters of the last name, first letter of the first name." I had to trim weird bottoms off a couple keys so they wouldn't stick up too much.

Be aware that keys are BIG. Typically about 5/8 inch wide. So even my short six-character name comes out over 4 inches wide. "I Make Shooting Things" is not going to make a usable name badge. Keys are also not proportionally spaced, and they're all uppercase, and the actual letter labels tend to be small compared to the keys. (hmm. It might be an interesting idea to incorporate small keys from PDA, Phones, or calculator-type things...)