We often get asked if we do custom badges. Yes, we sure do! We’ve done them for The New York Times, for JSConf (four years running) for Automattic (the folks that make WordPress), for open-source projects, Platform-as-a-service companies, and anybody who has something to be proud of.

On the left, you can see custom badges that we designed and made for JSConf, which had a pirate theme. Noah from Skull-A-Day gave us permission to use a skull he created that we really liked, and we put it inside javascript parentheses. All with swanky GOLD THREAD. An actual girl-scout troop in California liked these so much, the design is now going to be used as a real troop crest!

On the right is New York Times Digital’s Nick Thuessen, sporting the badge we made for Times Open, and was distributed to all participants.

We also make semi-secret badges for our own projects like Coworkout.

Particulars

What You Get: You get a custom 1.5" round badge that’s the same in size, shape, and detail as our other badges — 100% embroidery coverage, a merrowed (stitched) edge, and velcro backing. Each badge comes on an official Nerd Merit Badges cardstock back, and a velcro dot holds the badge to the card. Some users like to pin the whole back to their cubicle wall; others like to stick the badge to their sweater, or to put it on their laptop. You also get to brag that you are giving them an official, gen-u-wine Nerd Merit Badge!

Minimum Order: The minimum order is fifty badges, since the enormous multi-headed embroidery machines that actually make the badges can’t make less than that. "Fifty" is like "one" to these multi-headed monsters.

Turnaround Time: It usually takes 3-5 days to get a design that everyone is happy with.  We have a Photoshop template that we use, and if you have a designer, we can share it with them. Then, it takes a few more days to get a prototype stitched out. Once everyone agrees that the badge looks great, it’s a few weeks to get the actual badges, and a few more days to get the backs made. All in all, it’s about 3-5 weeks.

Price: The price for an order of fifty or more is $5.00 per badge (that’s a 19.8% discount.)Each badge comes on an O-FEE-cial Nerd Merit Badge cardstock back, and everything!

If you’re interested, send an email to john@nerdmeritbadges.com!