DEF CON 31

Interested in designing the official DEF CON conference badge? Now is your chance!

After each conference the existing badge designers have a “right of first refusal” to decide if they want to do it again. After two fantastic electronic badge designs at DC 29 and 30 MK Factor has chosen to not design for DC 31

The DC 31 badge will be non-electronic, what we call a “physical” badge. Traditionally we alternate between an electronic and non-electronic badge. This is to try and keep things fresh. Our 30th Anniversary was supposed to be non-electronic, but how could we not do something special? So with two years in a row of electronic it is now time to go back to physical.

For context in the past a non-electronic badge has been everything from liquid filled badges, to a custom music record, a cassette tape that was part of a puzzle challenge, or silicon badges done in the historic shapes from DEF CONs past. Your imagination and our budget are the limit!

Logistically you would be planning to produce up to 30k badges plus a limited number of Black Badges.

To apply please paste the following copy into a text file or the body of an email, answer the questions, and send an EMAIL to:
info (at) defcon.org with a SUBJECT of “Call for Badge Designer”

Who are you? Tell us about you.

Are you a single designer, or are you a team?

Name(s):
Primary Email:
Phone:
(Signal Y/N)

Backup email to contact:
Social Media Links:
Website(s):
Any hacking/community groups you belong to, etc:

How long have you attended DEF CON:

What inspired you to submit to the call for badge designers?

What do you bring to the table that would bring a new perspective to the badge design process and DEF CON team?

Show us your work, what badges or related designs have you made in the past?
An online link or supporting portfolio materials would be very helpful for us to visualize your work, the art, the hardware, etc.

Have you made conference badges before?

How many badges have you made (per design) before? 100, 1000, 10,000+

What was the average overhead cost, per badge, on your last badge design?

How long do you prepare for badge design?

Have you failed a badge design? what happened?

If you were to "reboot" a DEF CON badge, which would it be and how would you do it?

If not a DEF CON badge, how would you improve upon an existing badge design of your own?

Have you made badges to be interactive before? Explain.

What is a feature you want from a conference badge?

Could you design that feature?

What do you LIKE about making badges?

What do you Dislike about making badges?

We will review all submissions, provide feedback, and schedule voice calls to help answer questions and narrow our search. Being a non-electronic badge year we hope it will inspire makers to think differently.

Thank you,
The Dark Tangent