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Easytag
The first project I ever shipped — onsite event badge printing, in 2013.
Easytag is a simple onsite event-badge printing solution that works in both manned and kiosk modes. It reduced entry-stall waiting times by 30%, and taught me, slowly and painfully, what design thinking actually means.
§ Role
Designer
§ Year
2013
What it does
Easytag prints event badges, on site, the moment an attendee shows up. No spreadsheets. No sorting. No pre-printed badges abandoned at registration desks. The system works in two modes:
- Manned: a staff member runs the kiosk
- Self-serve kiosk: the attendee runs it themselves
Event organisers prefer it because it removes the worst job at any conference — searching alphabetically for Subramanian, S. while a queue grows behind you.
What it changed
- 30% reduction in waiting time at entry stalls
- Event staffers reported preferring it over sorted, pre-printed badges (which I take personally, having sorted plenty of pre-printed badges in a former life)
What it taught me
This was the first project I ever executed end-to-end. I was twenty-something, opinionated, and convinced design was about good-looking screens. Easytag taught me that design is mostly about removing friction nobody else has noticed yet — and that the elegance is in the absence of steps, not the presence of effects.
This is the project that taught me the basics of design thinking. Everything since has been a refinement of what I started learning in 2013.
What shipped
- Homepage and configuration tool for designing badges by category
- A “collect ticket” flow for attendees with prior registration
- An on-site “register at event” flow for walk-ins
- Both flows convergent on the same printer and the same badge template
The badge designer. Categories drive layouts; layouts drive printers.
Collect ticket — phone or email, nothing else.
Register at event — for the half of any conference who didn’t pre-register.
The design is no longer in production. The lesson is.
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