Generic IMC press pass template for IMCs
Design by Bill Huston (bhuston at stny.rr.com / 607-321-7846),  

... after a design I saw on RealityExpander.com, a site for a Public Access TV news program in Austin TX.

Here is my generic IMC press pass template (this is what you want). It's in GIMP .XCF format. GIMP is a Photoshop clone that runs natively on Unix and Linux. There are ports for Mac OS-X and M$-Windows (but I can't say how well GIMP works on a non-unix system). Info on GIMP is here: http://www.gimp.org. (To save the template, you will probably have to right-click and select "save link target as" before attempting to work with it.)

Brief Open-Source rant: If all you have ever used is Microsoft, do yourself a favor and take that old Pentium II machine collecting dust in your garage and install Redhat, Mandrake, SuSe, or some Linux distribution on it. Not only does GIMP usually comes pre-installed, but you'll be amazed at what you can do with a real operating system, and you'll sleep better knowing that you aren't supporting Bill Gates' predatory and capitalistic attempts at enclosing what should be our collectively owned commons. More info on linux is here: http://www.kernel.org. More info on the open source movement is here: http://www.gnu.org. If this sounds a bit nutty, please become informed on what's at stake here.

Sample: This design is quite professional looking and very effective at getting access to where you need to be. This and a little moxy should be all you need.  Here is a sample:

press pass
Click for a large view.

Customization for your IMC:

Here is a little image which will help you in the customization process. Please make sure
to customize it, i.e., don't use the Binghamton IMC logo, or mailing address, or URL.


instructions

Note on GIMP's Dynamic Text:

Most (all?) of the text is Dynamic Text, so it should be easy to make changes. However, some versions of GIMP have a few minor bugs and cavets.

You first should use the move tool (hand or 4 arrows) to select the text you want to change. Then, double click on the text tool from the GIMP tools window, and select "Use Dynamic Text". Then single-click on the text tool, then click on the text which should already be selected. You should be able to modify the text without having to retype everything.

This is especially handy in big blocks, such as the two blocks on the back side, one of which -- the top block -- you'll have to customize.

One bug I've encountered in some older versions of GIMP as that when you edit your text, it vanishes. Well, not really. It's just moved to the upper left corner if the image. Just move it back to where it needs to be.

Final touches:

You should pick a serial number for each person.  It could be random, or perhaps it could be based on a number which has meaning for your IMC. Once you pick one, use one of the free barcode generators available on the net, such as http://www.milk.com/barcode/server/  or http://www.barcodesinc.com/generator/index.php. This could be just for looks, or you could use this to provide access to your building. If you really want to scan your barcode, do some research first, because there are many different encodings to use.  More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_code.

Printing/Laminating:

In the U.S., you can print these out in color for about $2 in computer time and printing costs, and about $3 for laminating. I have found that you can print 2 press passes on a single 8 1/2" x 11" page, and after trimming and signing the back, you can laminate them together to reduce costs.

Before you laminate it, be sure to cut a large opening around the black guide mark at the top front. Make the hole about 2x what you think you really want. Then, after laminating, cut the plastic to the actual desired size on the inside of the area you cut out on the paper. The idea here is to make sure you are cutting only plastic, and not paper. If you don't pre-cut the paper first in this manner, you will end up with a pass which may be vunerable to taking on moisture and peeling.

I hope you find this useful.

Bill Huston, IMC-Binghamton (NY)