Skip to main content

Brand Studio

Brand Studio makes the printed and pasted pieces that carry your brand from one brand kit: photo ID cards with a QR code anyone can scan to check the card is still valid, visiting cards (business cards), and an email signature for every employee. Cards wait in a print queue until you print them, and employees can ask for a replacement ID card or a batch of business cards from their portal.

Unlocked with an honest review

Brand Studio isn't part of any plan, the free trial included. A workspace unlocks it by writing an honest review of Operentra on G2: see Unlock Brand Studio with an honest review. It appears in the menus once the workspace is in regular use: at least 10 active employees and a payroll run approved, locked or paid (on a plan without payroll, attendance recorded on 15 of the last 30 days). From then until a review unlocks it, its menu entries show a lock, and the three portal pages are not shown to employees. Cards issued while Brand Studio was on can still be revoked: see If Brand Studio is switched off.

Open Brand Studio from the admin sidebar:

ScreenRouteWhat it's for
ID Cards/admin/brand-studio/id-cardsIssue, print, revoke and track ID cards: the Issued, Print queue and Not issued yet tabs
Visiting Cards/admin/brand-studio/visiting-cardsOrder business cards for employees and print them from one queue
Email Signatures/admin/brand-studio/signaturesPreview and copy any employee's signature, and send employees theirs
Requests/admin/brand-studio/requestsEmployees' requests for a replacement ID card or for visiting cards
Brand Kit/admin/brand-studio/brand-kitThe logos, colours, typeface and layouts everything is made from

Permissions​

PermissionWhat it allowsDefault roles
brand_studio.manageManage Brand Studio (brand kit, card and signature layouts)Super Admin, HR Manager
brand_studio.issueIssue & Revoke ID Cards, Order Visiting Cards, Handle Requests: the ID Cards, Visiting Cards, Email Signatures and Requests screensSuper Admin, HR Manager, HR Officer
brand_studio.view_ownView Own ID Card, Business Card & Email Signature: the three portal pagesEvery default role
brand_studio.requestRequest an ID Card or Visiting Cards from the portalEvery default role

An HR Officer can issue and print cards but can't open the brand kit. Someone who holds a permission in a workspace without Brand Studio is still refused, except for revoking a card and marking it returned (see If Brand Studio is switched off). After you change a role's grants, its users sign in again to pick up the change (see Access control).

The brand kit​

Brand Studio › Brand Kit holds the logos, colours and layouts that every ID card, visiting card and email signature is made from. The form is on the left and a live preview on the right, with tabs for ID card · front, ID card · back, Visiting card · front, Visiting card · back and Email signature. The preview uses a sample employee and updates as you type; nothing is saved until you save your changes. Click Save Changes, or Discard to go back to the saved kit. If someone else saved the kit while you were editing, their version loads and you make your changes again. Logos are the exception: uploading or removing the logo for dark backgrounds or the icon mark saves at once, and leaves your unsaved form changes as they are.

Logos​

Three slots, each shown on white and on your primary colour:

  • Main logo: your company logo, for light backgrounds. It is the logo from Settings › Branding, so it changes there (Change in Branding).
  • Logo for dark backgrounds: a light version for the colour band. Optional: upload one if your main logo is hard to see on the primary colour.
  • Icon mark: a square symbol, for small spaces.

Upload a transparent PNG or an SVG (JPEG and WebP are accepted too), up to 5 MB. A raster logo narrower than 600 pixels (256 pixels for the icon mark) gets a warning that it may print soft; an SVG never does.

Colours​

Four colours: Primary colour, Secondary colour, Text colour (names and details) and Card background (fills the card).

When a main logo is uploaded, Brand Studio picks colours from it. From your logo: swatches appear with the primary and secondary colours, and A palette picked from your logo offers all four at once with Use it. Nothing changes until you pick one and save. If the logo can't be read, the page says Colours couldn't be picked from your logo.

Cards print white or your text colour on the primary colour, whichever reads better. When even the better of the two stays below 4.5:1 contrast (the WCAG AA minimum for body text), a warning under the primary colour suggests a darker or lighter shade.

Type and contact details​

  • Typeface: Hanken Grotesk or Schibsted Grotesk.
  • Tagline: a short line for visiting cards. Optional.
  • Website: printed exactly as you type it. Left empty, your company website is used.
  • Paper size for print sheets: A4 or US Letter, the starting choice when you download a sheet (you can change it each time). A new kit starts on US Letter for a workspace in the United States or Canada and on A4 elsewhere.

Up to eight links (LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, GitHub), each a full link starting with https://. They appear on email signatures when Social links is switched on in the signature settings.

ID card settings​

The layout and the details shown apply to cards issued after you save.

  • Layout: ten designs, shown as pictures drawn with your saved logo and colours.

    • Portrait: Classic (a colour band across the top, the photo centred over its edge), Sidebar (a colour bar down the side), Minimal (white, a round photo), Diagonal (an angled colour band), Corporate (colour bands at the top and foot) and Badge (for a lanyard: the top kept clear for a punch, the name large on a colour panel).
    • Landscape: Classic (a colour band across the top), Panel (a colour column holding the photo), Banner (the name on a deep colour band) and Minimal (white, a round photo).

    The two Minimal designs pair with a plain back, with a thin rule along the top instead of colour bands. A card keeps the design it was issued with, so changing the design affects only cards issued afterwards.

  • Shown on the card: Designation, Department, Branch, Issue date and Expiry date. All but Branch start switched on. Every card also prints the holder's name, photo, employee code, serial number and the QR code.

  • Personal details on the card back: Blood group and Emergency contact. Both are off by default: anyone who finds or handles the card can read them, so switch them on only if your workplace needs them, for example on a site with medical risks.

  • Valid for (months): counted from the day the card is issued; 24 to start with, up to 120. 0 means cards do not expire.

  • Serial prefix: 1 to 10 capital letters or digits, ID to start with. The hint shows the next serial, for example ID-000001. A new prefix applies to cards issued from then on. The number is one counter for the workspace, so a new prefix carries on the count (NW-000048 after ID-000047) rather than starting again at 1.

  • Extra text on the back: printed under the return address, up to 300 characters. Optional. The back's If found, please return to block names your company, with the address and phone of the employee's branch, or your company's own when the branch has neither.

  • Public verify page: whether the page a card's QR code opens also shows, for a valid card, The holder's photo and The holder's designation. Both start off. See What the QR code shows.

Captions on cards (Valid until, Card no. and so on) print in your workspace's document language; an Arabic card runs right to left.

Visiting card settings​

Applies to orders placed after you save.

  • Layout: ten designs, shown as pictures drawn with your saved logo, colours and card size: Classic, Centred, Minimal, Split (a colour panel with the logo), Bold (the name large), Monogram (initials in a colour circle), Stripe, Diagonal, Corner and Dark (light text on a dark card). Each has a matching back: Classic, Centred, Stripe, Diagonal and Corner use the colour back; Minimal, Bold and Monogram a white one; Split mirrors its front; Dark is dark on both sides. An order keeps the design it was placed with.
  • Size: International (85 × 55 mm) or US (3.5 × 2 in).
  • QR code on the back: Contact card (scanning it saves the employee's contact details) or No QR code.
  • What the QR code holds: the contact card always carries the name, company, job title and work email. Mobile, Office phone, Website and Address stay out until you tick them. Each extra line makes the code denser, and a dense code is hard for a phone camera to read at card size, so add only what people need. The card's front still prints every detail either way.

Email signature settings​

  • Layout: eight designs, shown as pictures drawn with your saved logo and colours: Stacked (one column, the details under the name), Side by side (two columns; can include the employee's photo), Compact (a small logo beside two lines, the contacts on one line without labels), Banner (the logo on a tinted band ruled in your colour), Card (the details and logo in a bordered box with a colour top edge), Photo (a round photo beside the details, or the employee's initials when the photo is off or there isn't one), Accent (a colour bar down the side, the name in your colour) and Minimal (text only: no logo, no rules, with the company named under the job title). Every design is built from tables with inline styles, the way mail programs expect, and mirrors for right-to-left languages. Outlook for Windows draws the round photo and initials square.
  • Included: Designation, Department, Phone, Mobile, Email, Website, Address and Social links. Department and Address start off. Phone is the office number (the employee's branch phone, else your company phone), Mobile the phone number on the employee's record, and Email their work email.
  • Employee photo: available with the Side by side and Photo layouts.
  • Disclaimer: small print under the signature, such as a confidentiality notice. Optional.

What a kit change reaches​

An issued ID card keeps the layout, details and photo it was issued with, and a visiting card order keeps the details, layout, size and QR choice it was placed with: a promotion or a new photo after that doesn't change them. The colours, typeface and logos come from the brand kit as it is now, so a change to those shows on every preview and print from then on, reprints included. Email signatures are built fresh from the current kit and the employee's record every time they are opened.

ID cards​

Who can have a card​

A card can be issued to a current employee: New (Pending Activation), Active or On Leave. New hires are included so the card can be ready on day one. A suspended employee or one who has left can't be issued a card. Each employee has at most one active card at a time.

Issuing cards​

Start from any of these:

  • ID Cards › Not issued yet lists current employees who have no active card. Use Issue on a row, tick people and Issue for selected, or Issue for everyone listed to cover the whole list.
  • The employee directory: tick employees (up to 100 at a time) and click Issue ID cards in the bar at the bottom of the list. The bar also has Order visiting cards. It appears for people who can issue cards, once Brand Studio is unlocked, and only current employees can be ticked.
  • The employee profile: for people who can issue cards, the ID card panel shows the current card with Preview, Reissue, Revoke and Mark as returned, and the Earlier cards (one not handed back yet has Mark as returned too), or Issue ID card when there is none. All ID cards opens the ID Cards page.
  • The onboarding checklist: the Issue ID card task (see Onboarding and offboarding).

Each of these opens the Issue ID cards dialog, which checks the selected employees first and splits them into Ready and Need attention:

What stops a card (blocker)How to fix it
No photo on fileAdd photos opens the directory filtered to people with a missing photo
Photo waiting for reviewReview photos opens the photo approvals
Not a current employeeNot issuable while the employee is suspended or has left
No designation on their recordEdit employee
Not found in this workspaceThe employee no longer exists here

Warnings don't stop a card, but are worth reading before you print:

  • The photo hasn't been checked for print yet and may print soft.
  • Long name: it is shrunk to fit the card.
  • Their current card has expired.
  • Replaces card ID-000123, which stops verifying as soon as the new card is issued.

Choose a Reason (New card, Lost, Damaged, Details changed or Other; it starts on Details changed when everyone ready already has a card, else New card) and click Issue cards. Employees who need attention are skipped: fix what is listed and issue their cards later. The checks run again when the card is created, so a photo removed in the meantime still stops it. The result names any card that wasn't issued and why, with Open print queue for the rest.

Serial numbers and expiry​

Each card gets the next serial number from the kit's prefix, for example ID-000124. Its expiry date is set when it is issued: the same day of the month, Valid for (months) after the issue day in your workspace's time zone, or the last day of that month when it is shorter (31 January plus one month is the end of February). With validity 0 the card does not expire.

The Issued tab​

Issued lists cards with their Serial, Issued and Expires dates. Search by name, employee code or serial, and filter by Card status: Active (the default), Replaced, Revoked or All cards. Flags are worked out each time the list loads:

FlagMeaning
ExpiredAn active card past its expiry date. It no longer verifies as valid: reissue it
Expires within 30 daysAn active card due for renewal soon
OutdatedOn an active card, the name, the photo, or a designation or department the card prints has changed since it was issued. Hover to see which
Not printedAn active card still in the print queue
ReturnedA card marked as handed back to HR

Preview shows the front and back of any card, as it prints, with the details saved when it was issued. An active card also has Download PDF, Reissue and Revoke. A replaced card shows which card replaced it, and a revoked card shows its reason.

Reissue and replace​

Reissue opens the issue dialog for that employee. Issuing the new card replaces the old one: the old card's status becomes Replaced and its QR code stops verifying in the same step. Use it for a lost or damaged card, an expired card, or an outdated one after a promotion or a new photo.

Revoke​

Revoke asks for a reason of at least 3 characters, kept in the card's history. The card stops verifying immediately: anyone who scans its QR code sees that it is not valid. The employee has no active card until you issue a new one. Revoke is on the Issued tab and on the ID card panel of the employee's profile.

The print queue​

New cards wait in Print queue, oldest first, until they are marked as printed.

  1. Tick the cards to print and pick the paper size, A4 or US Letter. It starts on the brand kit's choice, or, for someone who can't open the brand kit, on the usual size for your country.

  2. Download a file:

    • Download sheet lays several cards on a page with crop marks, for card stock on an office printer. Each page of fronts is followed by a page of backs, mirrored so that printed double-sided (flipping on the long edge) every back lands behind its front. Portrait and landscape cards go on sheets of their own.
    • Card-printer PDF has one exact card-size page per side, front then back for each card in turn, for a desktop ID card printer. All the cards in one card-printer file must share an orientation: if you picked portrait and landscape cards together, download each layout as its own file.

    One file holds at most 100 cards. Ticks carry across pages, so you can select more, but then both download buttons are disabled and the page says One file holds at most 100 cards. Select fewer, download them, then do the rest. Mark as printed has no such limit.

  3. Print, and check the cards came out right.

  4. Click Mark as printed and confirm. The cards leave the queue, and each holder is emailed that their card is ready to collect.

Downloading never marks anything as printed, because a download or a print run can fail. After a download, the page offers Mark as printed for exactly the cards in that file, or Not yet. Marking a card twice sends one email.

A single active card can also be downloaded from the Issued tab (Download PDF), in any of the print modes. Only active cards print. A card always prints with its QR code: if a card's verification link isn't available (for example, your workspace has no public app address set up), the download is refused rather than printed without one.

Returned cards​

Mark as returned records that a card has been handed back to HR. It is offered on every card not marked yet, an active one included: a leaver hands in the card they still carry, or someone hands in a damaged card to be replaced. The card then shows Returned.

Marking a card returned doesn't stop it verifying. An active card stays valid until you revoke or replace it or, for someone leaving, until their final settlement revokes it (see When someone leaves).

Onboarding and offboarding​

  • Onboarding. With Brand Studio unlocked, every new onboarding checklist gets an optional Issue ID card task, due on the joining day. It opens the ID Cards page with the issue dialog for that employee and closes by itself, the next time the checklist is opened, once a card has been issued to them (a later replacement doesn't reopen it). Being optional, it never holds the onboarding open, which suits staff who don't get a card. See Onboarding & offboarding.

  • Offboarding. A separation opened for someone who holds an active card that isn't marked as returned gets an ID card returned item on its clearance checklist (it is added later if a card is issued during the notice period). It checks itself each time you open the separation: it reads ID cards to collect: 1. until every active card, and every card revoked since the separation was opened, is marked as returned, then No ID card left to collect. The usual way through:

    1. Collect the card from the leaver.
    2. On the Issued tab, or the ID card panel of the leaver's profile, click Mark as returned on it. The card stays active.
    3. The ID card returned item passes the next time the separation is opened.
    4. Completing the final settlement revokes the card, so its QR code stops verifying.

    If the leaver can't hand a card back, revoke it so it stops verifying straight away, and waive the item with a note: a card revoked during the separation still counts as one to collect.

When someone leaves​

Brand Studio revokes a person's active cards by itself when:

  • their final settlement is completed in Offboarding (reason Employee left: final settlement completed), or
  • their employee record is deleted (reason Employee record deleted).

The same two events cancel what the person still has waiting: their pending requests, and their visiting card orders not yet printed (with the same reason on each order). An order already printed stays as it is. Nobody is emailed, so nothing reaches someone who has left.

The QR check doesn't depend on that alone. It also reads the holder's record at the moment of the scan, so a card reads as not valid whenever its holder isn't a current employee: while they are suspended, for example, even though the card itself wasn't revoked.

Rehiring someone revokes any card still active from their earlier employment, as part of the rehire (reason Employee rehired: a card from the earlier employment), so an old card never verifies again once they are back on the payroll. Issue them a new card as for any new hire.

If Brand Studio is switched off​

Until 31 October 2026 Brand Studio came with the Enterprise and Custom plans. A workspace that had it that way, and hasn't unlocked it with a review since, finds the Brand Studio pages locked, and so does one whose grant has ended: no card can be issued, printed or ordered, and employees no longer see the portal pages. Cards issued before keep verifying, though. A card's QR code reads as valid until the card is revoked, replaced or past its expiry date, or its holder leaves. So two actions stay available without Brand Studio, on the ID card panel of the employee's profile:

  • Revoke, to stop a card verifying (a lost or stolen card, for example).
  • Mark as returned, so that an ID card returned clearance item can pass.

Meanwhile the panel shows only for an employee who has a card still active or not yet handed back, with just those two actions and a note that Brand Studio isn't switched on for the workspace. Completing a final settlement, deleting a record or rehiring still revokes cards by itself (see When someone leaves). Everything comes back as it was once the workspace unlocks Brand Studio again.

What the QR code shows​

The QR code on the back of every card (Scan to verify this card) opens a public page in your workspace, /verify/..., that needs no login. It gives one of two answers:

  • Valid ID card: This ID card was issued by your company and is valid today.
  • Not a valid ID card: This card is not valid. Do not accept it as proof that the holder works for your company.

A card is valid only while it is active, not past its expiry date, and its holder is a current employee. The page never says why a card is not valid (revoked, replaced, expired or the holder left), so whoever holds a found or stolen card learns nothing from it.

Both answers show your company's logo and name, with the time the status was checked. A valid card also shows the Card holder's name, the Card number and Valid until (or Does not expire), and, only when the brand kit switches them on, the holder's Designation and their Photo on record. A card that is not valid shows nothing more: not whose card it was, nor its number.

ID cards use the same verify page as letters and other documents (see Document verification), but a card has no PDF to download: the plastic card is the document.

Visiting cards​

Brand Studio › Visiting Cards orders business cards for employees and prints them from one queue.

  • Order cards: pick a current employee and a Quantity of 50, 100, 250 or 500, then Order 100 cards (the button names the quantity). The cards print the employee's name, title and contact details as they are now. Later changes don't alter this order. A card prints the name, designation, department, work email, phone numbers, address (the branch's, else your company's), website and tagline, with a contact-card QR code on the back when the kit has one.
  • From the directory: tick employees and use Order visiting cards, with Cards per person. Each person gets their own order; if one can't be placed, the reason shows next to their name.
  • Print queue: orders not yet printed, oldest first. Each has Preview and Download PDF (Card size, With bleed or Bleed and crop marks). Tick orders, pick the paper size, Download sheet, then Mark as printed: each employee is emailed that their cards are ready to collect. One sheet holds at most 100 orders; with more ticked, Download sheet is disabled and the page says so. As with ID cards, downloading doesn't mark anything. Orders that came from a portal request carry Requested.
  • All orders: every order with In print queue, Printed or Cancelled and its date (a cancelled order shows its reason), and Preview.

Cancelling an order​

An order can be cancelled until it is marked as printed: Cancel order (the crossed-circle button) on its row in Print queue or All orders. Give a reason of at least 3 characters, kept with the order, for example a wrong quantity or a duplicate. The order leaves the print queue, can't be downloaded or printed any more, and shows Cancelled with the date under All orders. Nobody is emailed.

If the order was placed for an employee's portal request, the request is cancelled too: their portal shows it as Cancelled by HR with your reason, and they can send a new request. A printed order can't be cancelled.

Orders of someone who leaves are cancelled for you (see When someone leaves).

A visiting card sheet holds one order, with that employee's card in every position, fronts and then mirrored backs. Print as many copies as the order needs: on A4 a sheet holds 10 cards, so a 250-card order is 25 copies of the sheet.

Email signatures​

Brand Studio › Email Signatures shows each employee's signature, built from the brand kit and their own record. Pick an Employee to preview the signature as it will paste into an email, and Copy signature to copy it with its formatting.

Send signature to employees emails each employee you pick a link to My Email Signature in their portal, where they copy their signature and follow the setup steps for their email app. The list holds current employees: search it, tick people, or use All current employees. If some couldn't be emailed, the page says how many were not sent; check that they are current and have an email address on file.

A pasted signature doesn't update itself

Each email app keeps its own copy of a pasted signature. After a change to the brand kit or to someone's details (a new title, a new phone number), the signature in their mail app stays as it was: copy or send it again, and the employee pastes it again.

The logo and photo in a signature are images that the recipient's mail app loads from your workspace's web address. The logo is sent as a PNG scaled down to email size (at most 600 × 120 pixels), so a large logo file doesn't weigh down every email that carries the signature.

Requests from employees​

Employees can ask, from their portal, for a replacement ID card (with a reason: lost, damaged, details changed or other) or for visiting cards (with a quantity), each with an optional note. Each employee can have one pending request of each kind, and can withdraw it while it waits. The users who can issue cards are emailed about each new request.

Brand Studio › Requests lists them, filtered by Status (Pending by default, oldest first, or Fulfilled, Rejected or Cancelled) and by Request type (ID card or Visiting cards).

  • Fulfil an ID card request to Issue a replacement card: the dialog runs the same checks as issuing, and the new card joins the print queue. Any current card stops verifying straight away.
  • Fulfil a visiting card request to Order visiting cards. You can print a different quantity from the one requested. The order joins the print queue.
  • Reject asks for a Note to the employee of at least 3 characters. They see it in their email and in the portal.

A request is Cancelled when the employee withdrew it, when the visiting card order placed for it was cancelled (the row then reads Order of 100 cancelled with the reason), or when the employee left (see When someone leaves).

Issuing a card on the ID Cards page, or ordering visiting cards on the Visiting Cards page, for someone with a pending request of that kind fulfils the request as well, so it leaves the queue and can't later print a second card or batch.

The employee hears nothing on fulfilment itself; they are emailed when the card or the cards are marked as printed. What employees see is in the user guide, ID card, email signature & business card.

Cards and sheets download as print-ready RGB PDFs. When you send a file to a print shop, tell them it is RGB, so they can prepare it for their press.

ItemSize
ID cardCR80, 85.60 × 53.98 mm: landscape 85.60 × 53.98 mm, portrait 53.98 × 85.60 mm
ID card photo3:4, about 22 × 29 mm
Visiting card, International85 × 55 mm
Visiting card, US3.5 × 2 in (88.9 × 50.8 mm)

On ID cards, text, the photo and the QR code keep 5 mm clear of the left and right edges, so the frame of a badge holder doesn't cover them; at the top and bottom they stay inside a 3 mm safe zone, and only the colour bands reach the edge. A card PDF downloads in one of these layouts:

LayoutWhat you getUse it for
Card sizeThe card at its exact size, with nothing around itOffice printers, checking a design
With bleed3 mm of extra background on every edge, for a print shop to trimPrint shops that trim
Bleed and crop marksThe bleed, plus marks showing where to cut, in a 6 mm margin round itPrint shops that cut to marks
Card printer (ID cards only)One exact CR80 page per side, front then backA desktop ID card printer

Sheets keep at least 7 mm of clear paper on every side for the crop marks, which sit at every row and column edge; neighbouring cards share one cut line. Cards per sheet:

PieceA4US Letter
ID card, portrait9 (3 × 3)9 (3 × 3)
ID card, landscape10 (2 × 5)8 (2 × 4)
Visiting card, International10 (2 × 5)8 (2 × 4)
Visiting card, US10 (2 × 5)10 (2 × 5)

Emails Brand Studio sends​

EmailSent whenTo
Brand Studio Request — HR Review NeededAn employee sends a request from the portalActive users holding brand_studio.issue (up to ten)
Brand Studio Request — Not ApprovedHR rejects a request; it carries HR's noteThe employee
ID Card — Ready for CollectionHR marks the card as printedThe card holder
Visiting Cards — Ready for CollectionHR marks the order as printedThe employee
Email Signature — ReadyHR sends signatures to employeesEach employee picked

Each can be reworded or switched off under Settings › Email Templates. A recipient with a login in your workspace also gets it in their notification bell, under Documents & letters (see Notifications); switching the email off doesn't stop the bell, which has its own switch under Settings › Notifications. Employees receive these at their sign-in email, else their work email, else their personal email.