"What exactly is backrim text?" We often hear this question from customers.Though backrim text may sound a bit confusing at first, it's actually pretty simple. Here we explain how to best use the backrim.
The side edge of the button-- an area that's not the front and not the metal pinback-- is what we call the backrim. And on that backrim is a great place to add a bit of extra information to your button with backrim text.
Here are a couple of tips for making the most of your backrims:
1. Caps lock is your friend.
The backrim area is mighty small, so we suggest that backrim text be written in all caps to make it as easy as possible to read. If you do decide to go with lowercase letters, you might want to increase the font size so that they fill up the entire space between the backrim text guide lines in our button template.
2. Simple is better.
In our button templates, the backrim text defaults to 4pt Helvetica. This font is simple and easy to read, and 4pt makes it fit perfectly between the backrim text guidelines. You're welcome to use your own fonts for backrim text, but keep in mind that thin fonts may not print very legibly, and too thick or decorative fonts can be tough to read. We suggest something simple and sans-serif as the best way to go.
3. Less is More.
Since each of our buttons is made by hand, some shifting can occur in how individual buttons are pressed. Because of this, we suggest that you keep your backrim text short and sweet-- the more text there is around the outside rim, the more likely it is that some of it can get cut off a bit. Keeping backrim text to about 20 characters will help avoid this. Because of this shifting, we also reccomend that nothing absolutely vital to your button design go on the backrim.
With these simple tips in mind, backrim text can be a fun little extra for your buttons. It's a great place for your company's website address, a phone number, copyright info or even a special little coupon code for the eagle-eyed customer. The sky's the limit (in 20 characters or less)!
