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Lanyard keepsakes become lasting memories by capturing the identity, emotion, and experience of an event and serving as a tangible reminder of the experience.
Whether it’s a corporate or educational event, lanyards are an important piece of event memorabilia that can transform into powerful keepsakes over time. Participants often develop a strong emotional attachment to lanyard keepsakes, which can be furthered through thoughtful customisation and design.
There are many ways to increase the emotional significance of lanyards, including incorporating sustainability or collectibility into the design process, or offering custom lanyards that speak to the individual wearer. This, in turn, increases the event identity and creates a stronger experience for all attendees.
Whether you’re an event organiser, attendee, marketer, or collector, this article will aim to inform and inspire you to engage in thoughtful lanyard design and help you to create lanyards with strong identity and keepsake potential.
After an event, lanyards can transform into meaningful sentimental objects that act as a reminder of an experience or milestone. These lanyards are more than practical access cards or ID holders; they can symbolise an important time in someone’s life and serve as a tangible reminder.
For example, many people like to keep lanyards after their graduation, award ceremony, or presentation at an important conference. The emotional significance behind these events attaches itself to the lanyards, which become a great way to look back on and reflect on one’s achievements. This sentiment is especially strong for first-time experiences, such as participating in a major event for the first time, where the lanyard becomes a symbol of breaking new ground.
The design of the lanyards can deepen this emotional value. Themed colours can signify working with a particular institution or company, while dates, quotes, and messages inscribed into the lanyard can evoke strong memories of a successful day. After an event, people often choose to preserve their lanyard creatively, such as pinning it to the wall, adding it to a display with event photos, or keeping it in a special memory box to look back on at a later date.
The emotional significance of a lanyard is not surprising, as it is an item that the wearer keeps with them throughout their respective experience, and can therefore symbolise the entire day or achievement.
Personalised elements on a lanyard, such as names, titles, or dates, significantly increase the belonging and feeling of recognition for the wearer. These small details transform the lanyard from a mere object into a powerful symbol of an achievement or a happy memory.
For example, a student’s name and class year printed onto a lanyard increases their feeling of belonging to the group and allows for the individual achievement to be recognised.
Personalised lanyard elements also have the potential to add immense storytelling power to the object. Design choices, such as colour schemes, logos, or icons, can emulate the event’s purpose and closely align with the experience.
A sleek, minimally designed lanyard perfectly encapsulates an important business conference, while a lanyard with bright colours and fun designs tells the perfect story for a music festival.
Additionally, groups often personalise lanyards for milestone events, such as attending a conference together or even for a birthday trip. Group personalisation further increases belonging, as it bolsters team identity and allows for an inclusive experience.
This means that putting thought into the design decisions of the lanyard is important, as it can increase the emotional impact of the lanyard and the attendee’s perception of value. Furthermore, the more personalised a lanyard is, the more likely the attendee is to retain it and even display it, whether pinned on a board, framed with event photos, or kept in a memory box, as a unique reminder of their experience.
The feel and durability of the materials used for a lanyard can have a significant impact on the wearer’s perception of value. The different textures of lanyard fabric can create tactile memories or sensory connections for the wearer, depending on how it feels, which is why it is an important element.
For example, the silky smoothness of satin can evoke feelings of luxury and celebration, while the rugged durability of woven polyester can remind attendees of practicality and reliability.
Bamboo lanyards have a smooth feel and can be very durable, so they are perfect for eco-friendly events or companies. Similarly, recycled fabrics are also soft to the touch and very durable, and can be used in a similar setting.
The more sustainable or premium a lanyard is, the more likely it will be used for keepsake purposes. Opting for a premium fabric such as satin increases the luxury of the experience, and wearers are thus more likely to hold on to the item. Additionally, using sustainable materials such as PET fabric for an event centred around the environment increases brand identity and the chances of the wearer connecting with the message.
Overall, the choice of fabric is a key way for a brand to signal its care, status, and attention to detail, which improves the wider experience for the user.
Opting for sustainable, eco-friendly lanyard materials is a great way to promote the environment and increase how they perform as keepsakes, depending on which material you choose.
For example, biodegradable lanyards are great for short-term use as they decompose naturally, but aren’t a good pick for long-term keepsakes. However, recyclable and reusable options are built to be durable and can be sturdy enough to offer significant keepsake appeal.
By applying circular economy principles, lanyards can be designed to minimise waste and promote sustainability. Incorporating detachable or reusable features, or promoting a return-for-recycling program, highlights a company’s commitment to the environment and strengthens brand identity. Choosing eco materials reflects the host organisation’s values and demonstrates a strong dedication to sustainability.
Major events such as the Glastonbury music festival have embraced this ethos and offer environmentally friendly merchandise, including lanyards, which not only promote the environment but are also used by attendees as keepsakes.
Demonstrating environmental responsibility as a company is a fantastic way to enhance the perceived emotional and social value of your brand, event, and the merchandise (such as lanyards) that comes along with it.
Annual events or themed editions often turn lanyards into a collectable series, increasing their emotional value. Attendees often keep and collect lanyards over a period of time to not only look back on the memories attached, but also to display affiliation and pride in attending the event. Additionally, issuing exclusive limited-run designs adds value to the lanyards, as they become a desirable collector’s item available to a select few.
A great example of a company that has utilised this is ComicCon, which issues a unique lanyard for each year of the event. Attendees who frequent the events like to build up their collections to demonstrate their pride and belonging to the wider community, and the lanyards are considered to be important collectors’ items in this space. This tradition not only strengthens the sense of community among repeat attendees but also builds a culture of loyalty around the event itself.
Event participants use these collections to commemorate their attendance at the event or as a reminder of the fantastic stories created during their time there. This only grows with time, and the lanyards often become highly sentimental objects in a collection.
Another fantastic use for lanyards is in an educational setting, in which the lanyards outlive the school year and become a proud reminder of student achievement and class memories.
Lanyards are often given out at major school events, such as orientation, graduation, or award ceremonies. These lanyards are typically unique to a certain event and therefore act as a strong memento for the day. They also help students to feel like they are part of a cohort or team, as they have a shared memento with their classmates that they can keep with them for the rest of their lives.
There are many ways that lanyards can be customised in a school setting. For example, the colour of a lanyard can be changed to reflect a student’s house or year level. Or, certain designs or colours can be used to denote a specific position within the school, such as the prefect team.
As they move through school, these lanyards transform into a symbol of growth and continued success, as well as the achievements a student has earned during their time at school. They often become emotional keepsakes that students keep well beyond their school years, as a way to look back and reflect on their journey.
Universities also use branded lanyards for a similar reason, as they further show the student’s educational journey. Lanyards that are customised for a specific university work to foster long-term alumni pride and symbolise a high level of academic achievement.
Staff lanyards often become more than functional tools, as they have the power to commemorate one’s time at a company. Custom designs on lanyards can be used to celebrate anniversaries, recognise roles and promotions, or reflect the internal culture of the business.
It is common practice for employees, and even volunteers, to keep lanyards from key projects, launches, or events, not only to celebrate the memories created but also to remember the hard work and dedication put into the event. The meaning behind these lanyards can be deepened by adding specific design elements, such as colour coding, company slogans, or specific designs that reflect a common mission or wider company values.
As an employee continues their employment at a firm, the long-term collection of these lanyards illustrates their milestones at the company and promotes group pride. This, in turn, increases company loyalty, as employees have a tangible reminder of their achievements and journey with their employer.
Thus, when designed thoughtfully, company lanyards can serve far more than a functional purpose and become emotional keepsakes that employees can keep for a long time to come.
Lanyards can serve as much more than a functional item, as when they are designed with memory and meaning in mind, they transform into emotional artefacts that hold a lot of sentimental value. This can be deepened by thoughtfully customising lanyards, using sustainable materials, and emphasising storytelling to add long-term value.
When designed correctly, lanyards can build loyalty, pride, and personal reflection in a wide range of areas, from education to the corporate environment.
Often, small items carry the biggest memories, which is why it is so important to consider keepsake potential during the design process for event or brand lanyards.
If you are in need of lanyards for your next big event, and want a team who will help you engage in a thoughtful design process that maximises keepsake potential, do not hesitate to reach out to us here at The Wristband Co. You can give us a call on 0883634850, or send us an email at [email protected] to get in contact with one of our friendly team members.
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The Wristband Co. is located on the traditional lands for the Kaurna people, and we respect their spiritual relationship with their Country. We also acknowledge the Kaurna people as the custodians of the Adelaide region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living Kaurna people today.
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