Tips For Making and Displaying Campaign Buttons

Campaign season is upon us, which means that the making and displaying of campaign buttons is a matter of urgent importance to anyone running for office this fall. Fortunately for all of the candidates (old and young) and campaign managers out there, we just so happen to be experts at guiding you along the campaign button making process. In fact, we have touched on the topic of making campaign buttons before, right here at The Button Blog. Here is our post on how to make a campaign button, which we posted for last year's campaign season but which continues to be relevant this year. In case you don't want to read the whole thing, a quick summary:

1. You have to brainstorn and create your graphics; to assist you in this task we offer our campaign button design CD  that is included free of charge in our campaign button maker systems. We also offer campaign  series #2 and series #3 that includes even more designs.
2. Use this tutorial video to help you with the printing process; it shows you the proper method for copying your graphic across a single page.
3. Once your graphics are ready, you're ready to start making buttons! You likely will have chosen the 2.25″ campaign button making system, the 3″ campaign button making system, or the 3.5″ campaign button making system, and each one comes with everything you need to make 500 buttons! So button make away!

Once your buttons are made, the next question is how do you display them? There are a myriad ways:

• On the pocket or lapel of your shirt or jacket, of course
• On a backpack or carrying tote
• On a hat
• On promotional posters or bulletin boards in public places
• On a desk or mantel using a button easel

These are all excellent ways to display campaign buttons if your goal is exposure and promotion. However, some people collect campaign buttons and want to display them for show rather than for helping a specific candidate win an election. And why not? There have been so many great, memorable, and valuable campaign buttons throughout history. If you are considering a more passive display of campaign buttons, consider these options:

• The button easel works well for these purposes too!
• Glass or clear plastic display cases
• Shadowbox frames

This 12-step tutorial at eHow provides some excellent tips on how to create a shadowbox frame that works well with buttons. The key to remember is that buttons are made of metal and can rust if they are stored with moisture. Keep them dry and moisture free, and you won't have to worry about this issue with your collectible!   Brighid Brown - Director of Blogging and All Things Cool at ABM