Campaign Button Maker: Design and Print Political Buttons Free
Make your own campaign buttons for a fraction of what a print shop charges. Free design tool, automatic bleed, and a print-ready PDF you can run the same afternoon.
Why Political Buttons Still Win Campaigns
Yard signs get ignored. Social posts get scrolled past. A button on someone's jacket starts conversations.
Political buttons have been a staple of American campaigns since the 1890s, and nothing has replaced them. They are cheap to produce, easy to hand out, and they turn every supporter into a walking endorsement for the length of a campaign season.
Unlike digital ads, a button is physical. People pin them on backpacks, lanyards, and jackets. They spark real conversations. And at events and rallies, a sea of matching buttons creates visible momentum that photos and videos can capture.
The classic campaign button layout is straightforward: candidate name in bold arc text at the top, office or slogan below, and a clean background color. ButtonMaker handles the arc text and bleed so your buttons look sharp without any design experience.
This page covers the campaign as a whole: the program, the budget, and the design. If you are working a specific race or need a printable file rather than a design tool, go straight to the election button maker for candidate, ballot measure, and poll worker buttons, the free campaign button template for a blank printable sheet, or student council buttons for school elections.
Free plan, no credit card, no watermark on your PDF.
Recommended Sizes for Campaigns
The Standard
The most popular campaign button size. Big enough to read a name and slogan clearly, small enough to pin on a shirt without looking bulky. This is what most campaigns use.
Use 2.25" templateThe Statement
Maximum visibility for rallies, events, and fundraisers. Room for longer slogans, photos, and detailed designs. These stand out in a crowd.
Use 3" templateThe Budget Option
15 to a sheet instead of 6, so your paper cost per button drops by about 60%. Right for volunteer badges and high-volume giveaways. Too small for a long candidate name.
Use 1.5" templateHow to Get Cheap Campaign Buttons
What a campaign button actually costs, and where the money goes
Made yourself, a 2.25 inch campaign button costs roughly 12 to 25 cents. Button parts (shell, mylar, pin-back) are 10 to 20 cents each in bulk, and a sheet of cardstock adds about 3 cents spread across the 6 buttons it holds. Ordering the same button printed runs about 50 cents to $1 each at the quantities a local race needs, and unit prices only get good in the thousands.
So the honest answer to "cheap campaign buttons" is that the printing was never the expensive part. The equipment is. A 2.25 inch button press starts around $60 to $100 and a circle cutter is $15 to $30. At roughly 40 cents saved per button, that press pays for itself somewhere between 300 and 500 buttons, which one competitive city council or school board race will clear on its own.
Past the break-even point the gap widens more than the per-button figures suggest, because reprints stop costing anything but time. A misspelled district, a new endorsement, one more precinct than you planned for: each is a fresh order and a fresh lead time when you outsource, and an afternoon when you do not.
Cost per letter sheet by size
- 1.5 inch: 15 per sheet, roughly 10 to 15 cents per finished button. The cheapest way to badge volunteers or hand out buttons in bulk at an event.
- 2.25 inch: 6 per sheet, roughly 12 to 25 cents. The standard candidate button and the size most people mean by "campaign button".
- 3 inch: 4 per sheet, so roughly double the paper cost per button plus pricier parts. Worth it for rallies and press events, not for general distribution.
One more lever: paper. Ordinary copy paper works but goes translucent under the mylar and shows the shell through light-colored designs. Matte cardstock costs a fraction of a cent more per button and is the single cheapest upgrade to how a campaign button looks. The paper and printing guide covers the specific stocks.
Design and PDF export are free on the Tinker plan.
Personalized Buttons with Mail Merge
Give every volunteer a button with their name on it
Volunteers work harder when they feel valued. A button with their name on it costs pennies to make and builds real team spirit. With mail merge, you design one template and generate hundreds of variations automatically.
Here is how it works: create your campaign button design with placeholder text like {NAME} or {ROLE}. Upload a CSV spreadsheet with columns for each placeholder. ButtonMaker generates a unique button for every row and adds them all to your print queue. Export one PDF and print the whole batch.
This also works for event-specific buttons. Running a phone bank? Make buttons that say "I called 50 voters" with each volunteer's name. Hosting a fundraiser? Create personalized thank-you buttons for donors.
Mail merge available on Producer plan ($19.99/mo)Campaign Button Ideas
- Classic name and office with bold colors and arc text
- Slogan buttons for issue-based advocacy and causes
- Volunteer appreciation with personalized names via mail merge
- Event-specific buttons for rallies, debates, and fundraisers
- Donor thank-you buttons that make a small contribution feel recognized
- Team identifier buttons so campaign staff are easily recognized
Working an actual election rather than a general campaign? Candidate buttons, ballot measure pins, poll worker badges, and I Voted buttons each lay out differently, and the election button maker covers all four.
Frequently Asked Questions
The 2.25 inch circle is the standard campaign button size. It is large enough to read a candidate name and slogan clearly, and small enough to pin on a shirt or jacket comfortably. For rallies and events where visibility matters more, 3 inch buttons make a bigger impact.
Made yourself, a 2.25 inch campaign button costs roughly 12 to 25 cents: 10 to 20 cents for parts bought in bulk, plus about 3 cents of cardstock spread across the 6 buttons a letter sheet holds. Ordering the same button printed runs about 50 cents to $1 each at small quantities. The design and PDF export are free on the Tinker plan, so the only real cost is equipment: a 2.25 inch press is $60 to $100 and pays for itself somewhere around 300 to 500 buttons.
Print them yourself at 1.5 inch. That size fits 15 to a letter sheet instead of 6, and parts are cheaper, which lands you around 10 to 15 cents per finished button. Buy parts in bulk rather than in packs of 25, use matte cardstock instead of glossy photo paper, and print one design in volume rather than several variations, since every extra design costs you a sheet.
Yes. The Producer plan includes mail merge, which lets you upload a CSV with names and generate a unique button for each person automatically. Design one template with a placeholder like {NAME}, upload your spreadsheet, and ButtonMaker creates every variation and adds them to your print queue.
The design and PDF export take about 5 to 10 minutes. Printing depends on your printer and paper, but a full page of 6 buttons takes about a minute. Assembly with a button press runs 5 to 10 seconds per button once you get the rhythm. A batch of 100 buttons can be done in under two hours from design to finished product.
Ready to make campaign buttons?
Start with the 2.25" template. Upload your logo, add your candidate name, and download the PDF.
Start Designing