URL1=https://hackaday.com/2019/09/19/pict...of-def-con-27/
(To be continued in reply posts, because max limit of images per article)
Originally posted by URL1
Pictorial Guide To The Unofficial Electronic Badges Of DEF CON 27 13 Comments
by: Mike Szczys
September 19, 2019

DEF CON has become the de facto showplace of the #Badgelife movement. It’s a pageant for clever tricks that transform traditional green rectangular circuit boards into something beautiful, unique, and often times hacky.
Today I’ve gathered up about three dozen badge designs seen at DC27. It’s a hint of what you’ll see in the hallways and meetups of the conference. From hot-glue light pipes and smartphone terminal debugging consoles to block printing effects and time of flight sensors, this is a great place to get inspiration if you’re thinking of trying your hand at unofficial badge design.
If you didn’t catch “The Badgies” you’ll want to go back and read that article too as it rounds up the designs I found to be the craziest and most interesting including the Car Hacking Village, Space Force, SecKC, DC503, and Frankenbadge. Do swing by the Hands-On articles for the AND!XOR badge and for [Joe Grand’s] official DC27 badge. There was also a lot of non-badge hardware on display during Hackaday’s Breakfast at DEF CON so check out that article as well.
Enough preamble, let’s get to the badges!


The DC27 Multi Pass badge has a beautiful E-ink display and is driven by an ESP32 and of course modeled after the official ID cards from the movie The Fifth Element. The reverse-mount LEDs also have capacitive touch areas on the top layer which are a neat trick of copper mesh rather than a solid pour. [CromulonB] set out to produce 200 of the badges, but netted just 170 in time for DEF CON. This is still a success as it was about 25% more than were claimed in the crowd funding campaign.



Another homage to the Sci-Fi movie, the Fifth Element Stones Badge is an incredibly ambitious undertaking that reaches into three dimensions and adds motion. The badge itself is just a platform with power and an ATtiny84 microcontroller. The stones are add-ons and have resistive dividers allowing the base to sense which one has been plugged in. Each stone lights up and the three shards near the top open up. The [GoonBoxBadge] team of two people hand assembled 200 of these over many months.


The Arc Badge was one of the most beautiful at the con this year. [Twinkle Twinkie] teamed up with [Wire Engineer] to complete the design. A PIC16F15344 programmed in assembly brings 32 color modes to an incredible PCB design that uses 0.8mm FR4 as a diffuser, and brass fasteners that sandwich a 3D printed spacer between that and the base PCB where all the components reside. 248 of these badges were produced.


by: Mike Szczys
September 19, 2019
DEF CON has become the de facto showplace of the #Badgelife movement. It’s a pageant for clever tricks that transform traditional green rectangular circuit boards into something beautiful, unique, and often times hacky.
Today I’ve gathered up about three dozen badge designs seen at DC27. It’s a hint of what you’ll see in the hallways and meetups of the conference. From hot-glue light pipes and smartphone terminal debugging consoles to block printing effects and time of flight sensors, this is a great place to get inspiration if you’re thinking of trying your hand at unofficial badge design.
If you didn’t catch “The Badgies” you’ll want to go back and read that article too as it rounds up the designs I found to be the craziest and most interesting including the Car Hacking Village, Space Force, SecKC, DC503, and Frankenbadge. Do swing by the Hands-On articles for the AND!XOR badge and for [Joe Grand’s] official DC27 badge. There was also a lot of non-badge hardware on display during Hackaday’s Breakfast at DEF CON so check out that article as well.
Enough preamble, let’s get to the badges!
The DC27 Multi Pass badge has a beautiful E-ink display and is driven by an ESP32 and of course modeled after the official ID cards from the movie The Fifth Element. The reverse-mount LEDs also have capacitive touch areas on the top layer which are a neat trick of copper mesh rather than a solid pour. [CromulonB] set out to produce 200 of the badges, but netted just 170 in time for DEF CON. This is still a success as it was about 25% more than were claimed in the crowd funding campaign.
Another homage to the Sci-Fi movie, the Fifth Element Stones Badge is an incredibly ambitious undertaking that reaches into three dimensions and adds motion. The badge itself is just a platform with power and an ATtiny84 microcontroller. The stones are add-ons and have resistive dividers allowing the base to sense which one has been plugged in. Each stone lights up and the three shards near the top open up. The [GoonBoxBadge] team of two people hand assembled 200 of these over many months.
The Arc Badge was one of the most beautiful at the con this year. [Twinkle Twinkie] teamed up with [Wire Engineer] to complete the design. A PIC16F15344 programmed in assembly brings 32 color modes to an incredible PCB design that uses 0.8mm FR4 as a diffuser, and brass fasteners that sandwich a 3D printed spacer between that and the base PCB where all the components reside. 248 of these badges were produced.
Comment