NiceBadge

NiceBadge is an electronic conference badge and a hands-on platform for learning TinyGo programming.

Whether you are attending a conference or just getting started with embedded development, NiceBadge gives you a real piece of hardware to hack on, complete with a ready-to-use firmware, step-by-step tutorials, and progressively more advanced examples that unlock every capability of the board.

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Features

Peripheral	Details
Color display	Compact full-color screen (FJ08K-S), ST7789 driver
Buttons	2 Cherry MX hot-swap mechanical switches
Joystick	Alps EC11E rotary encoder with push switch
RGB LEDs	2 × SK6812MINI-E addressable LEDs, WS2812 driver
StemmQT connector	JST SH 4-pin for I2C expansion modules
Buzzer	5.5 mm passive buzzer for audio feedback
Bluetooth	BLE via the nRF52840 on the nice!nano
USB HID	Acts as a keyboard/mouse over USB thanks to the nice!nano
Battery	Onboard battery cell header (2-pin 2.00 mm)

The microcontroller is the nice!nano (nRF52840), which is fully supported by TinyGo and exposes both USB HID and Bluetooth HID out of the box.

Repository layout

nicebadge/
├── hardware/          # KiCad PCB design files
│   └── PCB-kicad/
│       └── production/  # Gerbers, BOM, pick-and-place files
└── tutorials/         # Step-by-step examples (coming soon)

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Firmware

NiceBadge ships two ready-to-use firmwares:

Demo firmware (conference)

A showcase firmware that demonstrates all badge peripherals — LEDs, display, buttons, joystick, buzzer, and BLE. Ideal for conferences and as a starting point for your own experiments.

Repository: code.madriguera.me/GoEducation/badges

HID firmware

Turns the badge into a fully functional USB/Bluetooth keyboard. Built on top of sago35/keyboards, a TinyGo framework for custom keyboards.

Repository: github.com/sago35/keyboards

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Getting started

Prerequisites

• TinyGo ≥ 0.32
• Go ≥ 1.22
• A NiceBadge board (see hardware section below) or a compatible nice!nano dev board

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Hardware

All design files are located in hardware/PCB-kicad/. Production files (Gerbers, BOM, positions) ready for fabrication are in hardware/PCB-kicad/production/.

Bill of Materials

Designator	Value / Part	Footprint	Qty
BT1	Battery Cell	PinHeader 2×01 P2.00 mm Vertical	1
BZ1	Buzzer	Buzzer 5.5 mm	1
DISPLAY1	Display connector	PinHeader 1×08 P2.54 mm Vertical	1
H1, H2, H3, H4	Mounting Hole	M2	4
LED1, LED2	YS-SK6812MINI-E	SK6812MINI-E	2
R1, R2	Resistor	Axial DIN0207 L6.3 mm D2.5 mm P10.16 mm	2
STEMMAQT1	StemmQT connector	JST SH SM04B-SRSS-TB 1×04 P1.00 mm	1
SW1, SW2B1	Push switch	Cherry MX Hot-swap	2
SW2	Rotary Encoder + Switch	Alps EC11E Vertical H20 mm	1
SW2B, SW2C	Key switch	Strap hole	2
U1	nice!nano	nice_nano	1
U2	FJ08K-S	FJ08K-S	1

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Tutorials & examples

The tutorial series walks you through every peripheral of the badge, starting from blinking an LED and ending with a Bluetooth HID device:

1. Hello, Badge! — blink the RGB LEDs
2. Drawing on the display — TinyGo + TinyDraw
3. Reading buttons and the joystick
4. Playing sounds with the buzzer
5. I2C expansion via StemmQT
6. Going wireless — BLE advertisements and GATT services
7. USB HID — turn the badge into a keyboard

(Tutorials are coming soon — contributions welcome!)

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Acknowledgements

NiceBadge is based on the conf2025badge by sago35, which debuted at the TinyGo Conference in Japan. NiceBadge shares the same form-factor and was built on top of the groundwork たかさごさん laid there.

Thank you, for the inspiration, the open design, and all the work that made this possible.

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License

See LICENSE.