For quite some time, I’ve been eager to refresh the UNE Moodle badge set, which had remained unchanged for over a decade. Following UNE’s rebrand, there were understandably strict guidelines around the use of the UNE logo, limiting its application to specific prescriptive use cases outlined in the brand toolkit. Fortunately, over time, some flexibility was introduced, opening up new design possibilities while still adhering to brand standards.
This, combined with the technical constraints of badges needing to render at just 100 by 100 pixels, meant that simplicity was essential. Ensuring text readability at such a small scale was non-negotiable, so the designs had to strike a careful balance between clarity and creativity. Text readability at 100 by 100 pixels is still the case 10 years on which requires careful consideration.
Examples of UNE’s older badge designs
I had envisioned creating a set of photo-realistic soft enamel badge designs that students would genuinely want to earn. My goal was to make the badges visually appealing, not flat but rich and textured, resembling a tangible object that would look impressive on a profile but still simple enough to read.
Two years ago, I had an opportunity to make a set of badges for the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE). At the time, I was using Adobe’s creative tools, Illustrator and Photoshop, which I still mainly do. My imagination was grander than what the capabilities of these tools could achieve. If I were to dive into a 3D modelling project, it would have taken a substantial amount of time to refamiliarise myself with the area, and the time required to make it look real-world with all the texture, incidental lighting, reflections, transparency, etc., made it impractical for the project. Instead, I opted to use Photoshop’s layer blending options to create what I call “2.5D” badges—designs that captured depth and texture without the complexity of full 3D modelling.
ASCILITE badges created.
It was when I began experimenting with Madgwick Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create UNE icons of Robert Madgwick and our beautiful Booloominbah as badges that it became clear, the magic I needed was starting taking shape – real-world, photo-realistic soft enamel badges. Below are some example prompts and results I used to create badges.
“Flat front facing photorealistic micro credential enamel pin badge featuring Sir Robert Madgwick that allows space to add text with an accent colour and white background”
Three fun examples of Robert Madgwick as photorealistic pins.
“Create a University of New England featuring Booloominbah homestead photorealistic enamel pin that allows space to add text”
A first attempt at Booloominbah as a photorealistic pin.
Kind of cute, but not quite there yet. Although it definitely had the resolution quality I wanted and that incidental, “just taken by a photographer” look I was after, Madgwick Ai was dreaming the building with obviously mispelling, although the Ai got “Booloominbah” right. For people who focus on mistakes the output can be unwhelming, however for me — It really blew my mind! The lighting is accurate, shadows and reflections are consistent, depth of field focus is believable, and the imagination, texture, even faults and blemishes are all there. I just needed to be the editor to constrain the magic into something that was UNE branded and editable in Photoshop. After many iterations, I ended up in this vicinity of inputting basic ideas, moving away from any text or extra imagery, using the recent feature addition of transparent backgrounds in the AI image generation. For example:
Prompt: “glossy bubble enamel badge depicting a protective shield with no text no image”
A shield, a tablet, and a coffee cup pin mock-up.
I eventually realised it was more effective to isolate ideas with the intention of finishing them in Photoshop.
Three finished examples of UNE badges ready for MyLearn.
I took the initial AI-seeded images, then refined them in Photoshop by adding editable UNE colour and text layers, finishing with a drop shadow to create a consistent set of templated files.
Three more examples showing the creativity of the badge design possible.
If you would like a UNE-branded badge for myLearn, please get in touch with learningmedia@une.edu.au. However, please note that badges already created and in use cannot have their images changed; only new badges can be designed in the photo-realistic soft enamel style.