Badges
1st edition — by Patrick McNeil — Aug. 19, 2006
The Design Element
Badges are so web 2.0. You simply can't be a modern site with out a badge
you know! In all seriousness though, how did we ever live with out these
little virtual stickers of fun.
Well, it actually turns out that these little dudes do their job really
really well, when used right of course. These suckers are intended to be
attention grabbers.
Moo.fx
uses the badge to point out that their wicked javascript file is only 3kb
in size, a rather important detail for those concerned with lean code, which
should be everyone.
I think
Dark Eye
has an interesting use for it. First of all they have tons of these little
suckers. They use it to highlight one of the more important bits of data
associated with each of the listings on the home page, the average rating,
which helps you get a quick idea what others think of it.
Then there is the comical usage as seen on
Murmurs Of A Nobody
. The contents of this badge are relatively pointless, it is more for entertainment
value. This light hearted approach serves to show some confidence in the
poets skills, while generating a casual environment.
This leaves the pointless usage. Be.Ajaxilicious
has a nice little Too Cool For IE badge. Why you ask? Well I can only presume
it means the site doesn't work in IE, which as far as I know shouldn't be
something you brag about, much less through a design element which serves
to draw as much attention as possible. To me this defies logic. But hey,
who isn't to cool for IE?
Even though I mocked this in the beginning I actually think it is a rather
clever device that can be put to powerful use. It can certainly draw the
eye if you have something new or exceedingly important to highlight.
Sample Usage
Links
Web
2.0 Badge Photoshop Tutorial (Photoshop)
Golden
Seal Tutorial (Fireworks)
Badge Tutorial (Photoshop)
Downloads
Badges eps file
