Choosing the Right Colors and Designs For Your Emblem

Emblem and patch design are among the most important things for a unit’s first impressions. The appearance of your unit’s patch tells the world about what your unit’s values are and what it serves. Your unit’s customized patch should reflect the values you want the world to see.

Choosing the Right Message For Your Unit

With rapid prototyping and quick manufacturing processes, getting a customized unit patch that represents the esprit de corps of your unit has never been easier. Especially in the current environment, public trust and instant credibility are important for building a relationship with the community. You can start this with a look that engenders confidence by taking care to choose the elements of your customized patch. Review 42, one of the internet’s most trusted review websites, reveals that of the elements of a uniform or patch, colors influence 90% of a first impression. Make sure to consider what you want to present to the public when choosing a message for your unit. The concept you choose will influence public opinion of your unit and will determine how your department will be treated.

Your Colors

Heraldry, the art of creating distinctive emblems, has complicated rules designed to make flags and arms as simple as possible. These symbols must be read at a distance, in all light and wind conditions. While patches don’t need to follow the rules of heraldry, they should be designed to be visible in many light conditions and be readable at a glance. If a police unit’s purpose is to serve and protect the public, the public needs to see through the patch that your unit will follow along with that purpose.

The Shape

A customized patch for a police or fire unit should also have a distinctive shape. This shape generally should either be an oblong oval or in the shape of a badge. Again, either of these will give the proper impression of being a public-service unit’s patch and allow the unit to interact with people in a way that will engender public trust.

The Design

Back to the concept of heraldry, a design should be simple and easy to read. It should avoid too many extraneous elements. The patch is not a place to show off intricate artistry in Photoshop. It has to be stitched and even the best stitching can only move a certain minimum amount to be legible. Making sure that your patch omits extraneous details is best so that it can be read at a distance. The best insignia is the one that people don’t have to strain to read.