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Tips for designers on preparing artwork for badges (micro-credentials)
Tips for designers on preparing artwork for badges (micro-credentials)

Account owners can customise the course badge icon and badge background.

Christine Nicholls avatar
Written by Christine Nicholls
Updated over 3 weeks ago

Account owners can set up bespoke badge designs with their own background image and/or icon.

Badge icons are seen in the Overview for courses with badges and the background and icon are shown in the (shareable) Badge URL.

Image showing an example of badge with background

Learn more: For more on what badges are, how they work, and why you should use them, check out An overview of badges.

Badge icon

Badges in iQualify come with data so the image doesn’t have to capture all the detail. In fact, visually simple badges are best. 

Badge icons must be Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). Scalable means no matter what size it is, it doesn’t pixelate. Most recent design software can export an SVG format image from your vector based artwork.

Image showing the difference in display between .svg and other image formats (.jpeg, .gif and .png)

Tips to ensure your SVG artwork is upload ready

Before you export:

  • Ensure your image is square with equal width and height.

  • Ensure your file does not contain unused or hidden layers, as these may display in some situations.

  • Convert any text to outlines.

  • Ensure any shapes within shapes are simplified to one path.

  • Ensure you are using RGB not CMYK colour settings.

  • Ensure you have a transparent background.

  • Ensure the image has a defined viewbox that is square to ensure it displays correctly once awarded.

  • Remember badges are often displayed at a small size. We recommend you preview your image at a small size (we recommend 90x90 device pixels) to ensure the image is still clear when viewed on a small screen.

On export:

  • Turn off any options to compress or rasterise your artwork on export as an SVG in your design programme

After export:

  • Check your SVG file looks and resizes as expected by dropping it into a browser.

  • When you resize it, does it stay smooth? (i.e. not pixelated)

  • Are there any unexpected infill on paths or shapes? 

  • Are there any unexpected colours, line weights or defaulting fonts? 

Badge background

Once a badge is awarded it can be viewed via a public URL (e.g https://badges.iqualify.com/badges/-LePrxFQ7Y0dWW9B7lVv). This page can display a custom background wallpaper. The iQualify default background will be displayed if a custom image is not supplied.

Artwork must be at least 920px by 1080px and exported in one of following formats PNG or JPG at 72 dpi.

Image showing an example of badge with background

Tips to help you choose a suitable badge background

  • It's best to export without any compression. The upload into iQualify will likely apply some compression and you want to avoid extra compression. 

  • Use a simple background or an abstract background pattern.

  • Remember the background will be obscured by the badge itself on a variety of different end user devices and screens, so we recommend you don’t put focal points like faces, text or logos in the centre. 

Some cropping is possible on upload by the account owner as shown below.

Image showing an example of cropping image for background


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