Designing a new patch. Need a little help.

[kcebnaes]

Hello, and happy new year! I am in the process of completely overhauling my group, and a part of that process is redesigning our patch/emblem. Obviously, I'll be following the rules set forth by the Air Force in AFI 84-105. My question is: are there any online programs where you can go and design something in that shield shape (or the disc shape with rockers?) I'm trying to do this "in-house" so we can make this as cheaply as possible.
Any ideas?

Many thanks!

[Eclipse]

Nothing specific to insignia design, most people do it in Photoshop, Illustrator, or GIMP (free).
(yah, yah, bitmap vs. vector, **yawn**)

All have fairly steep learning curves.

What I normally suggest is having non-graphic types spend their time on the
design, elements, motto, etc., and then having someone bolt that together
in a design program for you - there are a number of people here that would be willing (presumably).

If you're designing for your Group, the shield is the appropriate shape.

I have Photoshop "blanks" of the shield and rockers I can send you if interested.

[kcebnaes]

Eclipse, Thank you so much for the information!

I would be very interested in those blanks. Those could be very helpful for Group HQ and the subordinates!

As a side note, how does "semper progrediendi" (Always moving forward) sound for a new motto?

[DJ Light Chop]

Something you may want to think about is Fiverr.  There's a lot of graphic designers on there who are trying to build up portfolios and they do a lot of logos for 5 bucks.  Tell them what you want and they'll draw up something for you.  And if you don't like it, well, you're only out 5 bucks.

[Eclipse]

Eclipse, Thank you so much for the information!

I would be very interested in those blanks. Those could be very helpful for Group HQ and the subordinates!

As a side note, how does "semper progrediendi" (Always moving forward) sound for a new motto?

Like something I wish I'd thought of (make sure that's what it really means - the last one I did I actually
dug out a Latin scholar just to be sure).

I'll send those "blanks" tomorrow.  Happy to help bolt things together once you've got a direction. I've probably
helped w/ 15 or 20 of these, not including coins at this point.

[Hyperion]

WAWG has blank templates in multiple formats, including both of the flight / squadron "disc / tab" and group "shield" designs: http://www.wawg.cap.gov/art.

I also manipulated the disc/tab design to give my unit's patch a smaller bottom tab to match the size of the top tab since our unit's name is small and left too much space with the default template, so if you'd prefer a smaller bottom tab I can link my version too. I personally used GIMP to make my squadron patch based off the templates.

Use the PNG or EPS versions and not the JPG as a JPG format compresses the image every time you save it while the other two options are lossless and are used for different image manipulation tools. Hope it helps.

- Hyperion