Building Better Digital Badges

What is it about?

Designing effective badges is complicated by psychological factors mediating the processes of recognizing, orienting toward, and acquiring badges. This article analyzes digital badges through mechanics and psychology, and involves understanding the underlying logics of badges as well as the experiential nature of badges-in-use. We examine an existing model of completion logic for digital badges, and expand upon it by pairing formal mechanics with relevant psychological theory, summarizing key principles that pertain to how people interact with badges. We considers three dimensions of badges in-use—social, cognitive, and affective. Understanding the relationships between formal completion logics and the psychological experience of badging allows designers to better design, deploy, and critique badging systems, leading to more effective implementations within simulation and gaming contexts. A design matrix and a series of design recommendations for badging are derived from the presented perspectives.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

We approach badge design from a psychological perspective, attending to social, cognitive, and affective factors.