I know it may seem early to some of you guys, but our team is now considering our buttons for competition this year. Our school maintains control of the button maker, and we want the one time we use it to be good.
But I have a question. What do you find in a button that makes it “awesome”? What makes you remember a team just by their button? Oh our theme is Mad Cow because for some reason there is a glitch and our team name is recorded as cowboys, even though it is supposed to be Mad Cows.
“Good” is a matter of opinion…but I like buttons that have a solid background color with the team’s logo, name, and number in a contrasting color. Using a picture as a background has the potential to look messy unless you really fine-tune it. The text looks better when it’s “wrapped” to follow the curve of the button, if it’s placed on the edge of the design.
I also don’t know how button-makers work (my team’s are diamond-shaped, and we order them from a company)…but it looks really messy when you’re not accurate and the outlines of the circles show on the front of the button.
By good I meant that it’s a button that makes you remember the team number. By wrapped do you mean bordering the button?
Personally, I like buttons that are witty/tell a good joke. I’ll admit, I may not remember the team number on it, but I’ll definitely remember the person who gave it to me. Have enthusiastic (but professional) and well-decorated hander-outers, preferably that say something (“hi”* works) before asking if you want a button. It’s all in the presentation! 
*“Hi, I’m from Team XXXX, that’s a cool robot you got there (I like YYYY). Would you like a button?” works even better.
I took a photo of Steve W’s long vest that he wears at events to attach team buttons to. This was at the 2009 Championship event in Atlanta.
This is a closeup of some of the buttons on his vest. I included these photos so that you can get a visual. Look at them and see what catches your eye or jumps out at you. Mad Cows has a lot of potential for being funny. Really funny.
I did a search for ‘recognition buttons’ and came up with this page. Take a moment and look at MOE’s special recognition buttons. I think 1511, Rolling Thunder, has done this, too. Those serve a special recognition purpose and they are very cool collectors items.
A lot of teams use their logo on their button. If you don’t have a set logo, there’s no time like the present to begin branding the team by developing a logo and creating an image that is easy to recognize and that sponsors and potential sponsors will enjoy and remember. If you want to do a one-of-a-kind button for the season - then make that decision and work within the budget that you have created for buttons, team clothing, and spirit items.
Good luck with this. I love buttons.
Jane
One of my personal favorites was one of NERD’s buttons two years ago, which I got at Championships. It said “I’m with NERD” (or something like that. I’m too lazy to go find it right now) with a big arrow pointing to the side, ala those “I’m with stupid” shirts. The design and phrase were short and simple, but still creative and fun, and it just sticks out in my head as far as buttons go. Another one that sticks out is from the Pink Team, and simply says “TEAM PINK” in big black letters on a hot pink background. Not necessarily the most creative or original button, but still bold and memorable, and one of the few I’ve found excuses to wear outside of my robotics regalia
Yes, I do. If I remember tomorrow, I can post some pictures of buttons that I have that I really like (I have to grab my bag out of my school locker, which I’ve been meaning to do for ages anyways).
Some of my favorite buttons come from 2102 Team Paradox. They are works of art. I’ll try to get some pics tomorrow from my collection at work.
The Gearheads, FRC1189, have some clean and memorable buttons with their School Crossing gearhead style.
Of course, then there are the teams whose buttons are memorable because of their awesome performance on and off the field, then it doesn’t matter a whole lot what the buttons look like ;>
I think my favorite buttons are from the “bad robot” team. Each year they have a button with a “bad robot” misbehaving with some relation to the current year’s game… Like… A robot putting a stick figure human player into a goal.
It’s funny, and you know it’s from their team, but also it’s not just a team button it’s more of a keepsake.
I have to agree with many of the others above, a good button is one that has a backround that matches the team’s main color, their number, and their symbol or logo (or another simple design that represents your team). Having these minimal things really makes a good button, as others have said the simplicity makes people remember those things about your team.
Some symbols that jump out to mind for me are Exploding Bacon’s logo (1902), I’d look at that one and see what allittle bit of good artwork can really do for a team’s image. The Stags (their number escapes me at the moment), a Virginia team, have a really nice and simple logo they put on their button.
Keep it simple!
Buttons are small, so designs have to be clear and bold. A lot of little text on a button looks messy and is hard to read, so if you want a quote or a saying, keep it short.
ALWAYS RUN YOUR TEXT THROUGH A SPELL CHECK. ALWAYS.
Last year our team captain made us a great design, but misspelled “Einstein”. So we ended up with a good two hundred buttons with errors!
Contrasting colours = Good idea.
I’ll go through my button collection tonight and take some pictures, and give some better design-oriented advice.
Thank you guys so much for helping us with this! So it seems that bold contrasting colors seem popular. I know that our main team color is red, so what would be a good offset for that? Oh and pictures would be appreciated yes! I lost my buttons last year :mad:
Although this might seem obvious and even implied, make the design round. Concentric circles are pleasing to the eye, and text that follows that is sometimes easier to see.
But don’t get me wrong! I have seen plenty of buttons that look nice without having a round design, and by no means am I an artist. For all I know, it might just be my eyes that like concentric circles! :rolleyes:
We have several regular buttons that go from year to year, but we also design one or more that are related to the new game that makes them more collectible. Being the red camo team, one of our favorite regular patterns actually violates all the rules mentioned above. Very similar to those color blind tests, our team number is in camo up against a camo background, yet visible.
Last year’s favorite theme button took us all by surprise and we kept running out of that pattern. (It was a giant awesome smiley face red-camo soccer ball) So I recommend that you make several design and then have some team and non-team people vote on their favorite.
Most teams give away buttons at regionals/championships, as you may already know by the people with 12014124 buttons on their shirts. :yikes:
To compete with the many other buttons out there, I would suggest at least making it with a color that stands out, etc.