u/three_stun

Hello everyone!

I recently completed what I'd describe as a vector restoration of the official seal of the University of the Philippines, the country's national university. Rather than redesigning or modernizing the emblem, my goal was to preserve its identity while refining the artwork for contemporary use.

The second image shows the current official digital seal, and the third shows my restoration for comparison.

The objectives of this project were to:

• Redraw the eagle with cleaner anatomy and a more coherent feather structure.
• Establish more consistent line weights throughout the emblem.
• Improve the clarity and legibility of the charges on the shield.
• Preserve the original composition, symbolism, colors, and overall character of the seal.
• Produce artwork that reproduces more cleanly across both digital and print applications.

I approached the project as if I had been commissioned to create a faithful vector restoration rather than a reinterpretation. Every change was intended to improve clarity and craftsmanship while remaining respectful of the original design.

I'd really appreciate feedback from those interested in emblems, seals, and institutional identity. Are there areas you think could be refined further? Does the restoration remain faithful to the original's character while improving its execution?

Thanks for taking the time to have a look!

Hey everyone,

I’m working on a design featuring a very specific style of star, and I need some help from the heraldry experts here to figure out how it should actually be blazoned, or if it even has a proper historical name. I've attached the star I drew, to show exactly what it looks like.

Essentially, it’s an eight-pointed star where the middle is entirely cut out into a large circular opening, and every single point ends in a small round circle.

As a rough attempt to make sense of it using basic heraldic terms, I was guessing it might be something along the lines of "a mullet of eight points pommetty, pierced [or voided]"—but I am absolutely not sure if that's correct, elegant, or standard practice.

I would love to get your guidance on a few specific things:

• How should this actually be blazoned? Is my guess anywhere close, or is there a much better, more precise way to describe this shape in proper heraldic language?

• Is there any historical precedence or a unique name for this? Does this exact combination of an open center and budded/circular tips have a standalone name in classic armory (the way certain complex crosses do), or is it always built out out of composite terms?

• The "Sheriff Badge" Dilemma: My main concern with this shape is the modern visual association. To the average person, an 8-pointed star with ball-tipped points and a big circular center looks kinda like a classic US law enforcement or sheriff's badge. I really want to avoid people misconstruing this as a police symbol. Is there a way to blazon or style this charge to anchor it firmly in classical medieval heraldry rather than modern insignia?

Would love to hear your thoughts or see any examples if a similar charge exists in historical rolls of arms. Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone,

I was working on the layout for Draft 4 based on the awesome feedback from the last thread (especially from u\Loggail regarding balancing the space with a larger lone star and deciding on the waves!).

While doing some deep-dive research into classical architecture, I stumbled upon a piece of history I honestly didn’t know about: ancient classical columns weren't actually plain white marble—they were vividly colored and painted (polychromy)!

That sparked an idea, and I wanted to see what it would look like to bring that historical reality into my design. I made a new version incorporating those historical pigments into the Corinthian capital, alongside adding some gold and blue fimbriation to the waves below.

I’m completely in love with how visually vibrant and alive it makes the shield look! It beautifully bridges the colors of the star and the base.

That being said, I know this opens up a huge heraldic can of worms:

• How do we feel about the Rule of Tincture here?
• If I stick with this version, would it be best to simply blazon it as a "Corinthian column proper, historically polychromed" to account for the natural historical colors?
• Or should I treat this level of detail strictly as "artist's interpretation" (emblazonment) while keeping the actual blazon simple and monochrome (Argent)?

Would love to hear your thoughts on this colorful detour compared to the starker, high-contrast black-and-white versions!