Emblem Guidelines — Halo 5 Reforged

01 THE EMBLEM

ONE NAME.
THREE IMAGES.

In Halo 5 an emblem and its nameplate are one item: a name plus three images the game shows in different places. Design all three so the emblem reads as a small tile, a wide nameplate, and a large icon.

None of the images carry final colors. You supply the shapes; the player supplies the colors. Players pick their own emblem colors and the game paints them into your artwork. Every measurement on this page comes from the emblems that shipped with Halo 5.

TILE136 × 68Picker grid, nameplate end

NAMEPLATE324 × 68Behind the gamertag

DETAIL512 × 512Spartan ID, Spartan Hub

02 THE CANVASES

DRAWN TO TRUE PROPORTION.

Tile

136 × 68 PX

Shown in the emblem picker and at the left end of every nameplate, where the player's Spartan Rank number is drawn over the tile's right edge.

The background layer fills the whole tile. The figure sits over it, centered near x 60, not the middle of the tile, inside about x 26–94 and y 4–64, leaving room for the Spartan Rank.
Keep the main shape left of about x 95. On nameplates the Spartan Rank number (up to three digits, like 152) is drawn over x ≈ 95–128; shipped logos end at x 91–93.
No text on the tile, and check it at 1:1: thin lines and small gaps disappear at this size.
Art emblems can bleed to the edges (wings, stripes, knives); logo emblems sit in the figure area.

Nameplate

324 × 68 PX

The banner beside the tile. The player's gamertag, with their service tag below it, is drawn over its left side, so the left two thirds sit behind text.

The background layer fills the whole strip. The gamertag and service tag are drawn from about x 14, so keep everything left of x 240 calm and low-contrast.
A logo wordmark goes bottom-right, about 11–16 px tall, inside roughly x 220–316 and y 48–66, as on the shipped team emblems.
Larger art (wings, stripes, panels) belongs on the right third and can run the full height.

Detail

512 × 512 PX

The large emblem on the Spartan ID page and behind the Spartan in the Spartan Hub. It sits straight on the menu backdrop.

No background fill: everything outside the emblem stays empty, so it sits cleanly on the menu backdrop.
Here the background layer is a backing shape behind the figure, such as a shield, ring or badge. It is optional.
Fill most of the canvas. Shipped emblems run to within about 16–48 px of the edges; keep about 24 px clear.
An optional wordmark runs across the lower part, roughly y 400–488.

03 HOW COLOR WORKS

THREE LAYERS.
THEIR COLORS.

Each canvas is three grayscale layers stacked on top of each other. White means “paint this layer's color here”, black means “nothing”, and grays are soft edges. The game paints each layer in one of the player's emblem colors, background first, then secondary, then primary on top.

PRIMARY · R

PrimaryThe top layer: the main symbol or logo, and wordmarks.

SECONDARY · G

SecondaryThe middle layer: a disc, shield or outline behind the primary shape, or accent lines. Optional.

BACKGROUND · B

BackgroundThe bottom layer. Fills the whole tile and nameplate; on the detail canvas, an optional backing shape.

Layers may overlap, and usually should: draw a lower layer as a whole shape and let the layer above sit on it. Shipped emblems draw the secondary disc or shield right under the primary logo.
Keep files fully opaque. Empty areas are black, not transparent.
Design so the emblem works in any color combination, including ones you would never pick.
You may suggest default colors by their in-game names. Players can always change them.

04 WORKED EXAMPLE

THE REFORGED EMBLEM.

The Reforged emblem follows the shipped team emblems: on the tile the anvil is the primary layer over a full background, centered near x 60; on the nameplate a small REFORGED wordmark sits bottom-right; on the detail canvas the anvil sits on top with the wordmark below, and nothing around them. These previews use one sample color set.

Reforged detail icon: a large anvil and hammer above the word REFORGED — **DETAIL · 512 × 512**Primary anvil on top, secondary wordmark below, empty around them.

Reforged emblem tile: a white anvil left of center on a teal background — **TILE · 136 × 68**Background plus a primary anvil centered near x 60, no text.

NAMEPLATE · 324 × 68Background plus a primary wordmark at the bottom right.

05 FILE SPECIFICATION

WHAT TO SEND.

CANVAS	SIZE	4× (OPTIONAL)	LAYERS	NOTES
Tile	136 × 68	544 × 272	Background (full), primary, optional secondary	Figure centered near x 60. No text.
Nameplate	324 × 68	1296 × 272	Background (full), optional primary and secondary	Keep x 0–240 calm. Wordmark bottom-right.
Detail	512 × 512	2048 × 2048	Primary, optional secondary and background shape	Empty around the emblem.

Format: PNG, 8 bits per channel, at the exact pixel sizes above, fully opaque. A 4× version is welcome for cleaner scaling.
Layers: one grayscale PNG per layer, named name_canvas_layer.png (layer = primary, secondary or background), or one layered source file (PSD, KRA, XCF or SVG) with layers named PRIMARY, SECONDARY and BACKGROUND.
Packing the layers yourself is welcome but optional: red = primary, green = secondary, blue = background, which is how the game stores them. Name it name_canvas_packed.png.
Name: a short display name for the picker, ideally 20 characters or fewer.

night-raven/
  night-raven_tile_background.png        136 × 68   (all white)
  night-raven_tile_primary.png           136 × 68
  night-raven_tile_secondary.png         136 × 68   (optional)
  night-raven_nameplate_background.png   324 × 68   (all white)
  night-raven_nameplate_primary.png      324 × 68   (wordmark)
  night-raven_detail_primary.png         512 × 512
  night-raven_detail_secondary.png       512 × 512  (optional)
  night-raven_detail_background.png      512 × 512  (optional backing shape)
  night-raven.psd                        optional source
  info.txt                               name, credit, suggested colors

06 TEMPLATE PACK

START FROM THE GRID.

The template pack has everything above ready to draw in: layered SVG templates for each canvas with PRIMARY, SECONDARY and BACKGROUND layers plus a locked GUIDES layer; transparent guide overlays at 1× and 4× for any paint program; starter layers with the right names and sizes; the Reforged emblem split into its layers as a reference; and an info.txt to fill in.

Open the SVG templates in Inkscape, Illustrator, Affinity or Figma. In a paint program, put a guide overlay on top, paint each layer in white on black, then hide the guides and export each layer.

DOWNLOAD TEMPLATE PACK

07 CONTENT RULES

ORIGINAL. FOR EVERYONE.

Original work only. Halo-inspired themes are welcome, but do not copy official logos (Halo, Xbox, Microsoft, Halo Studios, 343 Industries), esports team or sponsor marks, or anyone else's art.
Keep it suitable for every player: no hate symbols, sexual content, slurs, real people, or political campaign imagery.
By submitting, you agree that the Reforged team may include your emblem in Halo 5 Reforged and adjust it (resizing, edge cleanup, color assignment) to fit the game. You will be credited by the name you give us.
The game has a limited number of free emblem slots, so not every submission can ship in the first wave.

08 PREVIEW & CHECK

TEST IT IN GAME COLORS.

Drop your exported PNGs into the checker. It reads them in your browser, previews them as they appear in game, in colors you pick, and checks size, opacity, layers and placement against the shipped emblems. Nothing is uploaded.

DROP YOUR EMBLEM PNGS HERE or click to choose files · layers named _tile_primary, _nameplate_background, … or packed _tile_packed

09 SUBMIT

POST IT ON DISCORD.

Discord is the last step. Submissions are only taken in the #emblem-submissions channel; nothing is uploaded from this page. Go through the checklist first: the Discord link unlocks once every item is ticked.

Final checklist

All three canvases are at exact size: 136 × 68, 324 × 68 and 512 × 512. Each layer is white on black and fully opaque. The tile's background fills it, the figure is centered near x 60 and stays left of about x 95, and there is no text. The nameplate's background fills it, x 0–240 stays calm behind the gamertag, and any wordmark sits bottom-right. The detail canvas is empty around the emblem and keeps about 24 px clear. It still reads at 1:1 and in an ugly color combination. It is my own work and follows the content rules. I included a name, my credit name and, optionally, suggested colors.

0 OF 8 CHECKED

Post your finished files in #emblem-submissions with your info.txt and a preview.

OPEN THE DISCORD

Measurements on this page come from the emblems shipped with Halo 5 and the Reforged emblem.

EMBLEMGUIDELINES.

ONE NAME.THREE IMAGES.