Designing a professional certificate: a checklist of elements

What every certificate should state

The standards for digital credentials provide a useful checklist even for a printed certificate, because they set out what a reader needs to know. An Open Badges 3.0 achievement, for example, has a name, a description and criteria, and the credential identifies its issuer and its recipient. The W3C Verifiable Credentials data model adds the date from which the credential is valid and, optionally, the date on which it ceases to be. Applied to the printed sheet:

1. The issuing institution, by its full name, with its crest or logo.
2. The recipient, by the full name used in official records, spelled exactly.
3. The achievement: the course, programme or qualification, in wording the institution would stand behind if asked.
4. What it certifies: attendance, completion or an assessed result; hours or credits where relevant.
5. The result or distinction, where applicable: a grade, a mention such as cum laude, a pass with merit.
6. The date of the award and, if the certificate expires, the end of its validity.
7. Signatures of the officers who answer for it, usually one to three, with their names and positions printed beneath.
8. A unique reference: a serial number for the institution's records and a code for verification.
9. A means of verification: a short verification address and a QR code leading to the issuer's verification page.

Hierarchy: what the reader should find first

Readers scan a certificate in a predictable order: the recipient's name, the achievement, the issuer, then the details. Set the name in the largest type, the achievement in the second largest, and the remaining text smaller but still comfortably legible. Place the verification line and the QR code in a consistent position, usually a lower corner, where a verifier expects to find them.

Use no more than two typefaces: one of character for the name and the headings, and one plain, readable face for everything else. Decorative scripts convey ceremony but become hard to read at small sizes and for readers with low vision; see our guide to accessible certificates.

Designing for names not yet known

A template designed around "Ana Silva" will fail on "María de los Ángeles Fernández-Villalobos". Before issuing, test every template with a long accented name, the longest course title offered, three signatures and a grade. The layout should wrap or reduce the text rather than allow it to cross the border.

Check both paper sizes recipients print on as well. A certificate laid out for A4 must still fit US Letter, and the reverse.

Colour, contrast and print

Institutional colours make a certificate recognisable, but the text must remain legible. WCAG 2.2, the W3C accessibility guideline, requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. Light grey text on cream stock often falls short. Review the design in greyscale as well: many certificates are eventually photocopied.

Security rests on verification, not ornament

Guilloche borders, seals and watermarks give a certificate an official appearance and deter casual forgery. Anything visible on the document, however, can be reproduced by a skilled forger. The one feature that cannot be copied is a check against the institution's own records: a unique code, a verification page and a digital signature. That is where the effort belongs, and the verification line should be prominent. Our guide to certificate fraud explains why.

One template, many certificates

Keep the wording and the appearance separate. The wording of a certificate is what the institution granted: once issued, it should never change. The appearance (colours, crest, layout) may be refined over time. In Emitcert the wording is copied into each certificate when it is granted and signed, while the design is read each time the certificate is rendered, so correcting a misaligned crest improves every certificate without altering what any of them states. Each template supports up to three signatures and prints on A4 and Letter from a single layout, with a set of predefined designs as a starting point.