Mission Patch Designer

Creating a patch that captures a mission’s purpose isn’t easy. Astronauts often come up with the initial concept. Then they work with graphic designers, like Cindy Bush, to bring their ideas to life. “My job is to understand what the crew wants to say about their mission and then translate that visually,” says Bush, who works at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Bush has spent more than 30 years creating patches for space shuttle, commercial crew, and International Space Station missions. Recently, she spoke with Science World about helping to design emblems that honor space exploration.

How did you become a graphic designer at NASA?

I double majored in fine arts and graphic design in college and started my career at an advertising agency. I later went back to school to refresh my design skills, and one of my professors recommended me for a position at Johnson Space Center. I discovered that gaining new technical abilities to complement your creative passions can open up new career paths—and might even take you somewhere amazing, like NASA!

How does the patch design process work?

The crew elects a spokesperson to gather input from the team and be our main contact throughout the process. The astronauts usually already have ideas for symbols they want to include. Some suggestions even come from their families. For example, the patch I developed for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 uses a dragonfly that was first sketched by the mission commander’s daughter.

Our two-person graphic design team helps the crew refine any initial concepts and creates sketches using a computer program. This program produces vector graphics, a type of digital image made using precise mathematical lines and geometrical shapes. These images can be scaled to any size—from a tiny business card to a huge billboard—without losing their sharpness or becoming blurry. We tweak the design based on crew feedback. It can take several months to get everything right.

What kinds of symbols or themes appear on patches?

The symbols on a patch are never random. Stars can signify the number of crew members or their family members, and the moon and Mars appear often as symbols of future space exploration. Crews also add personal touches, like lucky shamrocks, meaningful constellations, or small scientific symbols to represent experiments they’ll conduct.

Are there design limitations that you have to work around?

Yes! For example, we have to keep the shape of the patch simple because if it’s too pointy or elaborate, the edges won’t lie flat when attached to clothing. And any lettering has to be at least 0.6 centimeters (0.25 inches) tall and in all caps. Otherwise, it may not stitch clearly.

There are budget limitations too. Each patch can only use a maximum of eight colors plus white because extra colors mean additional cost. So if a crew wants something colorful like a sunset, I have to capture that feeling with just a few shades.

What do you like best about your job?

I love the variety of projects I get to work on. I also design posters, illustrations, exhibits, and more. For the crew patches, it’s incredible that astronauts are using my work to represent their mission, and it’s so exciting as a designer to see my patch on their flight suits. People around the world collect these patches. I love knowing that my artwork will become a piece of space history.