Using badges to draw attention to new content

As a specific form of notifications, badges allow us to give a numerical bit of context on the application for the user. This is a great tool when we look to inform the user on the number of their new emails, text messages, and so on.

Badges are a relatively simple, but fundamentally important aspect of an application interface. For any application that uses Push or Local Notifications in order to update the user on new content, badges are an option to help gain user attention.

Badges are used by many applications. In the previous screenshot, badges indicate the number of apps available for update in the App Store, emails awaiting response in Mail, replies to be viewed in Twitter, and more.

By definition, badges consist of a small red circle that appears in the upper right hand corner of an application or folder icon on the iOS home screen. These interface elements are technically a component in the Push and Local Notification framework...