Blazon

A blazon is the formal written description of a coat of arms. It uses a fixed vocabulary, much of it borrowed from old French, and a set word order, so an artist can draw the right arms from the words alone. To blazon is to write that description.

A blazon names the field first, then the main charge and its color, then the smaller details. The royal arms of England read: Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale Or. In plain English, that is a red shield with three gold lions walking in a column, each one turning its head to look at you. When the field is divided, the blazon starts with the dexter side, which is the viewer's left.

You don't need to write a blazon to use the coat of arms maker, but it helps to build in the same order. Pick a field or division on the Shield tab, add a charge, then name each tincture. The how to make a coat of arms guide goes through this step by step.