I don't understand the issue, help me please!
When you get an SMS message or email the notification area on the phone swizzles round to tell you what has happened, from then on in you get an icon in there telling you that you've got an unread SMS or email. Once you've dealt with the notification they go away.
You can swipe down the screen to reveal the notification tray, things that have happened will appear there nice and big.
It works exactly like it does in iOS, except better because there are icons in the tray which tell you what has happened, you don't have to hunt through pages of apps to find a badge.
Besides, if you install Lightflow you can get the led to tell you what is happening without having to turn on the phone...no service, make the led flash red, got a text make it pulse yellow, got an email make it.... You don't even need to turn the screen on.
Install dash clock and when the phone is locked, swipe all the way to the left until you see the big "+", press it and then add the dash clock widget. Then your clock will be the dash clock widget which allows you to display other information like upcoming calendar, number of sms messages waiting and emails etc.