If you’re planning to create a challenge coin for your team, you’re in great company.
Challenge coins have been used by some of the greatest military, political, and business leaders in history to acknowledge star performers and encourage team comradery.
Here’s the thing: Challenge coin design matters. Good design is the difference between someone proudly carrying and showing off the coin you’ve presented or tossing it into a desk drawer with the never-used paper clips and busted cell .
There’s lots to consider when designing a challenge coin. The good news is, you don’t have to be a graphic artist to create a coin that grabs attention.
Here, we’ve compiled five challenge coin design elements and a handful of resources that’ll help make sure your team’s coins stay out of the junk drawer and on display where they belong.
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Artwork is what comes to mind when most people think design. And for good reason. The art and the words you choose express the purpose and power behind the coin. Here are a few ideas you can use to get thinking about what artwork to use in your challenge coin design.
Challenge coins don’t have to be complicated. If your team identifies with an existing logo, use it. You can just send an image of your logo to us, and our wizards will convert it into coin form.
On the back, consider adding important dates, location details, or your team’s motto to further personalize the piece.
Check out this example we produced for the Greater Cleveland chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America.
They cleverly included the outline of Cleveland’s skyline as a way to tie the coin to their location.
If you don’t have a specific logo and aren’t sure where to start, browse through existing coins to get some ideas.
Start by searching Pinterest. There are pages and pages of results for challenge coins, so you’ll have plenty to look at. You can narrow it down by adding additional terms like “police” or “sports.”
If you want to use more valuable collectors coins as your guide, peruse Collectors Weekly. The featured coins change often and sometimes include amazing pieces that sell for thousands of dollars.
The Pantone Matching System is a standardized way to reproduce colors. Whether you already have a specific logo color or you see an example you love online, the Pantone Matching System helps us match it exactly.
You can use an app like Eye Dropper to find the Pantone code from anything you see on your computer screen. Or send us the example, and we’ll match it for you.
Don’t have a logo or an arts background but want a killer coin design? No problem.
WizardPins and 99designs have teamed up to connect you with graphic artists who can turn your vague dream into crystal-clear coin reality. It’s like having an on-demand design team develop your coin from scratch, but without all the trouble of actually hiring a design team.
Enamel is the colored material that’s poured into the coin’s metal base. You can use hard, soft, or no enamel at all. Each lends a different aesthetic to the final product.
Have a look at this coin we made for medical technicians based in the easternmost state in the U.S. (not a typo—parts of Alaska are the northernmost, westernmost, and easternmost land in the United States).
The raised metal edges of the mountain range add a really nice 3D effect to this coin.
Ahard enamel coin has a metal base overfilled with enamel and then polished down. That leaves a smooth surface without the raised metal texture.
Hard enamel coins are more durable than their soft enamel counterparts, but they don’t handle intricate designs as well. Small details can get polished away in the finishing process.
This is a hard enamel coin we produced for the Orange County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office.
The shield, flags, and copy on this coin would feel smooth to the touch. Notice that without raised edges, the design relies more on the enamel color fill.
You can also design a coin with no enamel at all. These coins will be monochrome, showing just the color of the metal.
This example is from our archives and shows just how much you can accomplish with a simple concept and a single color.
Coins like this resemble common currency and can have a really nice, classic esthetic.
Plating refers to the metal base of your coin. It forms the outline of your design and separates each individual enamel color.
Plating is a significant, if sometimes overlooked, design element. Make sure you’re choosing a plating color that works with your artwork and enamel color.
Silver and gold are the most popular plating colors. Gold has a higher quality appearance and looks great against red enamel. Silver is a good pairing for cool enamel colors like blue.
If you pick the right plating, you can create a standout challenge coin with just one enamel color. Take this coin produced by WizardPins, for example.
With a creative use of silver plating and a single bold color, this coin tells an important marketing message in a way that’s hard to miss.
In challenge coin design, size matters. So does weight and shape. Don’t forget about these important elements while planning your new coin.
The standard challenge coin is a round disk, just like the change jingling around in your pocket. It’s not the only option, though. Custom shapes can be striking, offering an impressive first impression.
Take a gander at this bad boy we made for an amazing team of soldiers.
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You don’t have to see a single word or interior detail of the coin. You know exactly what it’s about just from its intricate outline.
The most popular coin size is 1.75 inches in diameter. There are a few reasons to consider a larger or smaller coin, though.
A larger coin is good if you have a lot of text or intricate details, because they’ll provide more surface area on which to express those elements.
Sometimes you’ll create a whole set of coins, like for different levels of achievement. A smaller coin would work well here so they can be displayed easily. Smaller coins like this set we produced also cost less, so they can save you a bit of coin if you’re budget-conscious.
A set like this one can be used to create a hierarchy of challenge coins. For example, someone could earn the bronze version for hitting a lower goal, then the silver, gold, and platinum versions for subsequently more challenging goals.
The weight and thickness are often the last things people think about when designing their coin. But the heft of a coin can alter its overall appeal by quite a lot.
The most common challenge coin thickness is 4 millimeters. A thicker, heavier coin feels more valuable and makes it easier to include inscriptions on the outer edge. But thicker coins also cost more, so they may not work for all budgets.
The purpose of the challenge coin is part of the design process, maybe even the most important part. When the finished product matches the coin’s intended purpose, you know you’ve nailed the design.
The Romans used military-specific coins to reward loyal soldiers. In the 2,000+ years since, coins have taken on all sorts of purposes, from identification to drinking-game fodder. In order to make smart decisions about challenge coin designs, think about who’s giving the coin, who’s getting it, and why.
One of the great things about coins is you can carry a few around and reward great performance as you see it happening. U.S. presidents and high-ranking political leaders have done this for decades.
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Like business card coins, these should be lightweight and should usually be round. Also, these challenge coins are meant to inspire, so make sure the artwork is bold and the words you include have a lot of meaning.
It would be difficult to find a military unit that doesn’t have its own challenge coin. Police and fire stations have followed suit more recently. Corporations are jumping onto the trend, too, allowing internal groups to design and distribute coins to their teams.
For starters, this is the perfect time to include your team’s logo, like this coin from our archives does.
Additionally, think about what differentiates your team from your peers. Is it the amount of time you’ve been around, an award you’ve won, or even a mascot? Incorporate those elements into the design.
When a salesperson exceeds a quota or a division wins an award, a coin can be the physical reminder of that accomplishment.
For these coins, you want to make sure you’re acknowledging a specific achievement. The big, bold #1 and the year on this coin we produced for UPS do just that.
Challenge coins have a rich history as symbols of achievement and camaraderie, often used by the military, the police, emergency medical services, and other organizations. At Galaxy Design Squad, we take pride in designing custom challenge coins that not only honor these traditions, but also inspire and unite teams. In this blog, we’ll discuss the top five key elements to consider when designing your custom challenge coins:
Artwork is a challenge coin’s most distinctive feature. It can be a powerful way to represent the story and values of your organization and its members. Our team can create an eye catching design through custom enamel techniques, which allow for intricate details and vibrant colors. Every element, from symbols and logos to mottos and dates, can be crafted to ensure your coin stands out as a unique testament to your organization’s legacy.
There are several different coin types to consider when designing your perfect challenge coin. The choice of materials, design, size, and more will contribute to your coin’s overall impact. It’s important to keep the intended use of the coin in mind at each design step. Let’s explore the different options:
How do you know what shape and size to choose when designing your custom challenge coin? It’s important to find a balance between size and usability. You will want your challenge coin to be large enough for all of the details to be easy to read and decipher, but also small enough to be transported easily.
Unique shapes can offer an opportunity for your challenge coins to stand out. It’s also important that the selected shape and size can easily complement the artwork and the messages that you would like to convey.
Special touches can add to the uniqueness of your challenge coin. Choose from our wide variety of options: glitter, 3D, edge numbering, additional colors and more. Our team is eager to go above and beyond to design the custom challenge coin of your dreams. Our clients often add special features to create more visually striking coins that have deeper meanings for their recipients.
It’s always important to remember the intended purpose of the coin in each step of the design process. Whether for military recognition, an employee milestone, or a personal achievement, the coin’s design should resonate with its recipients. What emotions do you want the coin to invoke? What do you want it to remind its recipient of? Our team will help ensure that each and every design element contributes to this goal and makes the proper emotional impact. We want to help you make the custom challenge coin design a cherished keepsake for many years to come.
At Galaxy Design Squad, we know that the best challenge coins balance beautiful visual elements and practicality while always keeping purpose in mind. Our team is eager to help you focus on impactful artwork, find the right coin type, choose the ideal size and shape, add special touches, and tailor the design to its purpose. We promise to guide you through this process with ease, creating custom challenge coins that will provide meaning for years to come!
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