First off, I would like to say I am writing this article from the perspective of a professional graphic designer. I want to offer tips and tricks in getting a great design for your coin. By sharing my thoughts I am hoping to invoke creativity and meaningful designs to come in the future for coins to be minted. I take a fair amount of time on my coins because they all have a lot of meaning involved into the process as any coin should. A Challenge Coin is a direct reflection of the person handing it to someone. Designing a coin is important from start to finish, take some serious time and develop something that can truly be a collectible.
The first steps in creating a design is finding out the basic theme it will show. The person, place, or thing it is supposed to represent. For example, if it’s a commander’s coin then it should have something that directly shows something about him like a slogan he/her has, or some kind of philosophy. Not all coins have to go by these strict guidelines, but I find the coins that do are more important to me and other troops. If you are representing the unit then you should identify location, mission, and motto and possibly other items that apply in the design such as command, country, date, or anything relevant to the project. These are ideas to be thinking of with your design team or even if you are doing this alone.
After I have taken some time to think about an initial theme I will use either Adobe Illustrator, or Macromedia Fireworks to start putting my project together. I stress using vector art programs. Vector programs keep integrity of the design during resizing, and especially if some items on your coin are going towards other projects you can reuse anything created in a vector art program. I use many layers for different components to move things in and out of the design to see what looks good and what doesn’t. If you don’t have access to either of the programs I have mentioned you can always draw on paper or find another program that will at least allow you to create your coin design. I recommend a digital interface for emailing you manufacturer and also potential team design members.
I typically like to sit on a design for about a week or so just in case new ideas come to mind that could possible make a final project stand out even more. I don’t rush any design even if the client insist. I always view that if my name is going to be attached to the product then it will be on my terms. I usually get no qualms about this policy as my end results are worth the wait. Always go back on the project during the time you allotted and try to refine your ideas, run your thoughts by friends and family, and finally take different versions of your project and pick and choose what you like from all of them and try to combine those features. To be honest some of my best projects ever were three month waits or more.
You can pay someone to design your coin, but I don’t recommend it because that pro will never be able to but the meaning of the coin into it. Not that I would want to drive away business, but the truth is you should always at least do the rough work yourself and use a professional to finish the final design. When you finally really print what you created at actual size and look at it like it was the real minted object. This should at least give you an indication whether it was a good design or not.
When the Bagram Airfield coin was developed, I worked with another guy to come up with the concept and finalize it. This process was an ongoing three weeks or so and that hard work ended up selling almost 1500 coins in less than a year and they are still going. Don’t be afraid to push the limits with color, detail, and size. When you put limits on yourself, you are almost guaranteeing failure.
I hope my tips helped you, and you just try to focus on the main points…relax, vectors, review, no restraints, and always have fun. I really enjoy deep rooted themed coins that have a true symbolism; they usually will mean the most and look the best. Coins are the same as quarters being minted, they just hold a different value.