Challenge Coins 101: Your Art Proof

One of the best features of partnering with AllAboutChallengeCoins is having our team create high-quality artwork of your custom coin designs at no cost. Simply send the design details of a coin with your initial inquiry and our team turns over a high-quality render of your idea as a coin.

Combine free artwork with unlimited revisions and you have a great opportunity to customize your options before finalizing any order.

In today’s post, we’re covering the most essential parts of reviewing an artwork from AllAboutChallengeCoins and giving you a few quick tips for looking over your art proof.

Your Art Proof Explained

When giving you our free price quote for a coin, our art team also takes the extra step to adapt your ideas and turns it into a fully-rendered custom coin design.

Every art proof from AllAboutChallengeCoins is divided into different sections including:

• The Mockup: The actual artistic adaptation of your custom coin design detailing both the front and back of the coin. From color choices, plating, shape, and more, our mockups account for any customization you want while also providing our own recommendations and suggestions where we think a coin can be improved. Even if you have your own sketch for a coin finished, our mockup is great for actually getting a look at how the features of a coin will actually look like as a full product.

• The Color Palette: Every art proof includes a color palette listing the colors used on a design as well as the platings. To ensure each color looks the same no matter what screen you’re using, we use the Pantone color matching system to keep your colors accurate on every design. We also use this area to confirm the size of your coin and the numbers of revisions made on a design in case you want to go back to an earlier design.

• Coin Sizing: A small sizing chart is included in every art proof to give a better idea of how big a coin design will come out as well as confirm the scale of your coin before production. While the chart isn’t drawn to scale, it gives you a good idea of how the coin will feel like a completed product.

• Additional Options: A list of additional options as well as their costs are included on every art proof showcasing where a coin design can be further customized with options like dual-plating, bottle openers, sequential numbering, and more.

• Social Links: We include a few links to this blog and our other social media channels on each art proof as a resource for design inspiration, tips, and just to help showcase some of our best work. If you’re curious about how different production processes go into your coin or just want a few quick ideas for your own design, it’s a good place to start!

Reviewing Artwork From AllAboutChallengeCoins

Accompanying every price quote from AllAboutChallengeCoins is a free art render of your challenge coin’s design with every customization and option included.

However, the artwork’s not just a nice gesture on our part. As a customer, your feedback is absolutely invaluable and the more constructive feedback you provide, the better our team can help present a product that fits your needs.

Each art proof is a mockup of how your ideas will be adapted into a custom challenge coin and carefully reviewing the artwork is an essential part of the design process.

Look over each art proof with a critical eye to ensure every detail on a coin design matches your exact specifications. Once a design goes to production it’ll be too late to make changes.

When reviewing your art proof from AllAboutChallengeCoin s, these are going to be the most important details to think about:

• Visual content: Emblems, flags, images, colors and any type of visual images are the first parts of a coin that’s going to be noticed. Make sure those details match your needs and pass a 5-second scan. If any part of the visuals on your coin looks off or doesn’t match your vision. Write it down and try to imagine what tweaks would make it fit your idea.

• Text, Punctuation, and Spelling: No matter how great your coin’s visual design looks, a misspelled name or word is going to take the thunder out of your sails real quick. While our team does its best to note inconsistencies or odd spellings when reviewing the notes for a coin, we can’t stress how important it is to triple check the text on your end to make sure it’s accurate.

• Customization options: AllAboutChallengeCoins offers a host of unique customization options including cut-to-shape design, 3D molds, translucent paint, and more. Your art proof is your best opportunity to review these options and compare them with your coin’s initial vision.

Providing Feedback to the Design Team

If you’re happy with everything in the initial art proof, then you’re free to skip this part entirely.

However, if you’re among the many people who are rethinking their initial ideas after the first draft, then knowing how to give clear feedback is going to be invaluable for finalizing a challenge coin. Whether overcome with excitement over a cool design or frustrated specific customization isn’t working as intended, it’s easy to miscommunicate or have ideas lost in translation.

To cut down on time wasted fixing mistake s, always consider the following tips when shooting feedback to the design team on your art proof.

• Be Specific:Every designer hates the vague words, “Make it Pop.” When shooting back a coin design, make sure you list exactly what you want to be changed and where on your coin design.

• Use Clear Descriptive Language: Colorful words or adjectives are great tools for writers to get ideas across. But designers? You want to keep your descriptions as clear as possible. Instead of telling a designer “I want more life in this coin,” actually describe what “more life” means to you. Do you want brighter colors? More detailed lines? A 3D mold? Be as clear as possible.

• Use Correct Terminology: Know your plating styles vs your color options. If you and your designer are speaking the same language when describing what you want, you’re much more likely to get your ideas drafted exactly as you envision.

• List All Changes at Once: Remember that list of details you were making about your art proof? Make sure to shoot all of it back to the team at once instead of sending your comments or desires in piecemeal. That gives us a chance to show you the changes all at once and then help you shear down until you have exactly what you envision out of a challenge coin.

Working With AllAboutChallengeCoins

With free artwork and unlimited revisions, the team at AllAboutChallengeCoins makes sure no order goes to production until you’re completely satisfied. Our company has over a decade of experience working with customers to create custom coin designs in just about every size and shape. If you’re ready to get started with us, just shoot us an email at info@allaboutchallengecoins.com or fill our online form for a free quote and artwork.