Custom Medal Design Guide: Layout, Relief & Artwork

1. Define the use and priorities before arranging the artwork

You do not need a complete production file to start. A logo, sketch, route photograph or reference medal can explain an idea. Identify the role of each asset: a brand mark that must stay intact, or a reference for mountain shapes, color or composition.

Settle three questions first:

• Who receives the medal? Finishers, category winners, club members and employees may call for different priorities.
• What should people notice first? Give the event name, landmark, sporting image or brand logo a clear place in the hierarchy.
• What must remain accurate? List the year, category, motto, coordinates or sponsor marks separately rather than leaving them embedded in a reference image.

Add the expected quantity, target size, destination and required arrival date. Mark undecided details as “Please advise.” Share a budget ceiling early if there is one, so shape, material and process options can be compared together.

From an Extra Dream order

2. Turning mountain-bike route photographs into a clear finisher medal

We handled a medal order for an Austrian mountain-bike endurance race committee. The medals were finisher awards for a multi-day event.

The organizers supplied photographs of the route. They wanted mountain scenery and the route on the front, with an event motto and stage elevation profiles on the reverse. Their initial idea was to use imitation enamel on both faces, with rich color to capture the race experience.

During artwork review, we anticipated two problems. The photographs contained many intersecting ridgelines, bends and elevation lines. Translating all of them directly into relief and separate color-fill areas would make clean boundaries difficult, with a risk of color bleeding or blurred edges. Filling both faces with complex graphics and long text would also scatter attention and make the relief hierarchy harder to read. These were risks identified before sampling, not defects found in a failed first sample.

After discussing the priorities with the customer, we made the following changes:

On a small screen, swipe the table sideways.

The front now carried the race scenery, while the reverse carried the finisher message. Each face had a distinct task.

We first supplied revised relief artwork for the customer to check the composition, then made a pre-production sample. After receiving it, the customer accepted the trade-off: the full original elevation charts were gone, but the medal had a clearer hierarchy, more recognizable artwork and neat color-filled areas. The customer signed off on the sample before production. The order was delivered successfully, and the medals were given to finishers after the event.

This approach suits a medal whose priorities are recognition and remembrance. If every elevation profile, route detail or place name is essential, revisit the layout, size or printing options rather than applying the same cuts.

3. Give the front and reverse different jobs

The front usually carries the main identifying content, such as the event name, year and a central image. The reverse can add a finisher message, category, commemorative text or numbering. Neither face needs to be full, and they do not need equal detail density.

Review the reduced artwork as a whole. Can you recognize the main image first and read the key text next? Are the border, background texture and decorative lines competing at the same level? If every element demands attention, the design can lose its focal point.

Check at the intended physical size. A large monitor can show detail that becomes crowded when reduced, including small text, ridgelines and metal dividers. Print at 100% scale, verify the printed dimensions with a ruler, then assess text and spacing. A paper print helps with layout; metal reflections and relief still need a physical sample.

Show the top of both faces clearly. Use the ribbon loop as a reference and indicate how the reverse should align when the medal is turned over. For different categories or years, check the replacement content in every version rather than approving all versions from one example.

4. Assign relief, color fill and printing to the right content

Rather than choosing only one process for the whole medal, split the design into outlines, large color areas, fine lines and text, then assess each part.

On a small screen, swipe the table sideways.

Stepped raised-and-recessed levels and continuously sculpted 3D relief are different treatments. State which you want. A vector outline does not automatically become a 3D model: the mountains may need a few defined levels or a continuously modeled surface, and that choice needs confirmation.

Color fill and printing can be combined. The Austrian order assigned larger areas to imitation enamel and fine bends to UV printing, instead of surrounding every fine bend with metal dividers for filling. Mark the exact regions and review print placement, surface compatibility and the sample result. “Enamel plus printing” alone is not a complete specification.

Also distinguish polished imitation enamel from soft enamel / recessed paint fill. Imitation enamel is generally filled and polished to a more level surface; recessed paint fill generally sits below the raised metal. The desired flatness and feel affect how the artwork is divided. Evaluate fine lines, small text and fill areas around the actual dimensions, material, construction and process rather than applying one universal minimum.

6. Add the details needed for production artwork approval

A rendering helps establish composition, color and overall direction. Production artwork needs to define how the parts will be made. At approval, check at least the following:

• Dimensions and construction: diameter, or maximum width and height for a custom shape; the thickness measurement reference; loop position; and side-view information where needed.
• Content and orientation: text on both faces, year, category, logo proportions, top direction and artwork version.
• Metal and surface: material and plating direction; raised, recessed, cutout and textured regions; and the intended relief treatment.
• Color and printing: fill-color references or the agreed color basis, printed areas and boundaries between processes.
• Accessories and delivery: ribbon, connection, packaging, quantities by version and receiving requirements.

You can start without vector artwork. Supply clear images, available logo source files and accurate text. Agree on font handling, proportions and any redrawing before final approval. Converting a low-resolution screenshot into vectors does not automatically recover missing detail.

Review the ribbon and packaging with the medal

Check that the loop or ribbon slot suits the attachment, that the medal faces the intended way when worn, and that the ribbon does not cover the top artwork. Match packaging to the outline and any projecting areas. If these parts are undecided, leave them explicitly open rather than approving the complete product from a front-face rendering alone.

For the material and assembly choices behind these drawings, see the medal material comparison and custom medal ribbon guide.

7. Use the sample to check whether the trade-offs work

After production artwork approval, the physical sample checks whether the decisions on paper produce the intended result. In the Austrian project, the priorities were recognizable simplified mountains, a workable relationship between fine lines and color areas, and a reverse that still conveyed achievement after removing the elevation charts.

Set equivalent priorities for another order: whether the metal logo reads under reflections, small text is readable at actual size, relief competes with lettering, and face orientation and ribbon assembly are correct.

If the sample needs changes, record them against the relevant version. State which drawing, sample and revisions are being approved next. Use the pre-production sample guide, medal color confirmation guide and ribbon guide for the detailed checks, and keep the overall design aligned with those approvals.

8. Copy this medal design inquiry brief

Event or project purpose:
Expected quantity and quantity for each version:
Target diameter / maximum width and height, and thickness (please advise if undecided):
Required front content and main visual:
Required reverse content:
Elements that may be simplified, removed or adjusted:
Available assets and their purpose (logo / photographs / sketch / reference):
Preferred relief, color fill, printing and plating:
Ribbon, attachment and packaging requirements:
Budget range, if available:
Destination country and required arrival date:
Priorities to check on a physical sample: