Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2025-11-05 Origin: Site
Imagine you’re walking into a quiet tavern with only a few people inside. A man by the bar glances at you, then stands up and walks toward you silently. His face, dimly lit beneath his hood, is barely recognizable. He stops in front of you and extends his right hand from beneath his cloak, handing you a coin. You can barely make out the patterns on its surface, but a flash of golden light catches your eye - revealing words: “Never Give Up. Mission 101.”
This is just a short story illustrating how someone might have received a challenge coin back in the day. Challenge coins are specially designed to represent an organization or group. Being given one means you’re accepted as a member with esprit de corps - it can also serve as a token of honor or recognition for your actions. The tradition began in the military but has since expanded to many organizations, companies and even merchandise relating anime, movies or games. Nowadays, many fan of anime and movies create collectible items based on their favorite characters. They often carry their challenge coins to comic expos, where they give away or sell them to other visitors who share similar interests.
If you’re planning to create customized challenge coins for your company or your unit, it means you’re part of a great community. Whoever carries the coin will feel proud - whether they toss it playfully or keep it on their desk as a paperweight. This makes the design of the challenge coin especially important. There are several key elements to consider before finalizing your design. By following these steps, you can save a lot of time at the drawing table and computer - and avoid the stress of second-guessing your design.
Artwork is perhaps the most essential step in customizing a challenge coin, When creating the artwork, you need to imagine how the coin will look and think about the purpose and cultural meaning you want it to express - that’s what makes a challenge coin truly meaningful. Therefore, designing a great challenge coin is extremely important. Here are a few ideas to help you develop the perfect artwork for you design.
In most cases, the design of a challenge coin doesn’t need to be overly complicated. For many great companies, featuring the company logo and slogan is a popular and meaningful choice. Our designers can seamlessly incorporate your logo into the coin’s design, complemented by patterns that reflect the concept or spirit of your organization.
On the back, you might consider highlighting an important date - such as the founding date or an anniversary - along with your team’s motto or slogan. This adds depth and significance to the challenge coin, making it even more memorable.
Here’s a coin we made for Wildfire Enforcement. It features the slogan ‘Watching You’ across the top - a clever combination of the organization’s name and message. The two animals logo sits in the center, giving the coin a vivid and charming appearance.
Of course, there maybe situations where you don’t have a logo or slogan and find it difficult to design the artwork. In this case, you can start by browsing existing challenge coins for inspiration. Your first stop should be Pinterest - it’s one of the best platforms for design ideas, with countless example of challenge coins. You can explore different color schemes, layouts, and styles. And you can narrow your search results with keywords like ‘anime’ or ‘military’.
If you’d like to see more valuable or collectible challenge coins, check out Collectors Weekly. The site offers extensive guides for collectors, and you can even find stunning coins made form precious metal - some worth thousands of dollars.
Using the Pantone Color Matching System (PMS) is an essential step in designing your challenge coin. The Pantone system provides standardized names for more than 2000 colors and has become the global standard for selecting, communicating, and matching colors. By referring to Pantone color guides, a customer in one city can choose a color from the digital Pantone library or a physical Pantone book and send the reference to our design team to complete the artwork.
Don’t have a unit logo or an artistic background? You can always seek help from a professional design team. A skilled production team can create the challenge coin you want based on a few reference images - or even just your ideas and concepts. If you already have an idea for a challenge coin, talk to our sales team, and they will help bring your imagination to life.
You can also get assistance from AI platforms such as ChatGPT, DeepSeek, SeedDream or Gemini. These increasingly powerful tools can be incredibly helpful in the design process. With just a few keywords and descriptions, the AI can generate multiple concept images for you to choose from. Once you find the one that best fits your vision, you can send it to out design team for further refinement and optimization. For example, here’s a case showing how to generate a cute, round kitty challenge coin. You type a few words and a cute kitty coin appears. However, we still need to be careful with AI-generated concept images, because AI can make mistakes. In this example, the kitty on the coin to the left has five paws in total - an error that needs correction by the design team.
Enamel is what gives the metal base of a challenge coin its color. There are three common options for making challenge coins: hard enamel, soft enamel, and no enamel. Each creates a distinct aesthetic effect in the final product.
In a soft enamel challenge coin, the recessed areas created during molding are not fully filled with enamel. This leaves the raised metal lines exposed and noticeable to the touch. The textured surface adds a tactile quality and enhances the visual contrast, which is one of the key design features that makes soft enamel coins so popular.
Soft enamel challenge coins have become a popular choice because they are more cost-effective to produce and work well with both simple and intricate designs. Here’s an example of a typical soft enamel challenge coin: the enamel is partially filled, creating raised metal lines and diamond-cut edges that give the coins a striking 3D appearance.
A hard enamel challenge coin has a metal base that is overfilled with enamel and then polished down to a completely flat surface, resulting in a smooth and refined finish.
Here’s an example of a hard enamel challenge coin: these coins are more durable than soft enamel coins but may not capture intricate details as effectively, since tiny design elements can be polished away during the finishing process.
Check this pumpkin challenge coin for Halloween. Without raised edges, the designs relies more on the enamel color fill.
No enamel challenge coins are also a common choice. You can design a challenge coin without any enamel, resulting in monochrome metal finish. Because of this, the metal line design becomes especially important in creating depth and visual appeal.
This example from our archives demonstrates how much can be achieved with a simple concept and a single plated metal color.
Coins like this resemble common currency and have a refined, classic aesthetic.
Plating refers to the metal base of your coin. It forms the outline of your challenge coin design and separates each individual enamel color. Common electroplated colors are fake gold, nickel, copper and brass, with finishes that can be either shiny, matte or antique.
Plating is a crucial - though often overlooked - design element. Be sure to choose a plating color that complements your artwork and enamel tones.
Fake gold and silver are the most popular plating options. Fake gold offers a luxurious, high-end look and pairs beautifully with purple or red enamel, while silver works well with cool tones such as blue or grey.
With the right plating choice, you can create a standout challenge coin even using just a single enamel color or no enamel color.
In designing a challenge coin, shape, size and weight are equally important.
Basically, the standard and most common shape for challenge coins is round, much like the loose change jingling in your pocket. However, this is not the only option - human creativity knows no bounds, and custom shapes can be incredibly diverse. Here is an example of a multilateral circle shape challenge coin.
The most popular size for challenge coin is 1.75 inches in diameter. However, there are several reasons you might consider going larger or smaller.
A larger coin works well if your design includes a lot of text or intricate details, as it provides more surface area to showcase them clearly.
Sometimes, you might create an entire set of coins, such as for different achievement levels. In this case, smaller coins are ideal - they’re easier to display and more cost-effective to produce.
The weight and thickness of a challenge coin are often the details people consider when designing their coin. However, a coin’s heft can greatly influence its overall appeal.
The most common thickness for a challenge coin is 4 millimeters. Thicker, heavier coins feel more substantial and valuable, and they make it easier to include inscriptions along the outer edge. However, they also cost more, so they may not fit every budget.
The purpose of a challenge coin is a crucial part of the design process - perhaps even the most important. When the finished product aligns perfectly with its intended purpose, you know the design is a success.
The Romans originally used military-specific coins to reward loyal soldiers. Over the past 2,000+ years, challenge coins have taken on a variety of purposes, from identification to drinking-game tokens. To make smart decisions about your coin design, consider who is giving the coin, who is receiving it, and why.
Nowadays, people give away challenge coins as a business card to represent their identity. They are also used as rewards for achieving goals or as limited-edition souvenirs. For example, during the New York Giants’ 100th season celebration weekend on September 8th, 2024, all fans in attendance received a commemorative coin marking the milestone.
A challenge coin is a small coin or medallion (usually military) bearing an organization’s insignia or emblem, carried by the organization’s members. Traditionally, they are given to prove membership when challenged and to enhance morale. They are also collected by service members as keepsakes.
In practice, challenge coins are typically presented by unit commanders in recognition of uncommon performance above and beyond the call of duty. They may also be exchanged to acknowledge visits to an organization.
Additionally, challenge coins serve as souvenirs or gifts, sometimes including a day’s pay. In some military units, to "coin" someone means to raise money on the spot from fellow service members by collecting coins with the unit's insignia. These funds are usually used for group events or charitable donations.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer. People’s opinions on the best challenge coin can vary widely. However, some coins are recognized for their quality, craftsmanship, and ability to surprise or impress.
Designing a military unit coin can be challenging because these coins often carry a personal touch. Among many options, the US Army Ranger Challenge Coin stands out for its high-quality design and emblem. While there are other excellent military coins available, the Ranger coin is one of the most sought-after.
Police department coins are popular among collectors as well. The LAPD SWAT Challenge Coin is a great option for customization with your own text or emblem. Its versatility and customization options make it one of the best challenge coins available.
The Eagle Head Challenge Coin is highly popular among collectors and military personnel. Its design features an eagle in flight, making it unique and visually striking. The high-quality craftsmanship contributes to its reputation as one of the best challenge coins available.
Many famous individuals have designed their own coins. For example, the Johnny Cash Challenge Coin depicts Cash in his iconic pose and is highly sought after by collectors. Other notable options include coins like the Lady Gaga Poker Chip, which also showcase unique designs inspired by famous personalities. Also U.S president Donald Trump published his golden challenge coin.
