How to Design Enamel Pins?

Creating custom enamel lapel pins is a great way to promote your brand, club, business, or other organization. But what are the steps involved in making custom pins? And what do you  need to know to design your own enamel pin?
This article will explain the step-by-step instructions for how to design custom enamel lapel pins. 

What Are Enamel Pins 

Enamel pins are small, unique accessories that are personalized with a logo, emblem, shape or other custom design. Custom enamel pins can be made in a variety of styles, shapes, sizes and colours - the many options for creating custom pins allows for no shortage of creativity and expression.
Distinct features of enamel pins include: 

• Metal Edges Holding Paint
• Raised and Recessed Design
• Versatile and Customizable
• Specialty Features like Glitter, Glow-in-the-Dark or Transparent Enamel

Custom soft enamel pins are a great choice for promoting an event, creating brand recognition or for showing appreciation for customers, volunteers or staff. 

Choosing Between Soft Enamel and Hard Enamel Pins

The first step when making custom pins will be to decide between soft enamel and hard enamel pins. Each type has its own unique characteristics, depending on your preference, style and budget. Here are the differences between the two: 

• Soft enamel pins have raised metal edges with recessed portions holding paint

• Hard enamel pins are slightly thicker, with paint level to the edge of the pin

• Soft enamel pins are a vibrant, eye-catching and economical option

• Hard enamel pins offer a smooth, high-end appearance and are slightly more expensive

While most custom enamel lapel pins can be made in either hard or soft enamel production, there are a few design specifications that work better for one style over the other - a professional enamel pin manufacturer would be able to provide a knowledgeable recommendation. 

How to Make Enamel Pins from Scratch: Step-by-Step Guide

Making custom enamel pins is a complex process but by following these steps, you can rest assured that your project will be top notch: 

• Sketch Out Design. You can do this by hand or by using a program like Adobe Illustrator. A professional lapel pin supplier like Ultimate Promotions can help refine your pin design even if you have just a basic idea in mind. 
• Select Overall Pin Size. The size of your custom enamel pin will determine how complex the design can be - a smaller enamel pin will need to be kept simple, but a larger custom lapel pin can have a bit more detail included. 
• Choose your Base Metal. Whether it’s a classic corporate logo pin, or a unique and funky art pin that you’re creating, you can select gold, silver, bronze, antique or a custom dyed metal base of almost any colour of your choosing. 
• Add Finishing Touches to your custom soft enamel lapel pins such as glitter, transparent enamel or glow-in-the-dark enamel.

Essential Design Requirements for Enamel Pin Artwork

While designing your own enamel pin is a fun and creative process, there are a number of important factors to keep in mind from a custom pin manufacturer point of view. Due to production limitations, it’s essential that your enamel pin artwork: 

• Has a metal edge around any of the areas holding enamel (paint), with a minimum line thickness of 0.5 mm
• Has areas that will hold enamel that are no smaller than 1.5 mm in size
• Has text that is no smaller than 6 pt for legibility 
• Does not have gradient or shading colours - these design details would require UV printed elements to be incorporated into the pin 

How to Prepare Your Pin Design for Manufacturing 

Once you have your pin design created, following the essential design requirements above, there will be a few final steps before you can submit your design to a custom pin manufacturer to bring it to life. 

• Select a final custom pin size - custom lapel pins range in size from 0.5-inch (for simple designs) to over 2 inches for more complex and intricate designs. It’s important to scale your custom enamel pin design to size and print it out to double check that the details are clear, text is legible and the size makes sense for your project
• Test out a few different enamel colours to make sure the palette of your enamel and base metal match nicely
• Decide upon a pin backing - standard custom lapel pins come with a butterfly or rubber clutch, but this option can be upgraded to a deluxe clutch, safety pin or magnet backing at an extra cost. 
• Convert your pin design to a workable file, known as a vector file (ending in .pdf, .ai or .eps) and send it over to your custom lapel pin experts at Ultimate Promotions. The design team will review and make any recommendations based on our years of experience creating custom enamel pins.

Best File Formats and Colour Systems for Enamel Pin Designs

Most custom pin suppliers request art files to be sent in vector format - this is an industry standard that allows the trusted supplier to open the custom lapel pin design as a working file. Vector files come in a few formats - .ai, .eps or .pdf. If you’re not sure if you have the correct file type, you can send it over to Ultimate Promotions and we are happy to take a look! 

When it comes to colours for your custom soft enamel pins, the majority of enamel pin manufacturers use a Coated Pantone Matching System (PMS-C). This is a standardized colour-coding system used universally in the graphic design and manufacturing industries. When designing your custom hard enamel pins, be sure to refer to a PMS guide online to get the exact colour shades you’re looking for. 

Choosing the Right Size for Your Custom Enamel Pins 

Once you have your brilliant custom lapel pin design put together, and you’ve picked out the perfect enamel colours from the Pantone Matching System, you’ll need to decide on what size you want your custom pins to be. 

Here are the things you want to take into consideration when choosing an overall pin size: 

• Pin Purpose - are your custom metal pins meant to be decorative and add a touch of class to a formal evening out, or are they meant to make a statement? The size of your custom lapel pins can definitely determine its overall impact, so plan accordingly! 
• Pin Detail - if your custom hard enamel pin has a lot of small detail, you’ll need to bump up the size in order to meet the minimum production requirements for enamel fill pins. 
• Pin Text - similarly, if your logo enamel pins have a significant amount of text on them, they will also need to be on the larger size (ie. 1.25-inches or larger). 
• Budget - the cost of your custom lapel pins is based on a number of factors, including overall quantity, pin type and pin size. So, if your design doesn’t require making custom pins overly large, you may want to consider an average pin size of about 1-inch for cost-efficiency purposes. 

Understanding Plating Options for Enamel pins 

One of the first questions a custom enamel pin supplier will ask you is what electroplate you want your pin design. This refers to the base metal of your custom soft enamel lapel pins, and when it comes to options, the sky is the limit! Traditional plating options for custom pins Canada include gold, silver, bronze or antique shades. However, enamel pin manufacturers can also create custom plating colours by using a dyed nickel as their base metal - this means you can choose almost any colour in the Pantone Matching System as your base metal. One thing to note - dyed nickel pins only work with custom soft enamel pins; custom hard enamel pins need to be buffed so they can’t be dyed. 

For custom metal lapel pins, you can also explore adding texture to your plating such as sandfrost or other finishing options. 

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Designing Enamel Pins 

When it comes to the do’s and dont’s of how to design your own enamel pin, Ultimate Promotions has decades of experience helping customers create the perfect custom enamel pins.

Here are some common mistakes to avoid when designing your own enamel pin: 

• Too Much Detail - keep in mind that every area in your custom soft enamel pins that will hold different colours needs a 0.5mm metal edge, so too many fine details will result in a pin that is too busy and less impactful .
• Wrong Pin Size - be sure to print your custom hard enamel pin design out to scale so you can see what it will look like at its real size. You’d be surprised how different a custom pin design will look when it is shrunk down to pin size! Adjust accordingly if your design is looking too squished or too large. 
• Mismatched Colour Scheme - sometimes certain colours just don’t work well together - including certain plating colors; take some time to play around with different colour combinations to be sure that your custom lapel pin design looks its best. 

Choosing the Best Attachment: Butterfly Clutch, Rubber Clutch or Magnet

When it comes to custom lapel pin attachments, there are several different options and which one you choose really depends on preference. Here are some of the different options and why they would make a good choice for your custom soft enamel lapel pins: 

• Butterfly Clutch - this is the most common type of attachment for custom lapel pins and comes standard at no extra cost. Butterfly Clutches are a classic metal attachment that are light weight, durable and affix well to clothes, bags, hats and other apparel. 
• Rubber Clutch - this option is a close second to Butterfly Clutches and also comes at no extra cost. These small, soft PVC rubber attachments are secure and comfortable and prevent skin irritation or snagging. 
• Magnet Back - this is a popular option for custom lapel pins that will be worn on formal apparel, suit jackets or fancy dresses when the wearer doesn’t want to puncture the material. Strong magnets are affixed to the pin and the other side of the lapel jacket or shirt to hold the custom lapel pin in place. Opting for a magnet backing for your custom hard enamel pins does add an extra cost to your order. 

Conclusion 

When you decide to design your own enamel pin, there are many things to consider as you take each step towards making custom pins. From considering what type of custom enamel pins you want to create, to determining the best overall size, colour scheme, plating options and attachments, there are many important factors to decide upon along the way. 

Working with a custom enamel pin supplier such as Ultimate Promotions is a great way to ensure that your custom pins will turn out perfect - the knowledgeable staff at Ultimate Promotions will help you every step of the way, making suggestions based on their decades of experience making custom pins. 

Before your embark on your custom enamel pins journey, reach out to Ultimate Promotions!