How are Pins Designed?

Have you asked a pin company for a pin design or are you designing your own pin? If you are wondering about design restrictions or how your lapel pin proof works find out here!

Having a Pin Designed or Ordering Custom Pins:

Many lapel pin companies offer free design services for their customers. Having experienced these services first hand during my purchases of pins, I’ll be happy to share how the process typically works.

1) Submitting your design: It helps to have planned out a design for your pin. Though lapel pin companies are happy to help with coming up with a pin design for you, it could add extra time to the designing process and ultimately you and the company might not be on the same page for your design. So how do you get your design to them? Creating your design in PowerPoint or sketching it out on a piece of paper are helpful, visual references for the company’s artists. You’ll then, most likely, fill out an online quote request form on the company’s website. Depending on the complexity of your design and order, you can expect to hear back from them in 1 business day (easy, straightforward designs or orders requesting a large amount of pins $$$$) to multiple business days if the design you’re needing is incredibly complex or the company is very, very busy (or short-staffed).

2) Revising your design: So you get your design (what the company will call a “proof”) back and it’s not exactly what you’re needing. What you are needing is a change or a revision done. Most companies provide hassle-free, cost free revisions and all you need to do is articulate the changes by contacting them. Revisions are typically completely quicker than an entirely new proof unless your revision essentially is a complete redesign.

3) Quoting your lapel pin order: When your design is finalized by you, the company can determine the cost for your order. It helps to know that the biggest two factors in determining that cost is the total order quantity and how large (in left to right or top to bottom dimension) the pin is. There are typically price breaks at rounded quantities like 100, 200, etc. There are many options that can further affect your overall cost but no options are necessary. If the quote is too costly for you, ask your salesperson to work with a specific budget you have in mind and they can adjust some type of specification that can lower your cost. This may involve making your pin smaller perhaps or lowering your quantity.

4) Finalizing your order: You must take care in reviewing your pin proof thoroughly because once you pay and approve your order you won’t be able to change the design. Say that the company actually lets you change a design after the order is approved, expect to pay up to make that change happen.

5) Receiving your pins: The delivery time-frame for a custom order of pins varies. It depends on the complexity of the design and the time of the year. There are certain months and holidays that can extend the turnaround time for your order. With most pins being made in China, you might unexpectedly become aware of Chinese Holidays where no manufacturing of your pins will take place. The biggest and longest holiday is Chinese New Years which is typically around January or February. A complication within our own country is youth baseball and softball season. During this season, children trade lapel pins and with the sheer amount of kids involved with the sport, the demand for pins is incredibly high. The months to look out for these sports related slowdowns are May and June. With typical turnaround times of 10 to 14 days, the summer months could be around 21 days or more for delivery.

Design Restrictions:

Lapel pins are tiny, typically, so expect your design to be simplified if you’re sending in pictures or images to your lapel pin company. Here are minimum dimensions for die struck/enamel lapel pins:

Metal Borders and Separations: Approximately .5 points for metal areas separating colors. Expect the outer border thickness on your pins to be 2+ points in thickness when you actually receive the pins in the mail. I found that some companies do not accurately depict the outer border thickness. The outer border, in real life, is a bevel and it doesn’t always go straight down (perpendicular).

Color/Enamel Areas: The smallest areas are typically needing to be .5 points in dimension but I’ve seen smaller on some pins. I think pin companies like to keep expectations reasonable so they maintain that .5 point minimum. Also, the manufacturer’s appreciate easier jobs. You’ll find the easier your lapel pin is to color the faster it is made. Keep that in mind if you’re on a tight deadline.

Silk Screening: Expect small detailed design elements to be silk screened onto your pin if they are under .4 points size.

Pin Posts and Special Shapes: Lapel pins can be made in most any shape but you would need to consult with your pin company to make sure the shape doesn’t compromise the ability to include a pin post (the post requires around 1/8” to be welded onto the back of the pin). You’ll need to be sure the pin post location doesn’t mean your pin will rotate on your clothing when pinned on as well. This is more about having your pin post be positioned centered left to right in regards to mass of the pin and slightly biased to the top of the pin.