Masterclass: Aline Lima Shares her Enamel Pin Design Process
Brazilian designer and illustrator, Aline Lima shares her design inspirations and her 5-step enamel pin design process.
Meet the Artist:
Aline’s foray into enamel pin design:
Aline landed upon the idea of using enamel pins for a project with serendipity, while looking for inspiration. She found enamel pins lovely and bringing a sense of joy and nostalgia.
Aline loves drawing fish and representing movements in some way, geometric shapes are present in almost all her works. Nature, sounds, objects, family and love for her loved ones-all inspire her work.
Designing enamel pins: Aline’s process
Design Step 1:
Aline stresses the importance of a good briefing with her client. After she has understood the concept, she spends a lot of time looking for inspiration (on Behance and Pinterest mainly) and collecting all the ideas that fit in with the briefing. She then filters all the ideas till she narrows on an initial main idea.
Design Step 2:
Aline loves to draw freehand and she sketches her main idea as an enamel pin design. Then she transfers the design digitally using a vectorization program such as Adobe Illustrator.
Design Step 3:
She then defines the colors, keeping in mind the metal material (usually in the shades of gold, silver, black and rose gold) of the pins. She tries different colour combinations till she gets what she likes the best. Aline highly recommends using Adobe Colour Wheel for getting colour combinations right.
Design Step 4:
She uses a mock-up tool (there are several free tools) to see how the project will look once it is complete.
Design Step 5:
If Aline likes the look of the pin in the mock-up, she sends it to the client for approval.
(All image credits: Aline Lima)
What should one bear in mind while designing enamel pins?
We are sure you found Aline’s enamel pin design tips handy!
You can check her work on Behance and on Instagram.
At Gumtoo, we can help you design and manufacture enamel pins for your brand. Get in touch with us at sales@gumtooStickers.com
Masterclass: Learn to Design Enamel Pins by Artist Jennifer Hawkyard
Artist Jennifer Hawykard shares her enamel pin design process and pro tips to help you design your own custom enamel pin.
Meet the Artist: Jennifer Hawkyard
Jennifer Hawkyard is a multi-disciplinary artist living and working in remote West Wales.
She is a traditional and digital illustrator, fine artist, and professionally trained Art Director and Graphic Designer. She is known for her colourful, vibrant, and highly textural images that span a wide range of subject matter and medium.
Check Jennifer’s shop and studio here.
Website: www.jezhawk.com
Jennifer’s enamel pin design journey:
Jennifer started designing enamel pins when she created artwork which she thought was particularly suitable to convert into pins. She did a Kickstarter to raise funds for her first enamel pin project based on her animal totem artwork. Her campaign was a success, and since then there has been no looking back. She creates custom enamel pin designs for themed subscription boxes of various book merch companies such as Fabled Merch and Fairy Loot.
Jennifer enjoys creating pins for Young Adult fiction books, especially ones with fantasy-themed worlds.
Enamel pin design: Jennifer’s 4-step process
Design Step 1: Freehand Sketch based on client concept
Jennifer’s pins begin as a rough sketch in her sketchbook. While designing, she thinks about the concept as shared by the client as well as the physical restraints of enamel pins. For example, the design can’t be too complicated as the metal framework surrounding the pins can’t be very thin (0.6pt line weight or thicker).
If there is a typography element in the pin, Jennifer creates designs that will be legible in metal/enamel.
The challenge is to convey the intricacies of the design within the limitations.
Design Step 2: Recreating hand-drawn sketch in Photoshop
Next, Jennifer recreates the hand-drawn sketch in Photoshop on her computer, using a Wacom Cintiq tablet (with a creative pen display). The lines on the digital illustration at this stage dictate where the metal framework of the pin will be. She uses Affinity Designer (a vector design program) and begins to convert the sketch to a vector outline
Jennifer then sends the first draft of the pin design to her client with rough notes on colour and other embellishments.
Enamel Pin Design Step 3: Visualizing Colour Scheme
Jennifer visualizes and finds a colour scheme that will work with the design and aesthetics. She uses a Pantone Swatch book to ensure the colours are correct as they can look quite different on the screen from reality. She also decides whether the design will include glitter or glow in the dark elements.
Design Step 4: Client Approval and instructions to Manufacturer
She sends the artwork to the client again for final approval. Once there’s a go-ahead from the client, she finalizes the artwork. She adds notes to areas to make them clearer, mentions the dimensions in the design, and notifies the colours properly so that instructions are clear for the enamel pin manufacturer.
Jennifer shares some pro-tips:
Know your budget. Figure out the size of the pin you would like to offer and approximate use of colours or other custom elements - these will all affect the final cost of the pins. Know how many you want to order - as naturally, the more you order, the cheaper they get. Once you have a budget in mind, then you can create a design that works to your budget - there’s no point in designing a super complex pin if you can’t afford to get it made.
It’s super useful to always refer to the actual size of the pin when designing. It’s easy to be zoomed in on a design and think that it all is legible and readable and then zoom out to actual print size and find that the manufacturer will struggle to capture the level of detail.
It’s essential to get a Pantone booklet if you can afford one - if you plan to do multiple pins or make a business of pin design then ensuring colour accuracy will make sure your designs come out exactly as planned.
A big believer in embracing design challenges, Jennifer says that when designing pins, you’re dealing with flat colour and flat design that must be surrounded by a metallic framework. So those are your constraints - not to mention the budget considerations. But that’s what’s fun is trying to come up with a compelling design that also works within those constraints and looks epic as well!
Did you get ideas on how to design your enamel pins? Do you have any tips to share with our readers? Let us know in the comments section below!
At Gumtoo, we can help you design and manufacture enamel pins for your brand. Get in touch with us at sales@gumtooStickers.com
Hard Enamel Pins vs Soft Enamel Pins: Which One Should You Pick?
So, you want to get enamel pins for your next brand. Should you choose soft enamel pins or hard enamel pins? What is the difference? Read this article to learn more about the types of enamel pins and to pick the one which works best for your brand.
So, you have narrowed down on custom enamel pins for your next promotional activity? Great choice! Enamel pins are popular merchandise used by organisations to promote their events, cause, to award star performers and to denote membership to clubs.
But are you having a hard time choosing between custom soft enamel pins and custom hard enamel pins? What is the difference between soft enamel pins and hard enamel pins?
Read on to learn the difference between soft enamel pins and hard enamel pins. On reading, you are sure to make the right choice for your brand.
The biggest difference between hard and soft enamel is the finished texture. Hard enamel pins are flat and smooth, and soft enamel pins have raised metal edges.
Hard Enamel Pins:
Hard enamel pins (also called cloisonné pins) are created by pouring enamel several times in the recessed areas of the metal and is heated at very high temperatures. It is then polished smooth to ensure that the enamel is at the same level as the metal edges.
These are high-quality, premium looking pins and are also very durable.
Soft Enamel Pins:
Soft enamel pins are created by adding the enamel only once in the recessed areas of the metal and then baked hard. The enamel is below the metal edges, so when you touch the pin, you get a textured feel.
Soft pins are the most popular types of pins because they are versatile (a lot of choices in shapes and sizes) and cost-effective.
Other Key Differences
Which ones should you pick? - Hard Enamel Pin or Soft Enamel Pin
If you need custom pins with flat, highly polished look with high-durability, pick hard enamel pins. With their premium looks, these make great limited-edition souvenirs and as rewards to high performing employees.
If you want your custom pins to have intricate designs, a textured look, want more options for metal plating and are looking for cost-effective pins with medium durability, go for soft enamel pins. These are a great option for giveaways during brand promotional events.
For more information on enamel pins, check out our custom enamel pin page.
Write in to us at sales@gumtooStickers.com for a quote on enamel pins today!
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