What makes a race medal truly custom and sets it apart from all the others?
It isn’t whether you choose a bottle opener design, or a spinning center that make your medal unique in the field. It’s the story that your medal design tells a viewer. It’s the message that you want to send out to the world about why you are holding your running event and who will be benefitting from the activity.
What message can you find in race medal design?
The message and/or the story you want to tell with your race medal, doesn’t need to be breaking-newsworthy on the local news. But it does need to mean something special to the people who sign up for a chance to earn that medal. Those runners want to work towards both a finish (or an overall win) and the opportunity to show support for something they can believe in.
How do you get there with medal design?
When deciding on medal design options, such as type, colors, shapes and size, it’s good to first determine exactly what your spending level will be. Above all other race swag items, your medals should be top priority when setting budgets, as it’s the most talked about and coveted of all prizes. You should set this budget accordingly.
Our consultants can help you determine exactly what options are best for you, your budget, and your event and can help tailor choices to your exact needs.
Bike for Humanity Custom Race Medal
It’s all about the art when designing race medals that tell a story.
The art team at Running Awards & Apparel has been working with race directors for many years. All artists are solely focused on one thing – creating unique swag that captures the essence of each running event and helps to ensure that runners will be back each year to acquire the latest edition.
Our artists understand the importance of making unique designs and are committed to both quality and fantastic looks, taking great pride in the thousands of designs produced over the last two decades.
From classic, no color metal finishes, to 3-dimensional designs that pop, or belt buckles that really grab attention, they’ve created them all and are always looking for new ways to express a race brand through medal design.
What are good examples of medals that tell an event’s story?
We asked one of our artists to share some favorite medal designs, and to tell us what she thought made these medals stand out from the others.
Amy Babb is our lead designer and manager of the Running Awards & Apparel Art Department.
Amy chose the 2020 CERC (Columbus Eastside Running Club) race medal as one favorite because she, “loves the cut-out design and bright colors.” She also states she thinks the design helps tell the story of “unifying the countryside and the city.”
Amy’s second choice was the Bike for Humanity race medal produced earlier this year. Amy says she loves the “spinning wheel element and the fun colors in what is really a simplistic design.”
She thinks the Bike for Humanity medal is “great for any gender or age” and says that the customer loved it. This design clearly states the event mission as one that supports earth and human initiatives. It tells the event story well.
The feed-through ribbon style of both these favorite medal designs has been a popular choice for the larger, custom race medals, and lends itself well to cut-out designs and unique shapes.
Columbia Eastside Running Club Race Medal
The options for race medal design are nearly endless.
With so many choices available, and with a talented art team to help guide your way, you too can offer runners a compelling race medal that will earn the praise of finishers and keep them watching for your next event, so that they may sign up and add another great medal to their collections.
For more information about medal designs, or to see examples of the many options available today, contact a race consultant by calling 877.818.4929 or email your request to [email protected].