You’re keen to explore enamel pin badges for your company or campaign. Fantastic! You’ve made a great choice – custom enamel pins are a high-impact and cost-effective way to help meet your marketing, fundraising or other administrative goals. We’ve answered a lot of questions here at Rocket Badge, and one of the most common ones we hear when it comes to creating enamel pin badges is: Should I choose hard or soft enamel? What’s the difference? Our enamel pin badges are available in premium quality “hard” enamel or mid-range or “soft” enamel. In this article, we highlight the difference between hard and soft enamel pins to help you choose the perfect badge enamel to meet your needs.
Hard Enamel: Polished Durability for Year after Year Shine
How will you use it? Do you want your customer or employee to wear your badge day after day, maybe as part of a uniform or for extended visibility? Do you plan to sell your badges in a shop, give them away as corporate gifts or provide them to your employees as a service recognition award? Prestigious, premium quality hard enamel is a great choice in all cases
The look and feel of hard enamel: Hard enamel badges are highly durable and have a flat design. Rather than sitting below the metal line, the enamel is layered up and then polished back down to the same level. The result is a flat, smooth surface. Hard enamel pin badges are ideal if you’re looking for a pin badge with long-term durability or a more polished look and feel.
Production: Enamel badges are copper-stamped through a traditional high-temperature firing process. A mold has to be produced before production begins. Each mold is bespoke and made to order for each and every badge, ensuring your look and finish are unique to your badge. Enamel colours can be Pantone matched to ensure an accurate extension of your important corporate or campaign branding.
Soft Enamel: Cost-Effective and Versatile
How will you use it? Are you just getting started with promotional or branded merchandise? Do you intend to provide your pins as giveaways or small gifts? Are you on a tight budget? Mid-range enamel pin badges, or “soft” enamel badges, are a great option for you because of their cost effectiveness and versatility.
The look and feel of soft enamel: Soft enamel pin badges make use of raised metal lines and recessed enamel, which makes them feel ‘bumpy’ to the touch. Despite their name, soft enamel badges are still hard to the touch and lend a precise and polished look.
Production: Soft enamel badges are stamped onto long-lasting copper or brass. For further sophistication, we can also plate these in nickel (silver), gilt (gold) or black nickel. You can also choose from a variety of specialty finishes, like antique! Once your design is stamped, it’s finished with precisely coloured, cold enamel before being hand-polished to give it a special lustre and high perceived value.
Whether you select hard or soft enamel for your badges, don’t forget about one important final step: presentation and packaging! Consider adding a custom presentation box or card backer to make your badges even more memorable and attractive. And, for more help to put your ideas into production, check out our post on four tips to design the perfect enamel badge, including size, colour, shape and selling.
Have more questions on hard versus soft enamel? Still not sure how to decide? Get in touch with our friendly experts today and we’ll answer any questions you might have, and guide you on the path to customising the perfect enamel badge for your needs!
