A Guide To Challenge Coin Plating & Color

When it comes to designing a custom challenge coin, you have plenty of options. When creating custom coin, the design is all about choices that suit you and your organization.

Two of the key details to any coin's overall appearance are the color and the plating. With the number of colors and plating options, choosing the right one can seem intimidating at first. 

It doesn’t have to be. At ChallengeCoins4Less.com, we’re here to help. We know what a well-designed coin should look like, and we’re dedicated to giving you the perfect coin for your needs. Let’s take a look at how you can choose the right colors and plating for your challenge coins, and what combinations tend to look the best.

Design Choices

Custom challenge coin design is about making choices that fit you and the reason why your coin is being created. We offer a wide range of options that will make any design stand out, but none more so than color and plating options.

The main factor in choosing what options look good together depends on your design. Every color comes in distinct shades that can highlight and accentuate elements of your coin. Paired with our plating options, these colors can become bolder and more significant to your design. 

Color Matching

Knowing what colors match isn’t difficult, but a little bit of color theory can help. Colors such as pastel blue and purple pair well with silver, while warmer colors such as red or orange match flawlessly with gold plating.

We have found that lighter-colored elements paired with a natural silver plating make for a polished look with a fantastic shine. Yellow components can be replaced with gold, which keeps the warmth while adding a metallic aesthetic. Black metal makes an ideal home for drawn elements such as mascots and characters. 

Popular Combinations

Gold Plating

The most common plating for custom coins are gold, silver, and copper. We offer these options with your choice of antique or high polish plating, which can dramatically change the look of your coin. Warmer colors such as red pair well with both antique and high polish gold plating.

This classic combination is clean and striking, often found on firefighter challenge coins. The darker, subdued metal offers a brilliant background for the warmer colors. High polish gold and red really pair well, especially for logos and text. 

The warm glow of gold plating also pairs well with neutral colors such as gray. The light gray plays well with gold plating, offering a unique contrast and a bold look. The visual balance is appealing and a bit cooler.

Black and gold is a classic combination, and one of our favorites. Black contrasts the high-polish gold while featuring details flawlessly. Double-plating in black and gold features a crisper contrast and an eye-catching appeal. 

Silver Plating

Silver plating has a wide range, but one particularly striking combination is silver and blue. Blue details stand out on top of silver plating, providing a cool aesthetic that gold doesn’t offer. Pastel blues allow the natural shine of silver to stand out. If your design has blue and white elements, try switching out the white and letting the coin’s silver plating come through. 

Green is another standout combination with silver plating. Bold and deep greens go great with silver, though lighter greens highlight exceptionally as well. The lighter the shade, the more detail, without taking too much from the polished look. Jade and silver have been a favorite combination of jewelers for many years.

Vivid hues of red complement silver well too. Silver has a natural tone that makes brighter shades of red stand out without clashing. Add black lettering for a dramatic appeal. 

Last but not least is black. Black goes with anything. Black design details complement and contrast silver beautifully. Black can offset the brighter elements of a high-polish coin. It can also keep the coin from shining too brightly to make out the details. A matte finish goes well with pure black, emphasizing intricate designs. 

Black Plating

Speaking of black, don’t forget black plating as well as color on other metals. A polished black nickel plating offers a sleek, contemporary style with a dark shimmer. And as we noted above, you can complement it with any color you choose for a striking look that’s impossible to miss.

Copper Plating

A copper plating adds a warm finish that’s outstanding for celebratory events. Choose high-polish copper for bright designs, or antiqued copper for added depth and sense of history.

How About No Added Color at All?

You can always order your coins with no added color at all. Classic die-struck coins are well-suited for formal events and commemorations. These are typical of military-style coins, a classic look that emphasizes the meaning of the design.

If you do choose to add color to your coin design, we offer up to five colors free. You can add even more colors for a slight extra charge. Our experienced artists will work with you to optimize your plating and color choices to give your challenge coins exactly the look you want.

Let Us Help You Choose

At ChallengeCoins4Less.com, we have produced thousands of coins in various designs. From unique sizes and shapes to bold colors and exciting imagery, we’ve seen it all. Whether you need challenge coins for your business or other organization, we can help you bring your ideas to life.

For more than 20 years, we have designed and created great challenge coins. Our team will help you transform your ideas into custom coins that you can distribute, carry and display with pride. 

Find out more about our custom challenge coins, call us toll-free at (855) 272-8451, or email us with any questions you have. If you already have a coin design in mind, fill out our no obligation free quote form, and we’ll send you a free digital proof of your design. We don’t charge for revisions, so you can be sure your design will look exactly the way you want it to before production begins. Let us show you how easy and fast ordering great looking challenge coins can be!