Top Tips for Designing Great Custom Baseball Trading Pins
Whether you’re in a local little league or regional travel club, custom trading pins are the core content of the baseball game. Players trade their own pins with new ones to build friendships and memories.
Although most pin manufacturers provide assistance in handling the artwork, designing the pins in person is something significant and special. Designing a great pin will help you trade them at big events like Cooperstown trading pins. You might even get hold of rare Cooperstown pin if you are lucky. This is a guide on how to design custom trading pins for baseball teams.
Ideate First
Every great design comes from a great idea. To design a custom exchange pin for a baseball team, you need to brainstorm and develop a concept. Designing a pin is easier said than done. Sometimes we don’t think of anything.
Even the most creative minds can encounter “design barriers.” If you are stuck, seek inspiration! A good way to start is to look at some of the pins that your team has used in the past or that you have collected from other teams. Pick a few favorites and write down what makes them so interesting.
Another way to find inspiration is to browse the online baseball pin gallery. You can find pins from teams across the country and you don’t even need to meet them at games or tournaments to see them. If you need more ideas, don’t be afraid to broaden your search and look beyond other areas of baseball. Trading pins are popular in other sports too.
Things You Might Include in Your Design
Fortunately, the baseball game contains many beautiful images and symbols. You might consider including a few elements in the design of your custom trading pins.
Baseball
This is a no-brainer, but your baseball pin needs a baseball! Many pins have used the round shape of the baseball and used it as the main frame and design outline. A round design is a common feature of logos. They look great on pins! A baseball is also a great thing that can be used as a smaller design element. They are perfect for interactive pin enhancements such as sliders, rotaries, and hangers.
Diamond
The basic diamond shape is another iconic symbol of the sport. Like a round baseball, diamonds are generally used in the background to establish the main shape of the pin.
Sketch Your Ideas
When you find inspiration and come up with some ideas, it’s time to sketch your design. This can be a bit scary. However, you don’t have to be a good artist to design. You don’t need fancy art tools or expensive sketchbooks to draw some concepts for pins. Some of the best ideas are written on a regular paper with a regular ballpoint pen. Your first draft is just a draft. Don’t worry about the perfection of these, because the purpose of doing so is simply to test the concept.
Before narrowing down the design and producing a product that you really like, you may have to go through several versions of the design. Patch and adjust until you find what you need.
The manufacturer will animate your design to meet your requirements, but the design and ideas will still be used.
How doPins go Rare?
Rare means not available on circulation. Now a usual thought that crosses our mind is having a great design and manufacturing less should be a great idea for making a pin rare! However, as a coach, you want to ensure enough pins to help your team trade without facing any shortage. So, just manufacturing less is not a good idea to make a pin go rare. Here’s how to create rare and valuable pins.
A popular option is to create two or more versions of the pins. It will make a standard product and a more special product, including the add-ons listed above. Reduce the number of specialty products or create limited edition pins so that most people can use regular pins, but the accessory version is more sought after.
Another strategy similar to the previous one is to publish different versions of pins. For example, you can make two pins with different colors. You can even change the pin design slightly every year!
The third common option is to create multiple completely different layouts. Like previous methods, coaches and parents often create more of one than the other, making one more valuable to collectors.
Having a great pin is what you want for your team. And following the above tips will surely help you create one. Creating a great and unique design, you can involve the players as well. That would lead to a more team experience. Once you have a great design you can even try making it rare by doing as discussed above. It might not get as valuable as rare Cooperstown pins but will still be valuable enough for having a good trade.