Alternative Design Approaches to Creating Unique Awards

When we are conveying information about potential approaches to award projects, there are some related, but distinct, terms we may use to help categorize our designs. Even within the industry, the nomenclature related to this can become confusing and misused, so we want to be as clear as possible with potential customers what we are referring to when we use certain terms.

The four terms we are going to cover here are all related to the degree of customization that is inherent in a given design approach: 1) custom; 2) customized; 3) ready-made; and 4) personalized.

Custom Awards

 “Custom” refers to an award that is designed to a specific customer’s specifications from the ground up. Everything about the award is custom: the form factor (or shape), size, material, finish, and decorative add-ons (such as medallions or bands). These awards can be created from virtually any material, including metal, acrylic, wood, resin and crystal. The process of creating a custom award may involve either sculpting the award or fabricating the award. The advantage of a fully custom award is that every facet of the award fully personifies the customer’s design objectives. While a custom award provides the greatest creative freedom of any of the design approaches, it also generally requires more time and a larger budget. For more information on our custom award process, see: Custom Awards.

Customized Awards

“Customized”, or “customizable”, refers to awards that have both pre-designed and custom components. You can almost think of these as “semi-custom” awards. Usually the award has a pre-designed form factor, such as a wood pillar, acrylic block or crystal obelisk. Custom elements, such as medallions, sub-surface engravings, or color and/or image treatments on the surface of the award, are then added to these pre-designed shapes to tailor (or customize) them to your design objectives. These custom decorative elements are a vehicle for personifying the award with your design objectives – including branding, iconography, color palettes, etc. Since these awards have a “head start” in their design process, they tend to have shorter lead times and lower price points than fully custom awards of similar sizes and materials. We offer some customizable award options as part of our family of modern, sustainable awards called Awardology.

Predesigned Awards

“Predesigned” awards refer to awards that have already been designed, and this design is now available for any customer to purchase. Again, these awards can span a variety of shapes, materials, and sizes. In some cases, customers can choose from a limited set of finish options, such as plating or color. These awards are sometimes referred to as “stock” awards, although this can be deceiving, as, while the design is already completed, the physical award itself might not be on a stock shelf (and thus might still need to be produced). The price of ready-made awards can vary greatly depending on size, material, design complexity, and quantity ordered. Our ready-made awards can be seen at: Predesigned Awards.

Personalized Awards

“Personalized”, or “personalizable”, awards can refer to virtually any custom, customizable, or ready-made award that has personalized engraving on the award’s base (or the award itself). This engraving usually indicates the recipient’s name, presenting organization, award name, and, often, date of presentation or achievement. Organizational logos or icons can also be included with this personalization. More information on our engraving can be found at: Personalization.