Have you ever thought about what you’re saying about your company through your awards?  Did you know different engraving styles send a different message?  In this article we’re going to dive into which custom plaque style will fit your event (and business) best!

What are the Plaques For?

Before we take a closer look at the different styles of custom plaques, make sure you know what the plaque is for.  If done right, your plaque should help build your company brand, but also fit the event category.  For example; if you’re an outdoors company putting on an archery shootout, maybe you want to choose a custom plaque that looks sharp, while maintaining the ruggedness of your brand.  You may choose a solid wood plaque.  However, a tech company looking to elevate their brand through a computer coding competition might decide on a more modern looking full-color plaque.  Remember, custom plaques are meant to be versatile and should help brand your company through your event.

Who is the my audience?

Determining who your audience is – and is going to be is extremely important when designing your custom plaques.  Most people forget that their audience isn’t limited to the award recipient.  Remember, your spending money on awards not only to recognize individuals, but also to help brand your company.  Your hope is that the recipient will hang their plaques in their home, office or business for other people to see.  This displays your brand before the eyes of their friends, family, customers and neighbors.  Two questions to think about when designing your plaques are:

1. What does my plaque tell the recipient about my brand?
2. What does my plaque tell a complete stranger about my brand?

Different Styles of Custom Plaques

Let’s take a quick look at the different styles of custom plaques and how they can help your brand your business.  You can mix and match engraving styles to get the perfect look.  If you want to learn more about the different engraving styles you can check out this page here.

Traditional Plaques

Let’s start with the basics!  Traditional Plaques are either laser engraved or diamond engraved.  These plaques are just classic, they look like you would expect a plaque to look.  They are great for recognition awards, sponsor awards or other appreciation awards because they portray your brand in a very professional and classy way.  The traditional plaque design has been in style for years and in my opinion will always be popular.  You don’t have to worry about these plaques going in and out of style.  You can take a closer look at traditional plaques here.

Full-Color Plaques

What you don’t get with traditional plaques is full color engraving.  Instead of plain black and white engraving, full color plaques offer you the versatility of engraving any images or text in full color.  This is a great way to make your logo stand out among the rest of the text.  Unlike traditional and solid wood plaques you can take advantage of varying colors to emphasize different parts of the plaque.  Full-Color Plaques tend to have a more modern feel to them, but still look classy when engraved on gold or silver metal.  To see more options for Full-Color Plaques click here.

Solid Wood Plaques

Solid wood plaques have a very special look to them.  They tend to be popular with ranches, real-estate and other outdoor related companies.  The laser engraved wood grain produces a natural and unique look every time.  Solid wood plaques fit with any décor, and will last a lifetime.  In my opinion, they have a very high perceived value.  You can see more solid wood plaques here.

In Conclusion

The most important thing to remember when designing custom plaques is how the plaque is going to represent your brand; not only to recipients, but also to their friends, family, neighbors and anyone else who might see their plaque.  Even if a person has never heard of your company before, they should be able to get a feel for who you are and what you do.

If you have any additional tips for branding your company, leave a comment below or contact us.  We’d love to hear from you!