How do we make medals?

Hello, friends! Today I invite you to take a look with your own eyes at how one of the most relevant medals of 2020 is made.

 Covid-19 medal

The idea of the medal "For the fight against coronavirus" came to us long before an official order and medal was established in Russia for the same. Of course, we recalled the medieval plague epidemics, doctors in masks with beaks, who did their job as best they could. And we thought: after all, the modern followers of these same doctors - medical workers, volunteers, police, military, in short, everyone who excels in the fight against the pandemic will very awards needed soon. The new medal will soon be needed like air, we decided, getting down to business with enthusiasm. And only then we realized what exactly we did.

Design insights

They decided to use the theme of the triumph of the human mind over Covid-19 as a design concept. It was this task that was set to the designers who managed to solve it as laconically, gracefully and beautifully as possible. As soon as we saw the final result, we immediately understood: this is exactly what us need. The basis of the composition is a sword that cuts in two the Covid-19 molecule against the background of sunlight, and on top is the inscription: Covid-19. The sun symbolizes the mind. The sword is a weapon with which the mind defeats the virus. And that's all. Nothing superfluous, while it is immediately clear what the speech is about. Can't be confused with anything. But that was only the beginning.

Versatility is our everything!

The design that our creatives suggested by itself suggested the idea of versatility. I don’t remember who expressed it first, but it sounded something like this: guys, we have a product, the concept of which will fit absolutely everything! This medal not have medical nor military, nor any other symbols. It is versatile! We apply with laser engraving: "hospital is such and such" and we reward the doctors. We put on the emblem of the volunteer organization - and we reward the volunteers. We write "Dear Ivan Ivanovich" - and we reward Ivan Ivanovich. But, as you already understood, we did not stop there.

Let's reward the whole world

Versatility demanded universal solutions, and they were not long in coming. We thought: why should the medal be only Russian? There are no local symbols on it, and laser engraving, you can make an inscription in any language. In this ambitious plan, only one thing could prevent us: awards from different countries have different blocks. Domestic classics - a block in the form of an elongated pentagon. Such pads were till October revolution and became the standard in Soviet times. Another option is a small quadrangular block like on the Hero's Star. The Ukrainian award system uses an elongated rectangular block. In the West, in the USA, for example, most often they do without blocks at all: medals are hung from a ribbon. By the way, about the tape. By default, on our medal, it is black: (black is a symbol of patience and will to win) with red and white edging: red and white are the traditional colors of medicine. They symbolize blood and purity. There are three colored stripes in the center of the ribbon. Blue (nobility), green (hope for the best) and blue (loyalty).

— Well, guys, can we master different blocks? - we asked our production specialists.

— “No problem,” they said.

And finally, a few production secrets.

How do we do it?

At first glance, everything is simple: we take brass and make stamping, and then we apply varnish and engraving. But in reality, everything is a little different. A serious preparation process precedes the birth of a new medal. And the most important and expensive part of the preparation process is the preparation itself. According to the sketch, you need to create a 3d-model, and engrave a stamping matrix from the model. We engrave the matrix on the end of a steel cylinder from 2 to 10 hours. It is caled with the beautiful word "kolobakha". By the way, if anyone does not know, 1 hour of laser operation costs $ 1. After all the preparatory operations, it will not be difficult to make any quantity. So simple arithmetic always works here: one medal from scratch is always more expensive than a thousand done with a ready matrix. What's next?

Next polishing, finishing and mounting on the block. Details in the video.