Navdog

Dang... you need to make a commercial out of that. Nicely done. Looks like a great hike. Kinda brings home the idea of... "It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end."

I think "Home of Geocaching World headquarters" helps tell the story a little better of what the coin is about and what's special about the state in the eyes of the geocaching world. It is a global game. Someone who finds a coin in another country may better understand what the coin is trying to present. From a design point, filling out the outer circle with more text helps frame the inside part of the coin and doesn't look quite as plain.

Revisions: -Removed the "the" from headquarters text. -Added a GPSr to the hiker -Changed bird to look more like an eagle. Added a little more relief to the design to approximate the look of the final coin.

Revisions: I also think Moun10Bike's point about having a human element in the design is a good one. The hiker is looking out at the landscape and helps tell a bit more of a story about geocaching and what the coin is about - It is a human activity and involves the outdoors. I can add his other arm and a GPSr, but I would think the relief on the coin would need to be right to show the smaller detail. Remember, it is a 1 1/2 inch coin, and the pics of the design we are looking at are larger. I'll drop the "the" from the headquarters text. How many colors are allowed for the front of the coin?

Maybe I'm wrong, but if the guy at the coin place does the numbering by hand, then he probably just uses a twenty dollar numeric metal punch set. An alpha-numeric punch set costs about 40.00 bucks. Maybe there is a group of cachers that would be willing to hand punch the coins from a list of 500 alpha-numeric combinations. One coin every 30 seconds is only about four man-hours. It's not like it's rocket science. I would think only three characters would be needed. Having the coins track-able on the gc.com site would be pretty special.

I might have an extra space in there from when I flip-flopped the wording. I'll do up another revision tonight when I get home, but it looks like you guys are really close to having an awesome coin!!!

Just the text changes as mentioned:

I love them! Put me down for 10! Only one thing, perhaps you should allow for at least a 4 digit number. If they were personal coins three is probably plenty, but for something with statewide.... possibly nationwide distribution, I have the feeling 999 won't be enough. I just threw that number scheme in there in response to the discussion of the possibility that gc.com might allow for the tracking of the coins. If not, then a three or four number field would be placed there.

I think you could read it both ways, but that is an easy change, and it probably flows better.

Actually, maybe it should be "Home of the Geocaching World Headquarters"

I think you have a choice of enamel or epoxy paint, so there would not be that additional .50 charge for the epoxy on the Rainier side you mentioned above. However, the epoxy paint option for both sides instead of the enamel will hold up much better, especially if folks don't buy the Air-tite containers to protect the coins. M10bike has experience with colored coins so he may have some insight as to which paint would be best. You might look into getting a volume discount of the Air-tite type containers for folks also.

An event cache helps to distribute a lot of them.

Yes, it seems most of the other geocoins are gold.

More green for the money version.

With Moun10Bikes coin, having the green on the outside of the one side helps balance the smaller amount of green on the bike, I'm not sure if that is really necessary for the Washington coin, since the green on the state covers a fair amount of the area. I look at both sides and see a nice balance of color and spacing of elements. No need to make it too busy, but if more color on the back will justify the extra cost, then that may be a good argument. I think in the long run, color on two sides will make a nicer coin. Yes, there may not be quite as many in circulation because of the additional cost, but they will be a much more coveted item. Shhh! Don't tell anyone down here in Portland, but I really like the look of this design compared to the Oregon coin.

I use Photoshop7, but it doesn't have the ability to write text along a path, so I do the text in Illustrator10 and paste it into the design. The new CS version of Photoshop has this feature though. Hopefully I will get the update soon. I've been keeping the gloss and relief of the design down so it is a little easier to see the design elements. Obviously the actual coins would be brighter and have more relief. I don't know if there are different levels of relief to choose from, but may be something to consider.

I think a star to denote Olympia and a mark for the headquarters in Seattle may be confusing to most people. A flag tilted a little not get lost in the water area of the outline may be good for the HQ location.

I've been working with a 7x13 inch 300dpi high resolution image for the coins, so the final design image will be available for other uses, such as cafepress items, if anyone wants to have fun with it.

A revision with recent lines of thinking and the idea that they could be tracked on the gc.com site. I replaced the custom engraving area with a mint date. Added a star near Seattle. I think this may help folks understand the wording about the headquarters and also show where it actually is. Just food for thought.

Thanks Moun10Bike, I was going to bring the color option up after a final design was decided upon. Especially the idea of some green in the design. Although the coloring adds to the price of the coin, it does add a dynamic aspect to the look. The Oregon geocoins are nice, but they were stamped in a shiny brass? and require the plastic Air-tite containers to keep them shiny.

Here is a slightly different version of the front I thought I would throw out. I loaded the back up with a few recent suggestions and some text so you could get a feel for all the options to place elements on the current layout. I tend to like #5 for the back design as it allows you to promote the gc.com location and keeps all that info in the same spot, so it is tied together, and still leaves you the outer ring free for additional text.

Not sure where you were thinking of the placement of the "the capital" text idea. I also included the bottom one as food for thought. #5 #6 #7 Edit: Numbered samples to help identify.

You could leave the inside of the coin as is, and come up with a saying for the outside ring that acknowledges both the west side and east side of the state. "From the ocean to the desert..." Conversly, some text that joins the two sides of the state in the outline, and the www.geocaching.com/additional text on the outside of the ring.

The original image for the back was in response to some comments about a nod to the gc.com site. This follows through with that line of thought. It's probably good to at least have the website somewhere on the coin to identify what the coin is about. Filling the state outline with something balances the design and still allows you the complete outside ring for some text. Another option is to fill the outline of the state with a quote of some sort and put the website address along the ring on the outside on the top and some additional text along the bottom of the ring. #4