Asking two different award makers about their job will provide two very different responses. One might take a week to engrave a single plaque for a person retiring from work, while another might spend the same period making hundreds of plaques for a company launching an annual award scheme. Both perform the duties of an award maker, but depending on the materials used, the design, and the number of products ordered, their job description varies greatly.
This matters when selecting an award maker for your needs. Not all award makers can handle every type of award. While some specialize in only certain materials and designs, others, such as Awards A Plus, work with Lucite, acrylic, crystal, glass, wood, and metal, and can switch from producing a single custom product to mass manufacturing with little difficulty.
Details that Set Good Award Makers Apart
Most award makers look very similar on a website: product categories, a contact form, and several pictures of previous work. It is where their differences become apparent when an order requires something more than the basic, such as a Lucite item requiring the embedding of an object, a crystal award requiring subsurface engraving, or a wood plaque to survive in the open air for many years.
There are a few things to check about a potential supplier:
- If they can work with different materials or specialize in one or two only
- If they really can provide services such as embedding a coin, a logo, or a document sealed in acrylic rather than just listing them
- If they send a design proof before beginning production to ensure the wording and layout are right before doing anything with engraving
- If they have different engraving options such as diamond cut or subsurface engraving aside from the standard laser engraving for glass and crystal items
An organization ordering the same plaque every year may never need to consider any of this. However, as soon as an order requires something special- a Lucite tombstone for a deal closing, a bronze plaque for an outdoor monument- the difference between those who can do it and those who aren’t will be immediately clear.
When Your Awards Need A Custom Approach
While not all orders require custom design work, many do. A sports league requesting a trophy shaped around its logo, a financial firm commemorating a deal closing with an item sealed inside Lucite, or a business matching an award to its brand colors are examples of situations that don’t fit into a typical template.
Unlike regular engraving, custom work requires a different set of skills:
- Creating a shape or idea from the ground up as opposed to modifying an existing style
- Using different materials for a single project, like combining acrylic with a metal medallion embedded in it
- Managing more complex production processes, such as placing an object before Lucite is poured around it
- Examining and modifying a design before, rather than after, the start of production
Businesses that only occasionally require this sometimes believe that any award supplier can handle it. This type of design work is a unique skill in practice, so it’s important to make sure a maker has done it before rather than just claiming they can.
How a Trophy Manufacturer Shapes the Final Award
Trophies are distinct from plaques and laser engraving. Trophy manufacturers work with shapes that don’t apply to plaques: tiered bases, standalone sculptures, and sport-specific tops made from several parts rather than engraved on a single surface.
Here are some specific points to be aware of when dealing with trophy manufacturers:
- Custom shapes or just assemblies of ready-made parts
- How they construct a multi-part item, attaching the base, the sculpture, and an engraved plaque
- Experience in working with trophies for various fields; sports, corporations, universities, as each requires certain specifics of designing.
- Consistency of design through a whole season or program
A company that excels at making plaques and laser engraving on lucite is not necessarily capable of assembling trophies, and vice versa.
Choose the Right Maker for Your Award
“An award maker,” “a custom award maker,” and a “trophy manufacturer” may appear to mean the same thing. However, the case is often not even within a single organisation because each product requires different skills and competences.
Manufacturing a wood plaque requires certain materials expertise; embedding a Lucite element into an award demonstrates design and manufacturing accuracy; while creating a trophy shows something else again, which is the ability to combine all elements of the product: a base, a figure, and an engraved plate. The key issue when placing an order is not only whether the supplier manufactures the relevant products, but whether it has manufactured this particular product before.
Awards A Plus has provided these services for more than 40 years, starting from its studio in New York City. Whether the product is a plaque, Lucite or acrylic piece, or trophy, we use the same design and proofing process for all types of orders. If you need to place an order for awards or trophies (standard or custom), contact us.