Custom Acrylic Medals — Modern Clear & Colored Award Designs, MOQ 100

Different durability profile — not better or worse, just different. Acrylic is shatter-resistant (will not crack like glass when dropped) but the surface can scratch more easily than zinc alloy. Metal medals can survive being tossed in a gym bag; acrylic medals should be handled with moderate care. For indoor display — hung on a wall, placed on a shelf — acrylic durability is perfectly adequate. For outdoor events, rough handling, or children's awards where medals will be played with, zinc alloy is the more durable choice.

No mold is required. Acrylic medals are laser-cut from sheet material — the digital design file goes directly to the laser cutter. This eliminates mold fabrication cost entirely. For custom-shaped medals, this can reduce initial setup cost by 40-60% compared to zinc alloy die-casting. The trade-off is that acrylic cannot achieve 3D relief — the surface is inherently flat. Choose acrylic for graphic, typographic, or silhouette-based designs. Choose zinc alloy for sculptural, textured, dimensional designs.

Yes — UV printing produces full-color CMYK output at photographic quality. Gradients, photographs, illustrations, and complex typography all print with excellent color accuracy and sharpness. The artwork is reverse-printed on the back surface of clear acrylic, so it is viewed through the material — this protects the print from scratches and gives it a floating, dimensional appearance. The maximum printable area covers the entire medal surface up to the edge.

Any 2D shape that can be defined in vector format (.AI, .EPS, .PDF). Company logos, mascot silhouettes, product outlines, building profiles, state or country maps, abstract geometric shapes, interlocking puzzle pieces. Internal cutouts are possible — the laser can pierce the material and cut from the inside. Minimum detail size is approximately 2mm (the laser kerf limitation). There is no shape premium — a star costs the same as a circle.

Acrylic surfaces can scratch — this is the material's primary physical limitation. The surface hardness is lower than glass or metal. Normal handling (holding, wearing around the neck, placing on a shelf) will not cause visible scratching. But rubbing against keys in a pocket, sliding across a rough table surface, or being tossed in a drawer with other hard objects can produce surface scratches. For clear acrylic, we recommend the reverse-printing technique — the printed surface is behind the material and cannot be scratched. Individual poly bag packaging is included to protect medals during transport and distribution.

Acrylic (PMMA) has a density of approximately 1.2 g/cm³. Zinc alloy is approximately 6.7 g/cm³ — nearly six times denser. A typical 2.5-inch acrylic medal at 4mm thickness weighs approximately 15-25 grams. The same size in zinc alloy weighs approximately 50-80 grams. For events shipping medals to hundreds of participants, this weight difference translates to meaningful shipping cost savings. For events where participants receive multiple medals, the lighter weight is a comfort advantage.

Acrylic medals excel at events with a modern, contemporary identity. Tech conferences, design festivals, architecture awards, corporate innovation summits, modern art exhibitions, music festivals, startup pitch competitions — anywhere the event brand is forward-looking rather than traditional. Acrylic also works well for events where visual elegance matters more than physical heft. If your event identity is classic, traditional, or heritage-oriented, zinc alloy or brass may be a better material match. The material should reflect the event's personality.

Yes, with caveats. Our PMMA acrylic is UV-stabilized to resist yellowing from sunlight exposure — this is standard in our material specification. Prolonged outdoor display in direct sunlight over years will eventually cause some materials to degrade, but for normal event use (award ceremony outdoors, participants wearing medals outside for a day), acrylic performs fine. The UV-printed artwork is also UV-cured and stable. For permanent outdoor installation, we would recommend metal instead.

Vector files are ideal — .AI, .EPS or .PDF — because the laser cut path and the UV print layer are taken straight from the same artwork. Photographs, gradients and painted illustrations can be sent as high-resolution .JPG, .PNG or .TIFF; we use them for the print layer and re-draw the cut outline as vector. A hand sketch or a reference photo is enough to begin. If every medal needs a different name or number, send a spreadsheet — laser engraving runs variable content piece by piece with no plate or screen charge. Our in-house design team returns a free rendering within 24 hours and revisions are unlimited until you approve. See our custom shape artwork rules before you send the cut path.

Yes — multi-material medals are one of our core categories. A common build is a die-cast zinc alloy frame holding an acrylic insert: the metal supplies sculptural relief, weight and a plated edge, while the acrylic panel carries full-color UV artwork. The reverse works too — a laser-cut acrylic body with a small plated metal emblem bonded on. We cut, plate, print and assemble under one roof, so the acrylic part and the metal part are inspected together instead of arriving from two different suppliers. Send us the concept and we will tell you which combination is producible at your quantity.

Yes. Every acrylic medal ships in an individual poly bag as standard, which protects the surface in transit. From there you can add heat-transfer woven ribbon (standard size 860-900 x 20-30mm), nylon ribbon, satin ribbon, velvet cord, wax cord or bead chain, plus PP bags, OPP bags, zipper bags, velvet pouches, paper cards, paper boxes, velvet boxes and clear acrylic boxes. Ribbon width and color are matched to your brand. Give us the quantity and the unboxing impression you want and we will quote the complete set together, not as scattered line items. Browse ribbons and attachment hardware for the full range.

Five levers: quantity, sheet thickness, print coverage (one side or both), edge finishing, and packaging. Quantity is the biggest one — we quote on a volume ladder, so the unit price steps down at 300, 500 and 1,000 pieces from the 100-piece minimum. Because acrylic is laser-cut and needs no steel mold, there is no tooling line on your quote at all: you are paying for material, laser time, print time and finishing. Every project is quoted individually against your artwork, so we ask for the design and quantity rather than publishing a price list. Read how medal pricing is built or send your file for a line-item quote within 24 hours.