Meta title: 6 Ways to Upgrade Your Custom Pin Badge Design

A great pin badge design doesn’t need to be complicated to feel special. But choosing one (or more) of our optional extras can add impact, clarity, or a more premium “gift” feel without compromising your artwork or design.

Moreover, the best designs use these extras to complement the product rather than simply trying to make it better.

Below are six practical ways to level up custom pin badges, plus quick tips to help you design your own pin badge with confidence.

Quick Guide: Choosing The Right Upgrade

• Looking for attention? Add glitter enamel, glow-in-the-dark enamel, or create variations.
• Need to improve presentation? Use backing cards (especially for gifting, events, and fundraising) or coloured clutches.
• Want to add more detail? Screen printing can help you add fine details you can’t get with standard enamel badges.

Top Tip: Pick one main upgrade, then add a second only if it serves a clear purpose.

1) Add Glitter Enamel to Add a Touch of Sparkle

Glitter enamel is a simple way to add sparkle and make a focal point feel celebratory. It works best when you treat it like a spotlight, using bright colours in one area people should notice first rather than across the whole badge.

• Best for: Hair, typography, highlights, fun campaign badges, and limited editions.
• Design tip: Don’t overdo it. Keep your glitter enamel to one colour, two tops, or you’ll lose the effect.

Because we mix glitter into the enamel, it won't come off and end up all over your clothes like it does when a small child makes you a Christmas card.

2) Use Backing Cards To Tell a Larger Story

Our clients often use backing cards to expand the purpose of their badges. They also give you room to tell the story behind the design without squeezing a whole message onto a tiny piece of metal.

• Use the front for: your brand, collection name, event title, or a simple “thank you.”
• Use the back for: a short explanation, a dedication, or how the badge supports a cause.

If you add a QR code, include a plain-text link too. Scanning should be optional, not required.

3) Variations - Different Colours, Same Design, No Extra Cost

Made by Cooper’s “Variations” service lets you offer multiple colour versions of your pin badges while keeping the shape and design the same. This is ideal if you want versions for different teams, roles, or event days without redesigning or ordering everything from scratch.

• What stays the same? The metalwork, shape, size, pin position, clutches, backing cards, etc.
• Why choose variations? Different colour palettes can help you build collections, limited editions, rewards, awards, or team pins.

The variations offer is only available on soft enamel, hard enamel and die-struck badges.

4) Glow-In-The-Dark Enamel

Glow-in-the-dark enamel adds a second “Ooooooohh” to your badge … daytime looks normal, nighttime reveals a surprise. It’s perfect for star-filled sky themes, spooky designs, festivals, or anything with a playful hidden detail.

• Best for: Ghosts, moons, stars, outlines, single bold shapes, and typography.
• Design tip: Use this effect on larger, simpler areas so the effect reads clearly with dark parts intersected

Make sure the badge still looks complete in daylight; the glow should be a bonus, not the only thing that makes the design work.

5) Screen Printing for Fine Details

Screen printing helps when enamel and metal lines can’t hold the clarity of tiny details you care about, like facial features, delicate patterns, very thin lines, or small text. It can keep your branding, logo, or design recognisable without forcing you to simplify it into something generic.

• Best for: Fine texture, tiny highlights, intricate artwork, crisp micro-details.
• Design tip: Always review a proof at the final badge size, not zoomed in on a screen.

Our designers will recommend which parts of your design should be screen printed. They’re experts. Listen to them.

6) Different clutches for Safety & Appearance

The clutch is the part people interact with that stops the pins from falling off. So it’s a real quality signal. Upgrading here can make your custom pin badges feel more secure and more “finished,” especially if recipients will wear them on jackets, bags, or uniforms.

• Coloured rubber clutches: A nice way to match your palette and backing cards or subtly mark different variations.
• Metal clutches: The classic look and feel; good for more formal designs. No extra cost.
• Deluxe/locking clutches: Better security for higher-value or frequently worn badges.

If your badge is larger or heavier, we’ll usually add an extra pin post or two so the badge sits right, so choosing the right clutch can enhance aesthetics or security.

Ready to Get Started Upgrading Your Pin Badges?

Whether you’ve decided which upgrade(s) you want to add to your design or need suggestions on what will improve the quality and salability of your pins, contact our team, and we’ll steer you toward creating pin badges you’ll love.