Reaching for the Stars
There’s an entire world of possibility at your fingertips when you set out to design a custom lapel pin. The artwork can be anything you can imagine from this world or far beyond. Some of our customers take this idea and run with it, creating their own designs inspired by the great expanse of stars hanging over our heads.
Space themed pins may share a common source of inspiration, but each is unique. We thought it would be a fun idea to share a few of our favorite space pins just to illustrate what’s possible in design, even when starting with the same theme as hundreds of people before you. Once you take a look, hopefully, you’ll see for yourself how you can reach for the stars on your own custom pin design.
Space Pins From Around the Globe
Organizations like NASA and SpaceX are generally the first things that come to mind when talking about exploration beyond the stratosphere. As prominent figures in the world of aerospace, this is by no means a bad assumption, but there’s so much more to the world of space pins than these two organizations alone.
Some space pins are designed with a daydreamer mentality like this “Spaced Out” lapel pin. Each of the little planets in the tiny solar system have their own facial expression as they chill out among the stars. The ellipses of the two ringed planets form the shape of the pin.
While examining the artwork, we noticed that this design looks something like an atom. It may be strange to think that a huge galaxy could remind us of the smallest unit of matter, but the cluster of planets in the center of the design look something like a jumble of protons and neutrons and the outer ringed planets could be the orbiting electrons. But it’s possible that we’re the ones spacing out now.
Getting back to the space pins we’ve helped design, these custom shaped rocket pins have a fun personality of their own. The predominantly pink and yellow design gives the artwork a much more whimsical tone than the official rocket pins designed for NASA or SpaceX, but it captures a sense of adventure and exploration in its own cartoonish style. It just goes to show that anyone can jump into the world of space-themed pins with a similar idea for design and come out on the other side with something completely unique.
Most of the people who design custom space pins have their eyes on the cosmos. However, some people flip the perspective around, so the design of their pins shows a view from the stars looking back on our home. These TEMPO pins have an overhead view of the United States with a satellite hanging over the design.
TEMPO stands for Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution. The satellites used in the program monitor the atmospheric chemistry in our country's air, and the colored grid design shows the concentration of air pollutants across the nation. While the vastness of space is alluring, designs like these are created to remind us of our place among the stars, and our responsibility to keep our home safe.
Telling Your Own Story With Space-Themed Pins
Every custom pin design tells a story, but sometimes it can be hard to figure out exactly what that story is without any context. In the cases where a pin comes through our office with no text or labels of any kind, we have to guess as to what they represent. This is by no means a bad thing. On the contrary, it can make a design even more exciting.
This space pin has the Little Dipper, a shooting star and a ringed planet that could be Saturn framed against a backdrop of black space and twinkling stars. It captures the same sense of wonder that you get when you look up at the stars on a quiet evening. Perhaps the person who designed this pin just wanted the viewer to take a moment to think about the design and daydream about the cosmos. Or, perhaps, it has a deeper meaning.
If you’re in the market for your own space-themed pins, think outside of the box and see how you can bring your own story to life through custom design. Like the ever-expanding realms of space, the possibilities are limitless. And as all of these space pins show, a design may start with the same inspiration as hundreds before it, but it’s still possible to bring something new to the table.
