pic: FIRST Proposed Medallion and Pin

[Chris is me]

I must admit that would look cool on my uniform next to the FTC pins.

[Pjohn1959]

These were given out to the judges only this year. I saw them during the 1st week competition at Oklahoma City and at Lone Star. After pleading and begging with the head judge all weekend to get one, he told me that they were only for the judges and that something 'special' was in store for them in the future. I guess we now know what that meant.

[EricLeifermann]

I like the pins more than the medals, but i think they could come up with a better design than that one. It would have been cooler for the pin to be a moon rock or a trailer, something that really signified the game not just the logo.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by EricLeifermann

I like the pins more than the medals, but i think they could come up with a better design than that one. It would have been cooler for the pin to be a moon rock or a trailer, something that really signified the game not just the logo.

I liked it precisely for that reason, because it was the logo.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by EricLeifermann

I like the pins more than the medals, but i think they could come up with a better design than that one. It would have been cooler for the pin to be a moon rock or a trailer, something that really signified the game not just the logo.

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

I liked it precisely for that reason, because it was the logo.

I'm more with Eric on this one. Incorporating the logo is fine, but I'd be a lot more jazzed about the idea with a more imaginative design than just the logo on white. It might be something FIRST can accomplish by tapping their current graphic designers (those game logos don't create themselves) or farm out to teams with the design chops if the lead times permit it. Regardless of the source, I'm of the belief that a more distinctive pin would better accomplish the visibility objective that Bill laid out in the first blog post.

I also note that the particular type of pin pictured seems to attract scratches. More durable pins would still come in significantly under the cost of a current medal (my rough calculations used cloisonne pins, generally the priciest among the online vendors) while yielding a pin that we wouldn't have to be paranoid about.

Just my 0.0003333333333% of the entry fee.

[Molten]

I'm siding with Jane on this one. I prefer it being just the logo. Much more just makes it look cluttered. I prefer things simple.

[Mr. Pockets]

I must say, most of my arguments were in favor of the medals, but the pin shown looks pretty sweet.

Originally Posted by EricLeifermann

I like the pins more than the medals, but i think they could come up with a better design than that one. It would have been cooler for the pin to be a moon rock or a trailer, something that really signified the game not just the logo.

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

I liked it precisely for that reason, because it was the logo.

In destination imagination (previously known as "Oddessy of the Mind") teams from each of the states can purchase pins unique to their states to trade at globals. Michigan teams had roughly 12 different pins unique to Michigan teams that they could trade. I'm not saying that FIRST necessarily come out with 240 different participation pins ( ), but it might be cool for there to be three or four different pins randomly distributed to participants. This would allow there to not only be variety and possibly creativity amongst the awards, but also allow for award recipients to collect or trade the participation pins amongst themselves. (Shrugs) Just an idea.

[smurfgirl]

I really like the pins. I would be happy to see those implemented.

[skimoose]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pockets

I must say, most of my arguments were in favor of the medals, but the pin shown looks pretty sweet.

In destination imagination (previously known as "Oddessy of the Mind") teams from each of the states can purchase pins unique to their states to trade at globals. Michigan teams had roughly 12 different pins unique to Michigan teams that they could trade. I'm not saying that FIRST necessarily come out with 240 different participation pins ( ), but it might be cool for there to be three or four different pins randomly distributed to participants. This would allow there to not only be variety and possibly creativity amongst the awards, but also allow for award recipients to collect or trade the participation pins amongst themselves. (Shrugs) Just an idea.

I'd love to see pins replace medallions and more!!!

Pin trading is a great pastime and having several designs would be great for encouraging gracious professionalism and team interaction through pins trading.

Why not do different designed for;

• FRC Game Logo Pin
• Student Participant Pin
• Mentor Pin
• Alumni Pin
• Regional Volunteer Pin
• Regional Judge and Referee Pin
• Kickoff Pin
• General Regional Pin or let each regional design their own participation pin
• Regional Safety Recognition Pin
• Championships Pin
• Championships Safety Recognition Pin
• Championships Volunteer Pin
• Championships Judge and Referee Pin
• Championships - Archimedes Division Pin
• Championships - Curie Division Pin
• Championships - Galileo Division Pin
• Championships - Newton Division Pin
• Championships - Einstein Pin

The bold items listed would be designs open for general purchase, the other pins would replace participation medallions, used as small "Thank You" tokens for mentors, volunteers, judges, and referees, or available for either purchase and/or included in Championship registration fee for teams attending Championships. Teams could purchase and/or be given a certain number of pins for their division only at Championships, and only teams reaching Einstein would receive those pins or be allowed to purchase them.

The "Safety Recognition" pins would replace the entire current Safety Award program. Instead of teams trying to out do each other to win the Safety Award, why not have the Safety Advisers bestow "Safety Recognition" pins to individuals, not teams, who are "caught" acting safely during the competitions. This would encourage people to actually be safe, not just try to win a safety award by trying to out do the other teams. I think students, and especially mentors and Safety Advisers would appreciate this change.

This limits the issue to only 18 designs yearly (or about 48 with different designs for each regional), and several of these pins could use similar designs which only varied in text, colors, or silver/gold tone metal used in the pin.

FIRST could also create special donor or sponsor pins to encourage companies and people to support the program financially.

Pins could also be created for Regional Chairmans, Woody Flowers, and Regional Winners, and Championship Chairmans, Woody Flowers, and Championship Winners.

Also, teams could design their own pins. Team 228 is currently contemplating replacing parts of its team varsity letter award with yearly custom participation pins. Most students aren't wearing their varsity letters and we think custom pins might be better recognition to the students which they'll actually wear.

Our family has been involved with Disney pin trading for quite some time. We really enjoy talking with cast members while trading pins with them and I think the cast members enjoy the interaction too. I'm always on the hunt for the old Disney/FIRST Nationals pins since it was before I was active in FIRST.

FIRST would be wise to take note of this thread.

[Chris is me]

The "Safety Recognition" pins would replace the entire current Safety Award program. Instead of teams trying to out do each other to win the Safety Award, why not have the Safety Advisers bestow "Safety Recognition" pins to individuals, not teams, who are "caught" acting safely during the competitions. This would encourage people to actually be safe, not just try to win a safety award by trying to out do the other teams. I think students, and especially mentors and Safety Advisers would appreciate this change.

This is largely already done. There's the Safety Award, two Safety Stars (individual awards), and pins for winning lots of safety tokens.

[Tetraman]

I think having a shirt with 5-6 pins from each year on my shirt would look really awesome. Like Military stripes or Scout badges.

I think they should defiently keep the Gold, Silver and Chairman Medals, as those are some serious bling, but I guess the pins would work.

And as skimoose suggested, they are giving out volunteer pins, for 1 year volunteering, 3 year, 5 year and 10 year. But you have a point, why stop there? If they are going to save some money by using pins, then lets make more pins for more situations!

[Fe_Will]

Originally Posted by skimoose

This limits the issue to only 18 designs yearly (or about 48 with different designs for each regional), and several of these pins could use similar designs which only varied in text, colors, or silver/gold tone metal used in the pin.

I think that there gets to be a point where the amount spent on pins would be more than the current metals...

Then you have some people who are alumni, mentor, volunteer/judge/referee/etc. and it could get to be 6+ pins per year for one person. At that point, in my opinion, it becomes like people who collect team buttons (not that that's a bad thing) where you just see a mass and not the individual accomplishments.

I'd be happy with pins, even more so if they retroactively made them, that were distinctive for each game instead of participation metals.

(P.S. I am looking forward to receiving my 5 year volunteer pin this year! )

[jsasaki]

our team didn't even get medallions sadly

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by jsasaki

our team didn't even get medallions sadly

This actually happened to 1618 as well. With Palmetto the last stop for our truck (or at least the medallion case), they ran out and we were asked to contact FRC team support. I suppose this would be another case where pins might be advantageous--if a shortage hits an event (and was caught by Friday morning or so), pins are pretty easily FedExed to a venue.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Billfred

I also note that the particular type of pin pictured seems to attract scratches.

I dunno Billfred, this pin looks pretty sturdy. I'm not going to try to intentionally mar or scratch it to see, but I'm not going to be worried about that, there's like a coating on it. By the way, it measures 1" x 2" and it has 2 pin backings.

Regarding background color, I may have this wrong but for this logo, I think the background color is white. They don't always have white backgrounds, do they?