Designing Your Pathtag

Designing a Pathtag is fun and easy! The more you know about the tag process going in, the better your experience will be. There is a lot of information on this page, but we promise - if you take 15 minutes to look through it, you'll be ready to start designing your tag in a jiffy!

You're On The Team!

You are the most important member of our team! As the creative genius, reviewing your blueprint for accuracy, clearly communicate changes needed, and approving your work in a timely fashion are all your responsibilities. We do the rest, but this key task is yours and yours alone! Do not approve a blueprint until you are 100% satisfied.

Understanding production constraints, ensuring your art is production ready before placing an order, and using non-subjective terms are all things you can do to help us get your design in production as fast as possible. This page introduces you to all these key concepts.

Get Inspired!

The hardest part of tag design is coming up with an idea. Tags can be based on clip art, a forum avatar, or even a photo! Start with something personal or something you like. Go peruse the gallery to see what other people are doing. Drop by the Forums and check out the design forum. You can look around for free designs and/or ask for ideas from fellow taggers!

Still not coming to you? Our Design Partners often have Ready-Made tags for sale on their website. Find a design that you like and they'll add your name! Instant inspiration and gratification!

Hot Tips For Great Tags

• Size Matters: Tags are about the size of a U.S. Quarter or a one Euro coin. Keep designs simple for clarity and quality.
• Be Specific: Clearly indicate important details, including hole placement. Avoid vague terms like "slightly" or "bigger," and feel free to annotate your design to ensure clarity.
• Front and Back Design: You have creative freedom with the front of your tag. Choose from a variety of predefined options for the back to personalize further.
• No Gradients: Pathtags use liquid enamel, not printing, so avoid designs that require gradient colors. For complex conversions, consider consulting a Design Partner (DP).
• Color Choices: Use up to 10 colors, but for better clarity and quality, we recommend using fewer than 6 bright, eye-catching colors.
• No 3D Designs: You can experiment with multiple metal levels if you're an advanced designer, but this process is not supported and voids our quality warranty.
• Simplify Fine Details: Colors are injected into the design’s tiny canals. Avoid overly fine details which may require simplification to ensure production feasibility.
• Image Requirements: Upload your design as a 500x500 pixel JPG at 72dpi. Higher resolutions are accepted but unnecessary. If your design requires higher resolution to capture detail, it’s probably too intricate.

Tag Specification Guide

Making a Pathtag should be a fun and exciting adventure! Seeing your design go from concept to physical product is very rewarding!

Designing a tag is both a creative and a physical process. Sometimes our imaginations exceed the physical capabilities of the production process. Your art, no matter how awesome, will always be converted to a "blueprint" which you get to review before production starts and which will show any changes needed for production.

These are guidelines only. Glitter and Glow require color spacing 2-3x larger than noted below due to fill method.

Diameter	23mm
Total Thickness	2mm
Face Thickness (one side)	1mm
Hole Dimension	3.5mm
Hole Distance From Edge	1.2-1.4mm
Hole Border Minimum Size (optional)	.25mm
Width of colored areas	.3mm for images, 1mm for colored text
Width (thickness) of raised metal features	.5mm
Spacing needed between raised metal features	.5mm

Get Professional Help!

Still not feeling adventurous or inspired? Hook up with one of our great Design Partners! These skilled freelance artists will create a design for a nominal fee that you pay directly to them.

Try It Yourself - DIY!

If you need a tool to put your design together - check out Canva, an online graphics editing service. You can easily create a design in minutes and then upload it to our site. In minutes using an existing account like Google or Facebook you can get a free account, draft your tag and download a PNG of your design that you can easily upload with your Pathtags order.

Watch This 5 Minute Tutorial

Download A Pack of Pathtag Borders

You can freely use this library of Pathtag Borders in your design. They are great for use in Canva and other graphics editors.

Official Design Partners

Business Name	User Name	See Their Designs
GVSU4MSU / LEEsigns	gvsu4msu	View Designs
Pathtags Art	Monedina	View Designs
Flatouts Designs	Flatouts	View Designs
Pink Sweets Pathtag Designs	Pink Sweets	View Designs
Custom Pathtags	MIKEY MAC	View Designs
ozglory	Ozglory	View Designs
J&LA Geocats Pathtags	J&LA	View Designs
Pathtag Island Design	Zyklopin & Cthulhu	View Designs
Omegaman Designs	omegaman1971	View Designs
Scurvy Dog Design	Oddiewan	View Designs
riherpeDSGN	riherpe	View Designs

Ready-made Designs

Business Name	User Name	See Their Designs
Kyndrid Spirit Pathtag Design	Kyndrid	View Designs
Pink Sweets Pathtag Designs	Pink Sweets	View Designs
Custom Pathtags	MIKEY MAC	View Designs
ozglory	Ozglory	View Designs
Pathtag Island Design	Zyklopin & Cthulhu	View Designs
Scurvy Dog Design	Oddiewan	View Designs

PATHTAG CLUBS:

There are a number of Monthly Tag Clubs you can join around the world. The most popular is The Pathtag Club owned and operated by us. There are a lot of other clubs offering monthly tag subscriptions around the world. Google for Pathtag Club or search on Facebook to find the one(s) near you.

JPG Template

You can use the template below as a start for your design. You can right click and save to your hard drive.

Available Options

• Four plating are available. Shiny Silver, Black Nickel, Shiny Gold, and Shiny Copper. Silver is our standard color and is available for no additional fee. The other platings are available for small additional fees.
  
• Soft enamel colors as per your submitted artwork.
• 1 translucent color per tag can be used for a small additional cost per tag. Use available translucent colors for things like water, or to make a jeweled effect.
• Tag backs allow further personalization of your tag. Choose from a variety of available back side designs. Select a "Give Back" and the extra you pay in your order goes to that organization or charity.
• Vanity codes let you choose any 7 character serial for your tag for a $20 one-time fee. 7 digit random serial numbers are provided at no additional charge.

Tag Backs

In addition to uploading your own custom front side design, you can further customize your tag by selecting a back from our library of back sides. Some of these are free but some cost a bit extra per tag. Pricing is listed with each tag for your reference. Give Backs cost a little extra, but that extra money goes to the organization or charity featured on that back. It's a great way to show your style and support your favorite group or cause.

Standard Tag Backs

Give Backs

Special Enamel Processes

In addition to just normal colored enamel, we offer Translucent enamel as a standard option. Periodically Glitter or Glow enamels will be available during promotional periods. You can review the available color options below:

Translucent Color Chart

Translucent enamels offer a semi-transparent look for your tag. Translucent colors are available all the time at a price of $.10 per tag for one color. If you select a Translucent color and a special is running for glow or glitter, you can also select one of these colors to achieve two special enamels on one Pathtag.

There are 10 available translucent colors. These photos are provided as a guide only. Many factors can change the final appearance of translucent enamels including lighting, thickness of metal areas, level of detail etc. Actual appearance may differ from what is shown here.

Glow Color Chart

These enamel colors are only available during special offers. To learn if a special offer is running, log into your Pathtags.com account. If you see a message about a special, you can take advantage of the special to make tags with the special features listed during a limited time.

The graphic below is animated and shows both the colors in light and glowing. Wait for the graphic to fully load to see the colors animate.