Case Study

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Client: Dr. Stacey Dixon, Former Deputy Director,
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
Industry: Government, Defense, Intelligence
Services Provided: Challenge Coin Design
Timeline: 4–8 Weeks
Goal: Create a refined, meaningful challenge coin design that visually represents Dr. Dixon’s personal journey, professional legacy, and service as a senior leader in the Intelligence Community, while maintaining relevance to NGA’s mission and symbolism.

THE CHALLENGE

Dr. Dixon’s background is extensive and deeply multifaceted, spanning personal identity, academic achievements, leadership milestones, and decades of service within national security. She provided a long list of symbolic elements she hoped to include on the back of the coin, yet the design space was extremely limited. The challenge was translating these meaningful components into a compact, scalable visual system without losing clarity or relevance to NGA’s mission.

THE APPROACH

Discovery & Research: Conducted a review of previous NGA Directors’ and Deputy Directors’ challenge coins to understand legacy standards, symbolism, and visual opportunities.
Concept Development: Explored multiple icons and vector-based motifs that could be reduced to small-scale sizes while remaining instantly recognizable. This included developing minimalist interpretations of more obscure personal and mission-related elements.
Refinement: Collaborated closely with Dr. Dixon to refine a balanced composition, prioritizing simplicity, storytelling, and symbolic accuracy. The chosen direction emphasized clean, minimal icons that honored her background without overcrowding the design.

THE SOLUTION

Visual Style: High-contrast black-and-white vector illustrations, intentionally minimalistic to ensure optimal readability when embossed on metal.
Tone: Thoughtful, representative, and deeply intentional.
Deliverables:

  • One final challenge coin mockup

  • A production-ready vector design package for the vendor

RESULTS

  • The client was extremely pleased with the final design and personally presented a printed coin as a thank-you.

  • The challenge coin was later distributed selectively to individuals Dr. Dixon chose to honor—symbolizing her journey, leadership, and service as NGA’s Deputy Director.

  • The final coin achieved a rare balance of personal narrative and professional symbolism within the strict constraints of the challenge
    coin design.

KEY TAKEAWAY

Through strategic simplification and intentional storytelling, even the most complex personal histories can be distilled into a powerful visual artifact.
The final design preserves Dr. Dixon’s legacy in a form that is meaningful, memorable, and true to NGA’s mission.