Maneys is a design and fabrication studio that creates custom medals, trophies, mementos, plaques, and other commemorative products for institutions and events. Alongside awards and memorabilia, the team also designs and builds bespoke furniture and made-to-order wooden products based on client requirements. Maneys has extensive experience in combining manufacturing processes in wood, metal and 3D printing with contemporary printing methods - making it a one-stop-shop for quality gifting and event memorabilia needs.

Role Summary

We are seeking a freelance graphic designer capable of developing production-ready designs for medals, trophies, commemorative mementos, plaques, and certificates intended for fabrication in wood, metal, acrylic, and print media. The designer must understand (or be willing to quickly learn) the technical constraints of fabrication processes so that artwork is optimized for manufacturability rather than purely visual presentation.

Core Responsibilities

1. Design medals, awards, plaques, and certificates aligned with institutional branding.

2. Develop vector-based artwork suitable for laser cutting, CNC routing, metal etching, UV
   printing, screen printing, and offset/digital print production.

3. Prepare fabrication-ready files with proper stroke expansion, outline conversion,
   minimum line thickness control, layer separation, tolerance-aware dimensioning, and
   correct bleed/trim settings.

4. Provide mockups for approval and fabrication reference.

5. Coordinate with production vendors to refine files as per machine and process
   limitations.

Technical Skill Requirements

1. Strong proficiency in Adobe Illustrator / CorelDRAW (vector workflow mandatory)

2. Understanding of special finishes such as foil stamping, embossing, debossing, and spot
   UV

3. Awareness of material behavior including wood grain, metal finishes, and acrylic edge
   quality

4. Ability to prepare layered production files separating cut, engrave, print, and etch areas

5. File formats: AI, CDR, DXF, SVG, print-ready PDF

Learning & Adaptability Requirement

If the candidate does not already possess hands-on experience with fabrication-oriented design, they must demonstrate willingness and capability to quickly learn process constraints of laser, CNC and metal marking workflows, material-specific design limitations, and vendor-driven file preparation standards. The role requires technical adaptability to process-driven design refinement.