Commonwealth Games Birmingham Opens Thursday: Medal Design Up Close 🦁

The XXII Commonwealth Games open at Alexander Stadium on July 28. The medals — designed by local Brummies — feature interlinked rings inspired by Birmingham canals. Worth understanding the design language.

Local Reference Beats Generic

Birmingham could have leaned into generic British symbols (crown, lion). Instead the designers chose interlinked rings echoing the city's canal network — specific to the host city, not generic. Thai regional events can do the same: a specific local reference (river, mountain silhouette, local craft pattern) beats generic Thai iconography every time.

Co-Designed by Local Artists

Birmingham commissioned local artist Amber Aviary to lead the medal design — the cultural authenticity built into the process itself, not added on. For Thai regional sport events, commissioning a local artist (university art-faculty student, neighborhood craftsman) to co-design the medal is the cheapest single way to elevate the project. Cost: a small commission fee. Outcome: genuinely local-feeling medals.