Yeah, I designed both the coin and the stamp. The crows on each, and the crown and the shield-shape on the coin obverse, were from Creative Commons-licensed files I found on the Internet. Most other elements (incluuding the "Ben" character) were from fonts installed on my computer, then everything thrown together in free-to-me of image design programs (MS Paint, Paint.NET, GIMP, and Inkscape all were used at some point).
Since we didn't release the coins the year of initial design, I went in and deleted the date from my obverse design image file, and we had the die-maker add that.
The coin design was deliberately done in single-level relief because that was substantially cheaper than multi-level for the die. Only place I regret that any is the crow silhouette, since there's something of a blob effect in the middle.
I did ℓ1 and ℓ2 reverse designs made at the same time as the ℓ5, using a a CC-licensed dandelion silhouette and a CC-licensed squirrel silhouette respectively instead of the ℓ5's crow. Dandelion, squirrel, and crow because those are the established national symbols, of course. That order on the coins because each was symbolically "higher" for the higher coin value; dandelion sprouting from the ground, squirrels running around above the ground and into trees, crows able to soar above the trees.
If I'd known at the time of the original design that we were going to make the ℓ5 (my plans at the time of design were to do the ℓ1, with a much larger run of a smaller coin and a Kickstarter to finance it), I might have tossed the "higher" symbolism in favor of the dandelion on the ℓ5 and the crow on the ℓ1, because I think the dandelion silhouette was more visually interesting, and I would have wanted to avoid repeating the crow from the stamp.
Since we didn't release the coins the year of initial design, I went in and deleted the date from my obverse design image file, and we had the die-maker add that.
The coin design was deliberately done in single-level relief because that was substantially cheaper than multi-level for the die. Only place I regret that any is the crow silhouette, since there's something of a blob effect in the middle.
I did ℓ1 and ℓ2 reverse designs made at the same time as the ℓ5, using a a CC-licensed dandelion silhouette and a CC-licensed squirrel silhouette respectively instead of the ℓ5's crow. Dandelion, squirrel, and crow because those are the established national symbols, of course. That order on the coins because each was symbolically "higher" for the higher coin value; dandelion sprouting from the ground, squirrels running around above the ground and into trees, crows able to soar above the trees.
If I'd known at the time of the original design that we were going to make the ℓ5 (my plans at the time of design were to do the ℓ1, with a much larger run of a smaller coin and a Kickstarter to finance it), I might have tossed the "higher" symbolism in favor of the dandelion on the ℓ5 and the crow on the ℓ1, because I think the dandelion silhouette was more visually interesting, and I would have wanted to avoid repeating the crow from the stamp.