I personally wouldn't give steem coin that classical "familiar" gold coin look that is made out of a "Earthly" ore, since steem represents for me a very special cryptocurrency and I see it differently. Anyways this is my take on the style of the coin.
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I would go with this color scheme, a bit more technological, "cyber" like modern look of the coin that represents it as a cryptocurrency and not a "classical" currency.
P.S.
Sorry for bad photoshop, I made this in like 5min's really qick just so that you can get a visual on how I think steem coin should look like. I would appreciate if you could do a render in this color scheme! I almost forgot to say Awesome work man keep it Up!!!
Wow Thanks! Not a problem at al you took the time to actually give me a different kind of look and feel. Maybe I should present this one together with other color schemes. This helps a lot! Once I get more feedback I will go back to the drawing table and see what I can do with your and the feedback of others.