How to choose the right PVC card?
You are preparing to order some discount cards for a show or event to give your regular customers as bonus; or you are going to order some cash cards for your new shop to attract potential customers. You will ask your designer to make a artwork, then send to manufacturer for production. But what printing element is good to add to make a perfect PVC card? How to choose the right element to make the right PVC card? After reading this blog, you will get some useful information for your card design.
We will talk about this topic based on material, thickness, printing, card finish, numbering, Barcoding, magnetic stripe and logo or text highlight. For other crafting, please visit our CUSTOMISATION page to check.
Material, Thickness and Printing
Transparent PVC is increasingly popular to make VIP card, Membership card, Discount card, and more for its transparency, translucency and opaque. 
Regular thickness 0.76mm is common to make Loyalty card, Preferential card and Privilege card and more. Most customers like it since it is same size as credit card. But thinner card is much better for making coupon card, or one-time used cash card. It is more flexible and the best replacement to paper voucher. While the thicker card will be harder, it is suitable for customers who want the card much harder.
CMYK offset printing is the main printing method during manufacturing cards, for other printing methods, it depends on the craft you choose. For example, if you want gold or silver card background look real gold or silver. We will print it by screen printing. If you have no idea about printing method, what you need to do is just tell us how you want the card to be, we will use our professional to make it as you expected.
Please check picture at www.cardkd.com.hk.
Different card finish
| Finish type | Effect | Perfect-suited | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glossy | Mirror effect, reflective | Colorful design | No extra plate cost |
| Matte | Stylish, Elegant | Design with black as main color. E.g. Fashion | Extra plate cost |
| Frosted | Practical, resistant to scratch | Clear business card | Same extra plate cost as matte |
Different ways to apply number on card
| Numbering method | Character limit | Number type |
|---|---|---|
| Embossed number | Letter, digit and 3 special characters – / . | Large / small embossed number |
| Flat number | Any character | UV code, print code and engraved code and inkjet code |
Barcode and Magnetic stripe
| Ways to identify card number | Craft type | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Barcode | Visible / Invisible barcode | Only for identifying card No. |
| Magnetic stripe | Hico / Loco | Track 2 usually for identifying card No. Track 1 and 2 for writing other information |
Spot UV and Foiling to highlight LOGO, Brand or Text you want to it different from general
| Highlight | Features | Type | Recommend applied to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spot UV | Partial gloss, not recommend to make on text | Color or Non color Spot UV | No extra plate cost |
| Foil stamping | Different foil stamping, to make highlight shinier | Gold / silver / holographic foil. Blue, red and green foil are also available | 3 card finishes available to incorporate, but matte is better |
How can help you to make order smoothly?
Better communication helps to get things done faster. Before yo send us the finished design, you just need to confirm the following, 1.If you are not sure what element to add to your design, you can give us a call at 852-3502 2676 to tell us your request, we will recommend suitable crafts to meet your need; 2.Remember to OUTLINE or insert image in the artwork, then CONVERT font or image into CURVE for us to make draft for production quicker.