Artwork Requirements for Metallic, Black, Coloured, Clear “Frosted” and White Plastic Cards

Your cards can be printed in up to 3 colours each side – in addition to any background colour. See our print colour chart for full range of gloss and metallic colours.

If you are ordering black, coloured or metallic plastic cards it is not necessary to show the background colour on your artwork, as we use pre coloured material.

We can accept artwork in any of the programs shown below. Please send your artwork to artwork@pc-impressions.co.uk. If you are unable to send suitable files please call 0114 244 0447 for advice.

  • Adobe Illustrator (CS2 or earlier):
    Please convert all fonts to outlines, any imported images to be at least 300dpi. Save the file in .eps format. Colours need to be spot colours (not cmyk).
  • PDF files:
    Please convert fonts to outlines and ensure minimum 600 dpi. Do not show any signature strips, numbering, personalisation or other matter that does not print on the artwork file. Please send a separate pdf visual showing all these items. Colours need to be spot colours (not cmyk).
  • Quark Xpress (v8 or earlier):
    Include all fonts and images. All imported images must be at least 300 dpi. Colours need to be spot colours (not cmyk).
  • Corel Draw:
    Please convert fonts to curves and save as .ai file. Imported images must be at least 300 dpi.

These cards are printed by the hot foil print process. As with all print processes there are certain limitations. Please see the guide below to ensure that your design is compatible with the process.

Card Size and Layout

All of these cards are produced to standard credit card dimensions: 86mm × 54mm, with 3mm radius corners.

Borders

Any borders must be at least 3mm inside the card edge.

The border itself can be a maximum of 2mm in thickness.

Solid Areas of Print

Any solid areas of colour extending across the card must not exceed 10mm in height.

Small Text

Any text of 8pt or smaller should not be bold to prevent any infilling of letters. We recommend using plain fonts such as Arial, Calibri, or Helvetica for small text as they produce the best results at small sizes.

Note: Fonts such as Times New Roman are not suitable for small text due to the very fine lines in certain characters.

Shading (Tints)

We are unable to print shading (tints) with the hot foil print process. Should this type of design be required please see our full colour plastic card product pages.

Signature Strips

When supplying artwork, please show the signature strip position as a solid cyan panel.

Please note we cannot print text on the signature strip.

Sequential Numbering

Please indicate the position of sequential numbers in magenta as shown on the diagram. The height of our numbers on hot foil printed cards is 3mm and is normally printed in 4 digits. (maximum is 6 digits.)

Sequential numbering must be positioned at least 6mm from the top of the card.