Plastic Cards - Designing and Printing Your Own IDs and Business Cards

Plastic and PVC are perhaps the most popular materials used for making ID cards, credit cards, membership cards, and more recently business cards. Plastic is used for a wide range of different cards because it is durable and so 

cardholders don’t have to worry as much about accidentally damaging their cards. Plastic cards are also harder to duplicate, making them more secure than cards made out of paper or other materials.

Designing Plastic ID Cards

Whether you are designing ID cards for a business, school campus, or hospital, there are certain characteristics each of those different ID cards must include in order for them to be used as effective IDs. How often will the cardholders use the ID cards? How will the ID cards be used?

If the ID cards are used fairly often by the cardholder then you probably want the ID cards made of a durable material like plastic. If the ID card is used for access control or cash-free transactions, then you will need the card to be made of a material that you can embed technologies in, like plastic.

Printing Plastic ID Cards

Printing plastic ID cards can’t be done on a regular printer, but instead they must be printed with an ID card printer, capable of printing on plastic, capable of producing the graphics you’ve designed, and capable of embedding technologies (like a magnetic stripe or proximity transmitters) you’d like to include.

Designing Plastic Business Cards

Producing plastic business cards is a fairly new phenomenon. People who use business cards are often looking for new ways their business cards can stand out from the rest. One of the newest ways in which people have tried to make their business card stand out is printing plastic business cards.

With plastic business cards, you can be sure that your business card will last longer than business cards printed on other materials.

Printing Plastic Business Cards

Depending on how many business cards you would like to print and the rate at which you run out of cards and need more. If you aren’t printing business cards very often you may want to consider ordering preprinted cards from an ID card provider. If you are someone who passes out a lot of business cards, and often, purchasing your own ID card printer may be a more cost efficient solution.

How many plastic cards are in your wallet right now? If you designed a plastic business card or ID what would it look like?