Plastic card artwork design format and general information about printing design format

Printing Shop

Q: What's the minimum order of plastic card printing?

A: We can produce as few as 100pcs full colour plastic cards without setup charge

Q: : Can do I order plastic business cards for more than 1 person in my company?

A: You can always order plastic business cards using the same design but with a different name and contact information.

Q: What type of printing process is used

A: All our products are printed by Heidelberg printing machines in full colour processing. The full colour process is an industry standard what results can be seen at a credit card stand. The final result is high quality printing which can make your images happen.

Q:What types of files are accepted?

A:The best file format to submit your artwork in is Adobe Acrobat - .pdf

Please ensure you have followed these steps prior to sending the artwork:

1) Convert all text to outlines / paths (the exact terminology depends on your software). Please INCLUDE the fonts when you submit the artwork if you haven't managed to convert the text.

2) Ensure all images and relevant artwork are at 300dpi before designing the layout (we may ask you to submit higher resolution versions in some instances)

3) Include bleed on all layouts, it may slow down the setup of your order if we have to request new artwork from you. As a general rule, PLASTIC CARD requires 3mm bleed on each edge.

4) Ensure that all artwork is clearly labeled ( eg：Express_Front.pdf, Express_Back.pdf).

We also accept the following files (ensure you follow steps 1-4 above when submitting any artwork) :

*If would like to submit in a format not listed here, please contact us to make sure we can accept it. Vector based artwork (preferred format type) : Adobe Illustrator - .ai Adobe Indesign - .indd Corel Draw! - .cdr Encapsulated Postcript - .eps (most vector art packages can export to this format) Macromedia Freehand - .fh* (Problems are likely with this format, please send as a different format if possible) Microsoft Publisher - .pub Microsoft Word - .doc Microsoft Powerpoint - .ppt Quark Express - .qxd (Problems are likely with this format, please export as .eps file to reduce problems) TIFF Image Document - .tif

Q:What are your Artwork guidelines?

A:The resolution of your artworks should at least be 300dpi (300 pixels per INCH or 118 pixels per CM) to create high quality printing matters. If your image contains texts, we suggest you use higher resolution artwork up to 600dpi. Bleed: 3mm for business cards and plastic cards, 5mm for rest products like flyers and brochures.
Before creating PDF files, please convert all text outlined, or attach the TrueType TTF fonts you used in the artwork, as we do not print directly from the PDF files) Texts in image files (JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG) will not be printed as sharp as other formats with text layers like Corel Draw, Illustrator, PDF, Freehand, Indesign...
We suggest you send us your source files with texts layers to us to get better printing result. If you do not have the source files, please use higher resolution artwork up to 600dpi. If you have used special fonts (or Mac fonts), please send the TrueType TTF font files to us as well, to avoid any font problems, please transfer the texts into vector paths (create outlines).

Important Note for embossing on plastic card :

1) For larger size characters e.g.credit card long numbers(these can be numbers only, with the maximum on one line of 19 characters with no spaces.

2) For smaller size characters e.g. name on your Bank card or Exp data, you can have alpha-numeric characters from a semi-limited set, the maximum on one line is 26 characters with no spaces.

3) Please be aware that to have 3 or more lines of embossing, or to use the full line of characters with no spaces, may result in the finished card bending and being slightly scratched.

Vector formats.

Vector format artwork uses a series of 'points' to describe a shape, similar to a graph in mathematics. This ensures that any vector shape at any resolution should always print sharp.

Bitmap formats.

Bitmap artwork is made up of blocks (pixels) that describe a shape. This means that when you zoom in, you begin to see blocks of colours and the artwork becomes unviewable. Bitmap artwork is best suited for screen use, such as websites,Bitmap artwork NOT good for print work, and should be used in real care.

Q:How can I know the final design looks like?

A:An image of your artwork proof will created to you, which gives an idea how's your final job is look like.

Q:What kind of plastic cards do we do?

A:We do all major plastic card types.
Plastic Access Control Card, Plastic Affinity card, Plastic Barcode Card, Blank Plastic Cards, CR80 Plastic Card, Charge Plastic Card, Cheque guarantee card, Plastic Chip Card, Plastic City card, Plastic Combi Card, Plastic Company Card, Contactless Plastic Smart Card, Contact Plastic Smart Card, Credit Card, Debit Card, Digital Optical Laser Card, Electronic Purse (e-purse), e-wallet, Financial Plastic Hologram Card, Financial Plastic Cards (Other), Plastic Fuel card, Generic Plastic Card, Plastic Gift Card, Plastic Health Card, Hologram Plastic card, Hybrid Cards, IC Card, ID Card, Java Plastic Card, Key Plastic Card, Laser Engraved Cards, Plastic Loyalty Card, Plastic Magnetic Stripe Card, Plastic Membership Card ,Plastic Memory Card, Micro processor Card, Mifare Plastic Card, Multi-application Plastic Smart Card, Plastic Non-magnetic Card, Optical Plastic Card, Other Secure Card, PCMCIA Card, PETG Plastic Card, Photo ID card, PVC Card, Plastic Payment Card ,Pay TV Card, Phone Card, Polycarbonate Cards, Prepaid Card, Promotional Card, Protected Memory Card, Proximity Plastic Card , Radio Frequency Card (RFlD), Retailer (Store) Card, Scratch Plastic Card, Plastic Secure Card, Plastic SIM card, Single-application Smart Card, Smart Card/Contact Smart Card, Plastic Store card, Stored Value Card.

Popular plastic card options:

Q:How do I upload an entire design?

A:There are four different ways to use your artwork at Printingestore.

1) You can Upload your your artwork less than 4M online.

2) Upload your big artwork via FTP or our online java-based FTP component.

3) Send your artwork by mail to artwork@printingestore.com (20M attachment).

Q:What methods of payment do you accept?

A:We accept Bank Transfer as well as Paypal Payment.

Q:How to compress my artworks?

A: If you are using Windows XP, just follow the following steps: Select your artworks or folder and then right click. Highlight "Send To." Click on "Compressed (zipped) Folder." A compressed folder will be created containing the same name as the file you compressed. It will be represented by a zipper icon. If you are using other operation systems, please download WinZip from www.winzip.com, you can download a trial version for free.

Q:When does the turnaround time start?

A: Please note the turnaround does not start from when you first contact us, we need a short amount of time to discuss with you about your order, we require your confirmation on the artwork proof and payment before commencement.