To really impress your potential clients, a clear plastic business card is the way to go! Silver foil is a great way to add extra elegance, making your business card an unforgettable way to present yourself and your company. Contact plasticprinters.com today to find out how you can get clear plastic business cards!


To learn more about plastic business cards go to plasticprinters.com or call 1.800.808.7472.

It's time to conclude our list of PlasticPrinters.com's Top 10 Plastic Business Card Design Tips! Here are a few last suggestions for designing outstanding, problem-free plastic card artwork. (Continued from Part 2.)

7. Avoid Very Small Type
Sometimes fine print is required for a card design, such as the disclaimer on the back of a gift card. But when it comes to important information, such as the contact information on a business card, be sure to keep your type from getting too small. Exactly how small is too small will vary depending on the design, fonts, and colors involved, not to mention the particular set of eyes trying to read the text. But in general it is probably best to keep your font size at least 7pt.

8. Avoid Thin, Light Type on Transparent Cards
Special consideration is required when designing for transparent stocks, especially when it comes to type. Small, light text, that may look good when printed on an opaque white background, becomes a lot more difficult to read on a transparent background. Gray text on satin-finish cards is a particularly problematic combination, and should be avoided if possible. If you want to use light-colored type (perhaps it is part of your logo), printing opaque white blocker behind it will help make it easier to read. Otherwise, consider darkening the color or making it as large and bold as possible.

9. Call Out Spot Colors
If your design uses specific Pantone colors, it is important to make sure it is clear what those colors are so that the correct inks will be used, or can be matched with CMYK inks.

10. Remove Elements That Do Not Print
Be sure that your artwork doesn't have any elements flattened into it that do not print in ink. This includes die lines, variable data, magnetic stripes, and embossing. If you need to include these elements in your artwork to show the placement, be sure they are on separate layers or are vector objects that can be easily removed from the art.

Thanks for reading PlasticPrinters.com's Top 10 Business Card Design Tips!


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To learn more about plastic business cards go to plasticprinters.com or call 1.800.808.7472.

PlasticPrinters.com's Top 10 Plastic Business Card Design Tips, Part 2 is now here! This week we continue with our tips for designing outstanding, problem-free plastic card artwork. (Continued from Part 1.)

Text as Font

4. Convert All Fonts to Outlines

Text as Outlines

When designing your art in a vector-based program, such as Illustrator or InDesign, one of the most beneficial things you can do is to convert all your fonts to outlines. This will ensure that all of your text will display properly on any computer, regardless of platform or fonts installed. To convert your fonts to outlines in Illustrator and InDesign, start by Selecting All (Ctrl + A). Then in the Type Menu, select Create Outlines (or Shift + Control + O). This extremely simple step saves everyone time and prevents a multitude of artwork issues.

5. Embed All Linked Files
When designing your art in Illustrator, it is possible to drop bitmap images (such as jpgs) into your artwork. But unless you embed these images into the document, they will merely be linked files. This means that if you save and send the Illustrator file and send it to someone else, linked files will be missing when they open the file. This requires that you also send the original jpgs (or tiffs, or pngs) along with the Illustrator file, to which the Illustrator file can then link. When you embed an image in Illustrator, it is now part of the Illustrator document and no longer requires being sent separately. To embed images, select the image, then click on the "embed" button on the Control Panel. Or, select the file in the Links panel, then choose "Embed Images" from the panel menu in the upper righthand corner.

6. Make Sure Images are 300 ppi
When submitting artwork that includes bitmap images such as jpg, tiff, or Photoshop files, it is vital that they are high resolution to ensure that they won't look pixellated or blurry when printed. Artwork for you card should be at least 300 pixels per inch (ppi), the recommended resolution for print. Bear in mind that simply scaling an image will change its resolution. Enlarging an image will lower the resolution, and vice versa. So be sure that your images are at least 300 ppi at the size they will appear on your card.

Good Resolution

Low Resolution

Check back soon for the final set of Top 10 Plastic Business Card Design Tips!
Return to Part 1.


To learn more about plastic business cards go to plasticprinters.com or call 1.800.808.7472.