We thought this satin black plastic card looked impressive due to the subtle effect the gloss black print gives.

The gloss black can only be seen clearly when the card is angled correctly in the light.

If you click on the image below it should open as an animation in a new window.

A satin black plastic card printed with gloss black and metallic gold

Some plastic card examples

I am planning on writing a few different blogs surrounding bar codes and magnetic strips as customers often have queries in relation to this area. Due to other time commitment this will have to be done one step at a time. I am proposing to investigate both the advantages and disadvantages of magnetic strips and barcodes as these are often used in conjunction with plastic cards (membership cards, loyalty cards, key cards etc). Barcodes and magnetic strips are not often used with business cards however sometimes customers want their business cards to look as much like credit cards as possible, in these cases we can put a magnetic strip on the cards and also emboss text on the cards.

Generic advantages of barcodes/magnetic strips have been mentioned in a previous blog, just to refresh examples of benefits include storing relevant customer information to help with future membership offers or subscriptions, generally understanding your customers and the prompting of when a customer needs to re-new membership subscriptions. . There are lots and lots of benefits to installing a recording system/software package to monitor members. Unfortunately I am  unable to comment  further at the moment on software packages as this is quite an in-depth area and there are hundreds of packages on the market. I would suggest having a good search around the interest and contact a few companies to find out what is best for your company. As mentioned above I will however look to post some information surrounding the actual magnetic strips and barcodes.

Suggested future blogs (although this may change once I begins!):

What are barcodes
What are magnetic strips
Advantages of magnetic strips for loyalty / membership schemes in conjunction with loyalty cards, membership cards.
Disadvantages of magnetic strips for loyalty / membership schemes in conjunction with loyalty cards, membership cards.
Advantages of barcodes for loyalty / membership schemes in conjunction with loyalty cards, membership cards and key cards
Disadvantages of barcodes for loyalty / membership schemes in conjunction with loyalty cards, membership cards and key cards

Watch this space!

Some plastic card examples

Last week it was brought to my attention that a plastic card company based in China has stolen images from our website to include on their website.

I found it rather odd, that a plastic card company would do this, as you would think that they would have their own plastic cards to hand to photograph and add to their website, but obviously not!

Maybe they are conning people?

We have sent them several polite emails asking them to remove our images from their website but as yet they have not done this. I very much doubt that they will.

The funny thing is, one one of the pictures, it is my own hand holding the card, so at least I can prove it is my picture – “look, those are my finger prints!”

Be warned!!!

Some plastic card examples

We received a phone call today from a customer requiring membership cards, they were a little unsure as to what method to use to actually store customers details on their computer system. Although we do not currently sell these packages we advised the customer that they have a few things to consider namely:

- Did they want to use barcode or magnetic strips (we advised the customer to look at the advantages and disadvantages of both these methods independently and advised that a search of the internet may assist them)
- They will need to purchase both software and hardware (some companies will offer all all in one package or it may be more cost effective to order the items separately)
- The hardware will allow the card to physically be scanned and information transferred to the companies computer system
- The software will enable the data on the customer to be managed e.g. points attached for a loyalty scheme or number of times the member has visited the organization/club.

We hope that providing information such as the above will help customers, as even though we do not currently sell these products, we like to be able to offer advice where we can.

Future blogs on the advantages and disadvantages of bar codes and magnetic strips may be posted (work load permitting). Watch this space!

Some plastic card examples

We had an enquiry today regarding keycards from a potential new customer. They had been to numerous websites, shopping around for as usual the best price, not necessarily the best product or the best product for the price (guess the best value for money.)

They had found some very cheap keycards from one of our competitors. However, once we pointed out that this cheap keycard product was not a solid plastic card (which ours is) but instead it is a paper core with plastic on the outside – we got the order, despite being more expensive.

It just goes to show that you have to be careful with what you order, as not all products are the same, even if at first they appear the same. Our keycards are printed onto a white plastic with a clear pvc bonded to each side to protect the print. Some companies print onto paper then laminate clear plastic to the outside which results in a lower quality keycard which can become dog-eared, can de laminate and if it gets wet it can fall apart!

I have seen what a keycard with a paper core looks like after it has been on a metal keyring with keys in someones pocket for a couple of weeks – it doesn’t look good.

Some plastic card examples

Business cards come in many shapes and sizes, but to make the right impression they do need to conform to a pre conceived image of quality. The tried and tested plastic business card will usually stand out from the crowd in it’s own unique way, If the design is of above average quality the plastic business card will actually float into the air and perform a loop the loop, followed by a barrel roll then even allow it’s lesser paper based business cards to “wing walk”. It is really quite amazing the tricks Mr plastic business card can perform. Business cards may be semi transparent, which can lead to wondrous sleights of hand and unbelievable manipulations one would not believe possible. Business cards are so amazing that they can even appear on Facebook, which is now believed to be the latest advertising tool to pop up on the interweb. Colour Plastic Cards business cards would really benefit from news blogs, then they could witter on about all sorts of nonsensical ideas just for fun. The Business card is a very strange beast, but one which Richard Attenbrough hasn’t yet filmed.

Some plastic card examples

I always love it when we get repeat work for business cards from customers. Especially like the customer today who last ordered his business cards from us in April 2003 – blimey 6 years ago and they remember who they ordered their business cards from!

We get repeat orders of business cards every day of the week from our many happy customers but usually, the last time they ordered business cards is within the last 12 months or so.

Luckily, we keep the business card artwork on file for all our customers which makes it as easy as possible for customers to make repeat business card orders.

Some plastic card examples

Recently we have experienced more orders for plastic cards to be used as business cards. Plastic cards do generally cost more than a normal card based business card but the image it portrays is worth every penny.

As well as plastic cards we print more normal business cards which are our full colour matt laminated business cards.

We offer a fantastic design service, which on some of our plastic cards, is included free of charge.

All you need to do is email the details you would like on your card with any specific requirements.

You can even email a rough design you have created to us for us to base the final design on.

Some plastic card examples