How to Design a Key Tag

What size is a key tag or key fob card?

Our plastic key tags, also called key fob cards, are 54 x 29mm, a third of the size of a standard 86 x 54mm card, and 760 microns thick, the same as a bank card. Each one has a 4mm hole at one end for a key ring, and we can supply metal split rings if you need them.

They’re solid PVC, printed in full colour on both sides at no extra cost. High Gloss is included, and Premium Matt is £20 +vat per order. The print is sealed under clear PVC, so it can’t scratch or wear off on a key ring.

1. Bleed. Backgrounds run 3mm past the edge, so the artwork is 60 x 35mm.
2. Trim. Where the tag is cut: 54 x 29mm.
3. Safe area. Keep all wording 3mm inside the edge.
4. The hole. 4mm across, centred top to bottom, its edge 5mm from the end.
5. Clear of the hole. We suggest keeping wording and codes about 3mm from the hole, as from an edge. The templates don’t mark this.
6. Clear space. Plain space either side of the bars, so a scanner can find them. With the hole kept clear, the bars and their clear space have about 39mm.
7. The number, printed under the bars, so it can be typed in if a scanner can’t read it.

Where does the hole go on a key tag?

At one end, centred top to bottom. The hole is 4mm across and its edge is 5mm from the end of the tag. On our templates it’s at the right-hand end of the front and the left-hand end of the back: the same hole, seen from each side.

• Treat the hole like an edge. The split ring runs through it and round that end, so nothing that has to be read belongs there. Our templates don’t mark a margin round the hole, so we suggest about 3mm, the same as the safe area at the edges. That leaves about 39 x 23mm on each side.
• Work it into the design. Colour or part of your logo can run right up to the hole, so it looks deliberate rather than punched. On the tags in the photo at the top of this page, it’s the middle of the flower.
• Landscape or portrait. Most tags read across, the way our templates are set up, but a side can read upright with the hole at the top, as on some of our key tag examples. Tell us which way up each side goes, and check it on your proof.

Why do the long edges of a key tag need care?

Because key tags are printed three up, one above the other, with the long edges of each tag meeting the next. A design that runs off a long edge bleeds onto the next tag, and as cutting can move by around 1mm, a thin line of the next tag’s colour can show.

The answer is the same colour at both long edges, such as one background colour all over, so any overlap can’t be seen. Stripes and pictures are fine inside the tag: it’s what touches the long edges that has to match.

Our bleed help for key tags shows three real designs, and there’s a short video of key tags printed three up.

What goes on a loyalty key tag?

Your logo and name on the front, and the barcode or number your system scans on the back. That’s usually all a 54 x 29mm tag has room for, so put addresses, opening hours and terms on a full-size card, or on a web page behind a QR code.

A card design shrunk to tag size rarely works: the text gets too small to read and a detailed logo loses its detail. Design the tag as a small job of its own.

Four layouts that work

The businesses are made up, and the QR code is an illustration that won’t scan.

Text sizes on a small tag

• Nothing below 6pt, where capital letters are about 1.5mm tall.
• Numbers at 10pt or more, so they can be read at a glance and typed in if a scanner fails.
• A plain sans-serif such as Arial for small text, and no more than two fonts.
• Bold white text on a dark background, because light weights look faint at small sizes.

Our guide to font sizes on plastic cards shows each size to scale.

Too much, or just enough?

Can a key tag have a barcode or QR code?

Yes, either or both, on either side. Keep a barcode’s number short, because a tag is only 54mm long and the hole takes up one end. A QR code should be at least 15 x 15mm, which fits the height of the tag.

How long can a barcode be on a key tag?

Take the 3mm safe area off one end of the 54mm tag, and the hole and the 3mm we suggest keeping clear round it off the other, and about 39mm is left for the bars and the clear space at each end. The table is a cautious guide to what fits there, not a limit. It uses a narrowest bar of 0.25mm and clear space of 10 bars each side, the rule of thumb on our free barcode generator.

Code 128 packs digits in pairs, so it suits a longer number, though an odd number of digits takes extra room: 18 digits fit, but 17 don’t. Code 39 is the most popular type on our cards and the most widely supported, but at 0.25mm bars about 6 characters fit along a key tag. Ask your till or software supplier which type it reads before you choose.

• Bars at least 10mm tall, black on a white box, never red, orange or yellow, which most scanners can’t see. Premium Matt has no glare, so it scans more easily than High Gloss.
• The number underneath, so it can be typed in if the scanner can’t read it.
• Across the end, as on the back in the photo, there’s room for a short number only, such as the 4 digits shown there, with the clear space running out to the edges.
• Need a longer number? A barcode can be any size, and finer bars fit more than the table shows, if your scanner reads them. Ask us, and test it with a postal proof.

Our guides to adding a barcode to a loyalty card and barcodes on plastic cards go further.

QR codes on a key tag

We recommend a QR code at least 15 x 15mm, in black on a white square with a border of 4 squares all round. On a 29mm tag, that leaves room beside it for a short line.

• Keep what it holds short. A long web address makes the squares smaller and harder to scan.
• The same code on every tag goes into your artwork at no extra cost. A different code on each tag is printed from your Excel file.
• Phone cameras vary, and we can’t test every handset. Print your email proof at actual size to check it, and if the code must scan on customers’ phones, add a postal proof.

Make one with our free QR code generator, or see QR code or barcode to choose between them.

Can each key tag have its own number?

Yes. Give us a start number and the tags run on from it, 0001, 0002 and so on, or send the exact numbers in an Excel file. Names, barcodes and QR codes can change from tag to tag in the same way. Printed numbers are normally in Arial or Times New Roman, at any size and in any CMYK colour.

• Format the column as Text before you type or paste, or Excel drops leading zeros and turns long numbers into scientific notation.
• One row per tag, with a printed number and its barcode in separate columns of the same row.
• Locker tags can run in split ranges, such as 1 to 120 and 201 to 320, with the number on both sides so it reads whichever way the tag hangs.
• A card and a tag for the same person should carry the same number, so either one finds the same account.

Our guide to numbered plastic cards covers number formats and re-orders.

Key tag, full-size card or combo card?

A key tag suits people who carry keys more often than a wallet, when the scheme only needs a logo and a barcode or number. A full-size card suits a scheme that needs more on it, such as terms and contact details, or a magnetic strip, which isn’t available on key tags or combo cards. A combo card gives people both a card and a tag.

Combo cards

A combo card is a full-size 86 x 54mm card and a 54 x 29mm key tag printed in one piece, which the holder snaps apart: the card goes in a wallet and the tag on their keys. Combo cards are 680 microns thick, slightly slimmer than a standard card, so the parts separate cleanly.

Design the tag as its own small job, with a simple version of your logo, the scheme name and the barcode. Both parts are printed in full colour on both sides, from the combo card templates on our artwork guides page.

1. The join. The holder snaps the tag off here.
2. The hole, at the top of the tag, for a key ring.
3. The same number on the card and the tag, so either one scans to the same account.

If only some of your members want both, we can quote a combo run and separate cards and key tags, so you can compare.

What are key tags used for?

Anything that’s scanned, checked or handed back often, by people who have their keys with them. The usual ones:

Which extras can a key tag have?

A key tag can have barcodes, QR codes, numbering and personalisation, a signature panel and embossing. You choose the finish, and we supply metal split rings on request. Magnetic strips, metallic foiling and metallic base cards aren’t available on key tags or combo cards. RFID chips aren’t offered on key tags either, because holes aren’t available on RFID cards, so for RFID door entry, choose a full-size RFID card.

Full details of each are on our optional extras page.

How do I send key tag artwork?

Start from our key tag templates, front and back, in Photoshop or PDF, on our artwork guides page. They’re set up at 60 x 35mm with the hole in place.

• CMYK, with pictures at 600 dpi and fonts converted to outlines.
• Black as C0 M0 Y0 K100 for text and backgrounds, for a deep black rather than the muddy black an RGB file converts to.
• The front and back as separate files, with no crop marks or outline of the tag.
• Leave the space for numbers and barcodes that change from tag to tag, and send a PDF visual showing where they go. We add them from your Excel file.

No artwork? Our design service lays out your key tag from your logo and wording for £29 +vat, with no limit on reasonable changes. If you send your own, our artwork check is free. If something technical is wrong, such as the size, the bleed or the colour mode, we tell you what and why. You can correct it and send it again at no charge, or we’ll put it right for £10 +vat. We don’t check the wording or spelling, so read those carefully on your proof.

From quote to delivery

1. QuoteEmail sales@cpcards.co.uk or use our quote form. We aim to reply within 10 minutes, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
2. ProofWe email a free photorealistic proof of both sides, so you can check the layout and wording. The colours on the proof are a guide only, because every screen shows colour differently.
3. Test, if you need toAdd a postal proof to your order to scan real tags on your own system: £65 +vat, around 5 working days.
4. PrintYour tags are printed in 7 working days from proof approval and payment. Express takes 3 to 4 working days: ask us for cost and availability.

A postal proof is a few real key tags printed to the final spec. Most customers don’t add one, but it’s the way to test a barcode on your own scanner. If a colour has to be right, add a postal proof. A revised one is £35 +vat. Our postal proof page explains how it works.

How much do printed key tags cost?

Key tags start at £98.00 +vat for 25, and combo cards at £224.00 +vat for 25. The price per tag falls as the quantity goes up, because much of the work in an order is the same whatever the quantity.

Full colour on both sides, from one design printed from your print-ready artwork. Prices exclude VAT and optional extras such as numbering and barcodes, which are priced on your quote. Need a different quantity? Ask us for a quote.