Using AI to Design Your Card Artwork

AI image tools are brilliant for getting a design idea fast. The problem is the image that comes out the other end is built for a screen, not for a 0.76mm sheet of PVC running through a printer. Most AI-generated artwork we receive looks great and is completely unprintable as-is.

Here's how to use AI properly so what you send us is something we can actually print, not just something that looks nice on your phone.

Why AI artwork usually gets rejected

- **Wrong shape.** AI tools default to square or A4-style images, not a card-shaped rectangle.

- **Wrong resolution.** A "high quality" 1024x1024px image is low-res once it's stretched across a card and printed - it'll come out soft or pixelated.

- **Wrong colour mode.** AI images are built in RGB, for screens. Print uses CMYK. Bright neons, deep blues and vivid greens often shift noticeably when converted - that's physics, not us being fussy.

- **No bleed or safe margin.** Nothing in the image accounts for trimming. Anything important near the edge risks being cut off.

- **Fake text.** Ask an AI for "a card with LOYALTY written on it" and you'll usually get warped, misspelled gibberish. AI still can't reliably render real text.

- **Compressed exports.** Most free AI tools only let you download a watermarked or compressed preview. That compression shows up badly once printed.

None of this means don't use AI. It means use it for the artwork and leave the technical setup to us.

Step 1: Tell the AI the exact shape and size

Standard cards are 85.6mm x 54mm - a 1.585:1 ratio, wider than a credit card looks face-on. Prompt to use:
"Create the image at a 1.585:1 landscape aspect ratio, like a credit card. Fill the entire frame edge to edge - no border, no frame, no rounded corners, no drop shadow."

Don't ask the AI to "design a credit card" or "design a loyalty card" - it'll draw you a little 3D mockup of a card sitting on a table. You want the artwork itself, not a picture of a card.

**[Paul - insert your exact print spec here, e.g. final trim size, bleed allowance, DPI, accepted file formats, so I can put real numbers in instead of a placeholder.]**

## Step 2: Keep anything important away from the edges

AI tools have no idea your card gets trimmed after printing. Tell it directly:

> "Keep all text, logos and important details at least 5mm in from every edge. Background colour, pattern or texture can run to the edge."

## Step 3: Describe the vibe properly

The difference between a vague prompt and a useful one:


**Weak:** "Make me a loyalty card design" **Better:** "Design a flat, minimalist loyalty card background. Style: modern, clean, geometric. Colours: deep teal (#005F6B) and warm gold accents on a white background. A subtle wave pattern across the bottom third. Plenty of empty space top-left for a logo. No text or numbers anywhere in the image."


Always give the AI: 1. **Style words** - minimalist, vintage, luxe, playful, corporate, hand-drawn, geometric, botanical 2. **Exact colours** - hex codes if you have a brand palette, or specific names ("forest green and cream", not "nice greens") 3. **What to leave empty** - tell it where your logo, name, barcode or magstripe needs to sit, and tell it to keep that area clear 4. **What to leave out** - "no text", "no logos", "no people", "no card mockup", "no drop shadow or 3D effect"


## Step 4: Never let the AI generate your real text Logos, business names, numbers, barcodes - add these separately in proper design software, or send us the background image with clear written instructions on exactly what text needs adding and where. We won't use text baked into an AI image - the fonts, spelling and spacing aren't something we can fix afterwards.


## Step 5: Download the largest file you can
Whatever tool you're using, look for "download original", "high resolution" or "upscale" before saving. Don't screenshot a preview. PNG over JPEG where you have the choice - it doesn't compress the image and throw away quality.

## Checklist before you send it over

- Image fills the frame - no card mockup, no rounded corners or shadow baked in
- Aspect ratio close to 1.585:1, landscape
- Highest resolution export available, PNG preferred
- No AI-generated text, numbers or logos in the image
- Important detail kept away from the edges
- Colours described in hex codes or specific names, not "vibrant" or "punchy"

## What happens once we receive it
Send us your AI-generated background, your logo (vector file if you have one), and the exact wording you need adding. Our design team sets it up correctly for print - sizing, bleed, colour conversion and text placement included. If what you've sent is too low-res to print cleanly, we'll tell you before we go any further, not after the cards are made.


## Quick questions
**Can I just send you the AI image and let you sort the rest?**

Yes. Send us the highest resolution version you can get, plus your logo and exact wording. We'll handle the technical setup.

**Will my colours print exactly as they look on screen?**
Close, but not identical. Screens use RGB light, print uses CMYK ink, and the two don't match perfectly - especially with very bright or neon shades. We'll flag it if a colour is likely to shift noticeably.

**Can the AI add my business name or logo directly into the image?**

Don't let it. AI-generated text is unreliable and we can't edit it once it's part of the image. Send your logo and wording separately and we'll place it properly.

A Quick Note About AI-Generated Artwork for Plastic Card Printing

More and more customers are sending us designs created with AI tools — and honestly, a lot of them look fantastic. The problem is that AI image generators have no idea your design is going on a plastic card, so the files almost always arrive in the wrong format for print. Here's why, and what we do about it.

Why AI Artwork Usually Isn't Print-Ready

AI design tools are built for screens, not printing presses. That means the files they produce typically have three issues:


Wrong size and shape — AI tools generate square or arbitrary-sized images, not the precise dimensions of a credit-card-sized plastic card. We have to resize and reshape the design to fit, which can shift or crop important elements if we're not careful.


No bleed — Printed cards need extra artwork around the edges (called "bleed") that gets trimmed off during cutting. This guarantees there's no thin white line round the edge if the cut is a fraction of a millimetre out. AI-generated images are flat, finished pictures with nothing extra to give — there's no bleed to extend, so we have to create it artificially.


Wrong colour format (RGB instead of CMYK) — Screens display colour using RGB (red, green, blue light). Printing presses use CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black ink). AI tools only ever output RGB. Converting to CMYK can shift colours noticeably — particularly with bright greens, vivid blues, and rich purples, which often look duller or different once converted.


The Trickiest Bit: Dark and Black Backgrounds
If your AI artwork has a black or very dark background, or a moody photo where the subject blends into shadow, that's the hardest type of file to convert. Pure black on screen (RGB 0,0,0) doesn't translate directly to pure black in CMYK printing of C0 M0 Y0 K100 — getting a rich, even black across a large background area takes careful adjustment, or you can end up with patchy, washed-out, or slightly brown-looking "black" once printed. Where a dark subject blends into a dark background, that blend can shift unevenly during conversion, sometimes losing definition that was visible on screen.

We can usually fix this, but it takes more time than a standard file, and on rare occasions a small amount of contrast or detail is lost in the process.

What We Do With Your Artwork

When your file comes in, we:
Resize and reshape it to the exact card dimensions and bleed requirements

Convert the colour profile from RGB to CMYK

Check and correct the resulting colours, especially in dark or black areas

Send you a proof showing exactly what will be printed, so there are no surprises

How You Can Help Us Help You

Send us the file as early as possible — colour correction on tricky artwork takes longer than a standard print-ready file.

Tell us if you're open to small adjustments — sometimes a slightly different background tone prints far more reliably than pure black

Always check your proof carefully — colours on your screen (RGB) will never look 100% identical to the printed card (CMYK); this is a limitation of print, not an error on our part

If in doubt, ask us first — we're happy to look at your AI-generated design before you finalise it and flag anything likely to cause printing issues

We're not precious about how a design gets made — AI, Photoshop, by hand, doesn't matter to us. We just want to make sure what ends up in your hand looks as close as possible to what you had in your head.