26 Elements of Card Design
Backgrounds
Usethefollowingsuggestionstohelpyouselectabackgroundforaprofessional‐lookingcard.For
bestresults,makesurethatthebackgrounddesigndoesnotemphasizethelocationofcard
features,suchasembeddedelectronics.
 Considerusingawhitebackgroundforthecardtoachieveconsistentprofessionalresults.
 Considerusingsmallerblocksofcolor,patternedareas,orgradientstohighlightprintedcard
featuressuchasaname,photo,orlogo.
 Avoidusingasolid‐colorbackgroundoveralargeareaofthecard.Itcanshowflawsonthe
card(suchasanunevensurface)orthelocationofcardfeatures(suchasasmartcardchip).
Image Placement
Usethefollowingsuggestionstohelpyoulocateimportant
images,suchasaphoto,logo,orbarcode.Whenplacingimages ,
avoidunevenareasandareasofhighwear,whichcanresultin
inconsistentprintquality.
 Donotplaceanimportantimageonthefrontofthecardin
thesameareaasamagneticstripeorothermachine‐
readablefeature.Frequentuseofacardinareadercanwe ar
awaytheimageontheoppositesideofthecard.
 Donotplaceanimportantimagedirectlyontheoppositesideofasignaturepanel.Thiscan
causeresiduefromthesignaturepaneltointerferewithprintingonanadjacentcard.Place
theimageabove,below,ortothesideofthepanel.
 Donotplaceanimportantimagedirectlyontheoppositesideofasmartcardchip.Thecard
mightnotbeasflatinthatarea,andprintingvoidscanoccur.