Card design guidelines

Overview

This article describes the process and requirements for designing cards (physical, virtual, and digital) as well as the collateral that goes along with the physical card, such as paper carrier, packaging, and envelope.

For physical cards, we offers two different options:

• Standard
• Custom

The standard card has limited customization options but also takes less time to produce. These cards typically take six weeks from design approval to live production.

The custom card allows for almost unlimited customization options (for example, materials, texture, colors, design elements, and so on), but they also takes much longer to produce. Custom cards can take around 16 weeks from design approval to live production.

In order to go to market as quickly as possible, we recommend that you start with the standard card and transition to a custom card once your program is live.

Standard cards

Standard cards are produced using a method called Print-On-Demand (POD) which allows for fixed pricing per card and no minimum order size. Because the card stock used for POD is already held in inventory at the card printer, clients can get to market as quickly as possible.

When printing standard cards, clients can expect it to take roughly 3-4 weeks to ship cards to initial cardholders after the design is approved by the card printer. Standard cards are limited to the following:

• Card is white PVC plastic (that is, no color core, no metal cards, and so on).
• Back of the card must be solid black.
• Card is full gloss (that is, no special finishes like matte, varnish, and so on).
• Card cannot be personalized with engraving or a laser cut.

Custom cards

If you choose to go with custom printing, we will work with you and our card printing and fulfillment partners to clarify the pricing details specific to your design and your timeline.

Custom cards have a minimum purchase quantity and pricing depends on the specifics of your order. The all-in per-unit cost to print and ship a card to an end-customer can vary based on several variables, such as:

• Card stock material and color
• Personalization techniques
• Collateral/packaging
• Manual fulfillment of the card order
• Shipping fees

Design options and specifications

Card orientation

Cards can be oriented horizontally or vertically. The number of characters in the cardholder name field is limited by the card orientation as follows:

• Horizontal card—maximum of 26 characters
• Vertical card—maximum of 19 characters

Other card design specifications

Other Card Specifications can be found XXXXXXXXXXX here XXXXXXXX XXX.

Card information can be placed on the front or back of the card based on the guidelines in the following table.

Network branding guidelines and requirements

Mastercard

Mastercard symbol

The full-color Mastercard symbol must be present on the card front as described in Chapter 2 (page 64) of theMastercard Card Design Standards. The Mastercard premium brand mark can only be used with Bond’s consumer credit programs.

Further details are available in Bond’s Mastercard Design Guide.

Binocular or white glow/black shadow treatment

If the background does not provide sufficient contrast or visually interferes with the Mastercard symbol, a binocular treatment or a white glow or black shadow treatment can be used.

 

Mastercard debit silver hologram

The Mastercard debit silver hologram must be present on the back of a Debit Mastercard card. It can be positioned anywhere except behind the chip safety area. For more information, see page 111 in the Mastercard Card Design Standards manual.

Product Identifiers

For further details, see Mastercard design assets.

 

Visa

Staged vs. Non-staged

Staged—the blue Visa logo in the bottom right corner of the card is surrounded by a white “knockout box”. The Visa logo does not need to be included in your design file.

Non-Staged—the Visa logo must be white and printed on a colored card background. The Visa logo must be included in your card design and the printer will print it on the plastic at the time of personalization.

 

Acceptable and unacceptable card designs

Product Identifier

The "Debit" identifier must be placed directly above the Visa logo in all capital letters.

For further details, see:

• Visa Debit Card Design Standards
• Visa Debit Product Identifier Design Assets

Design file specifications

In order to proof your card design, our card printing vendor requires the design file to be shared in a specific format.
When creating your design file, adhere to the guidelines in the following table.

Collateral and packaging

Collateral refers to the material that gets shipped along with the physical card. Cards cannot be shipped alone, so it is typically affixed to a paper carrier and stuffed in an envelope to be mailed to your customer. Bond supports several different packaging options and will recommend standard or custom collateral depending on your budget and timeline.

Carriers

Carriers are standard 8.5”x11” paper, folded into thirds. The card is affixed to the right side of the middle panel, as indicated in the template layout.

For further details, see:

• Blank carrier with logo template
• Generic DI carrier template
• Custom Carrier Template

Envelope

The regular envelope is a standard, white #10 envelope. It has two windows through which you can see the address of the cardholder and the return address printed on the carrier.

Customizations to the envelope are limited to printing that can be done on the #10 white envelope. Custom carriers must be pre-purchased with a minimum volume order of 1,000.

For further details, see #10 2 window envelope.

Activation sticker

Activation stickers are useful for providing your customers with instructions on how to start using the card. Adding an activation sticker is optional.

Generic stickers can only have black text on a white background using a standard sans serif font, whereas custom stickers allow for both color and font customization.

For further details, see:

• EMV stickers generic templates
• EMV stickers examples

Custom packaging

Custom packaging for the card is available in many different forms. Most commonly, clients interested in designing custom packaging use our packaging vendor’s booklet, pop-up, or slider box dielines.

We’ll work with you and our packaging partner to design and create a custom package that will stand out and represent your brand. During this process, we’ll also provide guidance on pricing specific to your design and your timeline. Timelines for fulfillment vary depending on the complexity and level of customization desired.

For further details, see Custom packaging examples.

Digital and virtual card designs

A virtual card is one that is established primarily for ecommerce and/or mail order/telephone order purchases. A virtual card provides the account holder with the information necessary to complete a card-not-present purchase. A virtual card’s information is typically accessible and displayed in a mobile or web app.

A digital card is the representation of a card (virtual or physical) for use within digital services or a digital wallet (for example, your Apple Wallet).

Virtual card design requirements differ from a digital card held in a digital wallet. For requirements for card art used within digital environments and devices, see the following guides:

• Visa digital card art brand standards
• Visa virtual accounts brand standards (.pdf)
• Visa digital card design template
• Bond’s Mastercard design guide
• Mastercard card design standards