PVC cards come in all sorts of looks — some glossy and reflective, some flatly matte, some with a rough, textured feel. Each surface finish has its own name, and chances are you carry examples of most of them around every day without a second thought. Here is a rundown of the six most common PVC card surface finishes, how each one is made, and where each works best.
Gloss PVC Cards
Hong Kong's Octopus card is the perfect example of a gloss PVC card — hold it under a light and a bright sheen forms across the surface. Gloss is the most common PVC finish, chiefly because it is the cheapest to produce. Bank cards, credit cards, ID cards and stored-value cards are all made on gloss PVC. The great thing about PVC is that it is waterproof, oil-resistant and tough — damaging one takes real effort. The Octopus is printed on a single side, but gloss cards can be printed double-sided too, and finished to order with extras such as embossed numbers or a signature panel.
Matte PVC Cards
Luxury and premium brands tend to reach for matte when producing product tags, membership cards, hotel key cards and the like. Because the surface of a matte PVC card does not reflect light, the whole thing reads as understated and refined — exactly what high-end brands are after. Matte is also our recommendation whenever a design is text-heavy, since the non-reflective surface never gets in the way of reading: think of the information on the back of a hotel key card, or the terms printed on a membership card. Matte takes foil stamping beautifully, too — there is no surface glare fighting with the foiled areas.
Transparent PVC Cards
One of the most popular Starbucks membership cards in Hong Kong is made on transparent PVC. As the photo above shows, it is actually semi-transparent rather than fully clear, and the artwork stays crisp and solid instead of washed-out — that is down to a white-ink underbase printed behind it. A white underbase does more than sharpen the artwork: it also stops the front design from showing through to the back, while still preserving the partly see-through effect. Laying down white ink is a must whenever a transparent PVC card is printed double-sided; skip it and the finished result looks poor.
Frosted PVC Cards
Frosted PVC is another common finish. Its surface has a distinctive rough texture — pick one up and you will want to run your thumb across it. Frosted cards are usually matte as well, so the finished product feels decidedly upmarket. Frosting comes in two grades, coarse and fine, with fine being the more common of the two. Coarse frosting has a very pronounced grain that interferes more with the printed artwork, so it asks more of the design. Fine frosting only reveals its texture on close inspection, so it barely affects the image.
Look closely at the two frosted cards above and you will notice their edges differ: the blue card on the right has a white edge, while the one on the left has a red edge. Does that mean the left card was printed on red PVC? Not at all — the one on the right is white PVC, and the one on the left is frosted transparent PVC. Its red edge comes from a special print sequence: red is printed on both sides of the frosted transparent card first, then white ink on both sides, and finally the artwork and foil stamping on top. That is what produces the glowing red edge. Want a blue edge instead? Print blue first, and so on.
Brushed PVC Cards
We have printed brushed PVC cards for plenty of companies. The most popular brushed colours are brushed silver, brushed rose gold, brushed gold and brushed black, and the finished effect mimics the grain of a real metal surface. Because genuine metal cards are so expensive — mostly premium pieces averaging from HKD 7 apiece — brushed PVC makes the best stand-in. It is also far lighter than metal, so you can keep a few in your wallet without adding much of a burden.
Gold & Silver Sand PVC Cards
Take a close look at a Bank of China ATM card and you will notice its surface has a sandy, grainy look while still feeling perfectly smooth to the touch. That is a silver-sand PVC card. Beyond gold and silver, the same effect can be achieved in other colours too. These cards are genuinely fun to look at: tilt one up and down and the surface glitters, like grains of sand on a beach catching the sun. Gold- and silver-sand PVC is often used for premium membership cards and VIP cards, giving the holder's status an extra lift.
Not sure which finish is right for your cards? We produce every one of these PVC surfaces and deliver across Hong Kong and Macau. WhatsApp us at +852 3001 5678 (English is fine) and we will help you match the finish to your design.