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Physical Cards
Highnote offers multiple options for designing and printing physical cards for account holders. You can choose from the following physical card options:
- On-demand cards: On-demand cards are traditional plastic cards. They have lower upfront costs, are printable on-demand, and support ordering one-off cards.
- Premium cards: Premium cards are premium plastic or metal cards. They are highly customizable, with unique printing and design options.
The following table provides an overview of the differences between on-demand and premium cards:
| On-demand | Premium | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing structure | Pay-as-you-go | Pay in bulk |
| Minimum quantity requirements | No | Yes |
| Program setup time | Fast | Average |
| Material options | Limited | Extensive |
| Print quality | Good | Best |
On-demand and premium cards have different materials, printing, and design options. The following table outlines the differences in customization options for each card type:
| On-demand plastic | Premium plastic | Premium metal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Material and printing methods | Digital printing | Offset (Litho printing), silkscreen, digital printing | embedded metal, metal veneer lite, metal veneer, metal hybrid, ceramic metal, full metal |
| Design options | Matte and glossy materials, foil | Colored core, decorated edge, colored mag stripe, matte and glossy varnishes, 3D effects, hot stamping, holograms, metallic ink, foil, special inks, textures, translucent plastic, sustainable cards | Mechanical engraving, laser engraved personalization, knock-out capability, raised matte and glossy varnishes, metallic foils, 24k gold, crystal and/or diamond embedding available on higher-end cards |
Card art templates are used to help guide you with your card design. Highnote provides specific card art templates based on your card product's card network, vertical (prepaid, debit, credit, etc.), and Partner Bank.
Contact the Highnote implementations team for access to a card art template for your card product.
Card art must follow specific guidelines for approval by Highnote and Partner Banks. Some guidelines apply to all virtual cards, while others apply only to cards issued using Visa or Mastercard. Refer to general and card network-specific guidelines when designing card art.
When designing your card art, we recommend keeping designs simple. Here are some general recommendations for card designs:
- Keep personalization on the back.
- Opt for simple, distraction-free backgrounds.
- Provide white space around your logo for readability.
- Premium cards allow you to move holograms and signature panels anywhere on the card.
Personalization tips:
Background tips:
Logo tips:
Keep the following general guidelines in mind when designing physical cards:
- On-demand cards are printed in Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (CMYK). Designing in RGB may cause inaccurate colors during printing.
- Premium cards are printed in CMYK or Pantone Matching System (PMS). Designing in RGB may cause inaccurate colors during printing.
- Black should be set to
C=0, M=0, Y=0, K=100. - The front and back of your card design may be either horizontal or vertical.
- The minimum type size is 6pt for optimal legibility.
- Avoid border designs that follow the edge of the card.
- Keep logos and text 3/32” away from the edges of the card and from required elements, for example, the card’s magnetic stripe, hologram, and signature panel.
Personalization
Card personalization refers to a card’s dynamic content. Personalization may be on the front or back of the card, in any combination. Personalization includes:
- Cardholder name
- Business name (optional)
- Primary Account Number (16-digit card number)
- Expiration date
Typefaces
The following typefaces are allowed for card personalization. Typefaces not listed here are prohibited:
- Arial
- Arial Narrow
- Century Gothic
- Courier New
- Forza Book
- Forza Medium
- Helvetica Neue LT Std
- OCR-B
- Myriad Pro
- Open Sans (Only supports uppercase letters)
- Open Sans Light
- Trade Gothic LT Std
- Univers LT Std 47 Condensed Light
- Univers LT Std 57 Condensed
On-demand cards have specific guidelines that must be followed when designing and submitting card art. Refer to the following card art guidelines for on-demand cards:
| Card element | Guideline |
|---|---|
| Card art file | You must submit card art in vector or high-resolution format. Do not send flat card art files. The printer needs the correct stacking order for all elements on the card. |
| File size | File size should be 3.5x2.24” at a minimum of 300 DPI |
| Font size | Set font size at 6 pt or larger to ensure optimal legibility, if under 6 pt it may not be legible when printed. |
| Fonts | Outline all fonts and change editable text to non-editable format. This ensures compatibility with machines that don't support specific fonts. Card personalization elements require the use of specific fonts. For a list of card personalization fonts, see Card personalization guidelines. |
The following guidelines apply to card products issued on the Mastercard network:
| Card element | Guideline |
|---|---|
| Mastercard branding/logo | Required on the front of the card. If your card art does not provide contrast with the Mastercard logo, you must add a binocular (white, black, halo) logo. There must be 4mm of clear space around the Mastercard logo. |
| "Debit" product identifier | Required for consumer debit and prepaid cards |
| "Business debit" product identifier | Required for commercial debit and prepaid cards |
| Contactless icons | Must be at least 4.5mm tall and 3mm away from card edges and elements. It must be oriented the same way as the Mastercard logo and face to the right. Contactless icons can be on the front or the back of the card. |
| Cardholder name | Required on front or back of card |
| 16-digit Mastercard PAN | Required on the front or back of the card |
| Expiration date | Required on front or back of card |
| CVC | Required on the back of the card |
| Customer service contact information (URL and phone number) | Required on the back of the card |
| Issuing statement | Required on the back of the card |
| Hologram | Required on the back of the card |
| Program code | Each card product is assigned a program code from Mastercard. Each code has an associated card design requirement supplied by Mastercard. For more information, contact your Highnote implementations team. |
The following guidelines apply to card products issued on the Visa network:
| Card element | Guideline |
|---|---|
| Visa logo | Required on the front of the card. There must be 3mm of clear space around the Visa logo. |
| "Fleet" product identifier | Required on the front of the card for fleet card products |
| Competing network brand marks | Prohibited when there is personalization printed on the card back |
| Contactless icons | Must be at least 4.5mm tall and 3mm away from all card edges and elements. It must be orientated the same way as the network logo and face to the right. |
| Cardholder name | Required on the front or back of the card |
| 16-digit Visa PAN | Required on the front or back of the card |
| Expiration date | Required on the front or back of the card |
| CVC | Required on the back of the card |
| Customer support contact information (URL and phone number) | Required on the back of the card |
| Issuing statement | Required on the back of the card |
| Hologram | Required on the back of the card |
Card personalization refers to a card’s dynamic content. Personalization may be on the front or back of the card, in any combination. Personalization includes:
- Cardholder name
- Business name (optional)
- Primary Account Number (16-digit card number)
- Expiration date
The following typefaces are supported for card personalization. Typefaces not listed here are prohibited:
- Arial
- Arial Narrow
- Century Gothic
- Courier New
- Forza Book
- Forza Medium
- Helvetica Neue LT Std
- OCR-B
- Myriad Pro
- Open Sans CAPS (only supports uppercase letters)
- Open Sans Light
- Trade Gothic LT Std
- Univers LT Std 47 Condensed Light
- Univers LT Std 57 Condensed
Card design is subject to approval by both Highnote and the sponsor bank as outlined in Marketing and Collateral. When you are ready to submit the final artwork, send files to collateral-review@highnote.com.
Before submitting your design file, adhere to the following guidelines:
| Requirement | Description |
|---|---|
| Size | At least 3.5” x 2.24“ at a minimum of 300 DPI |
| Color profile | CMYK |
| Layered artwork | Put each design element in a separate layer, do not submit flat artwork |
| Fonts | All fonts must be outlined to ensure compatibility with all printers and devices |
| Images | All images must be embedded |
We accept the following file formats for card art. If sending an editable file format, please also send a reference image with your intended design.
- Adobe Illustrator
.epsor.ai - Print quality
.pdf - High quality
.jpg
You can design and customize packaging materials to send your cards to account holders. The following packaging material options are available for all card types:
- Mailers
- Burgopak sliders
- Customized packaging
Warning: Your bank partner may have special requirements, for example, around "Member FDIC" language. Also, some partners require that you include the term, "Powered by Hightnote". Contact the Highnote Implementation team for help with your requirements.
When using a mailer, cards are sent to account holders in envelopes within a trifold insert. You can customize mailers to match your brand. Refer to the following guidelines for customizing mailers:
- Mailers are printed on white paper stock with 3/16” whitespace on all edges
- Do not support bleeds
- Use vector and PDF file types
- White knockouts are added in the address area
To create your mailer, contact the Highnote implementations teams for a mailer template.
The following graphic is an example of the front of a mailer insert inside an envelope:
The following graphic is an example of a full mailer insert:
The card ordering process involves submitting your card design and approving several proofs during the manufacturing process. The card ordering process differs depending on whether you are ordering an on-demand or premium card.
The typical card ordering process for on-demand cards is as follows:
- Finalized card design received from card program
- Design approved by card manufacturer
- Card program receives proof from card manufacturer
- Card program approves proof
- Card network approval
- Quality assurance (QA)
- Pre-product order notification sent
- Program live
The following lead and shipping timelines are estimates only. Timelines are subject to change depending on material availability and shipping.
Lead times refer to the timeline in which specific steps in the card order process take place. Shipping timelines are based on the shipping method used to ship cards to account holders. Lead and shipping timelines are subject to change.
For more information on shipping methods for both on-demand and premium cards, see Shipping Methods.
Typical lead and shipping times for on-demand cards are as follows:
- Proof creation: Two days from receiving the card design in the correct format
- Brand approval: About two to five days from submission
- Card manufacturing: About one week after proof creation, cards are printed on same day on-demand
- Activation labels: One week
- Processing: 48-hour SLA after receiving the card file
- Expedited processing: You can use Same Day expedited processing to process cards if the card file is submitted by the cut off time of 8 AM Pacific Standard Time (PST). To use this option, you must use the
SAME_DAYShipping Enum. Additional fees apply to Same Day processing options. Contact support@highnote.com for more information.