Cards

1. How it looks

The design of the card is essential to attract customers. You want it to be visually appealing and stand out when someone looks at it. And it’s important to be able to design and embellish it in a way that corresponds to your brand or industry. Use decorative techniques like embossing, foiling, debossing, and others. You can have all of this when you pick a quality paperboard.

Gift cards and contactless cards can come in many looks. That’s the great thing about them. And when they are made from quality paperboard, you have a broad range of decorative means to choose from, like printed illustrations and photographs, embossing, lamination or hot foil stamping. Skilful printing and converting techniques enhance product appeal and contribute to the message.

2. What it should do

Gift cards and contactless cards must be up to their task. The cards are often used over long periods of time, so it’s a must that they are strong and durable. While at the same time continuing to look fresh and appealing.

To protect the card from physical damage throughout all stages a strong, tough, flat and stable paperboard is required. Folded cards require durable creases. Protection of the motif and the written text from fading or yellowing is vital. The use of fresh fibres, together with selected coating ingredients, ensures good light stability. A smooth surface provides easy handling and good rub and abrasion resistance, thereby preserving the graphical presentation and the writing.

3. How it’s manufactured

Producing the cards starts with high-quality paperboard of the preferred thickness. The board is printed and converted depending on the customer's specifications. The most common finish would be varnish to protect the surface or give it a glossy or matt surface. Varnish and spot varnish can also be used to highlight specific features in the design or create a ‘soft-touch’ surface. The design can be altered further with, for example, foiling and embossing or debossing.

A flat, stable, dust-free paperboard is required to obtain efficiency in printing and conversion. Good absorption and drying properties and good cutting, creasing and gluing properties are important. That ensures high quality and minimises process stoppages and material waste. Multi-step processing may be needed for cards with exclusive and advanced designs, requiring good dimensional stability and exact sheet squareness.

4. How sustainable is it

Plastic gift cards or contactless cards are often made from fossil fuels - the same source as oil and petroleum. It can’t be recycled or composted. This means plastic gift cards are bad for the environment when manufactured and as waste products.

Cards made from paperboard offer the same capabilities but drastically lower your carbon footprint and overall sustainability efforts.  

Paperboard cards are produced using 100 per cent natural materials and are therefore fully recyclable and biodegradable. Plastics like PVC only decompose upon burning and emit toxic vapours in the process. This is a strong argument for giving up plastic smart cards.

Increasingly, the chip and the antenna are made from recyclable material, for example using connected ink on a cellulose basis.

5. How it fits into your strategic supply chain

When you decide on paperboard for gift cards or contactless cards, you must ensure it will work within your total supply chain. And that covers every step, from manufacturing and transportation to warehousing and points of sale.

If you source the paperboard yourself, you need to ensure that the provider has the right resources and program management to have a complete supply chain, both on regional and global levels. And if you work with a converter, make sure they are familiar with paperboard for cards and understand the many possibilities for the finished cards.