Physical cards are set up with your Lightspark contact as part of card
program onboarding. The Cards API issues virtual cards; see
Issuing cards.
What you choose and what is fixed
Card body
Cards print on white card stock. Any color, gradient, or artwork prints edge to edge on both faces in CMYK, and the card edge is white. A black-core body is also available for black cards.- White stock: the standard body. Any color or artwork on the front; the same color continues on the back. The stripe band runs to the top edge of the back. Best for brand colors, gradients, and photographic or illustrated artwork.
- Black core: black plastic through the card, so the edge is black. Personalization prints in white, and the logo prints in white or in one spot color (give us the Pantone number). Finishes: matte, gloss, or satin. Best for a black or one-color brand.
Canvas
Work on a 1536 × 969 px artboard. It has the proportions of an ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1 card, and it is also the size Visa requires for digital wallet art, so one file serves both.
Keep the artboard’s corners square. The manufacturer cuts the corners;
preview them at 57 px if you want to see the result. Run backgrounds past the
card edge to give the cut bleed; the bleed amount depends on the
manufacturer’s press, and we confirm it with your proof. Anything that must
stay legible (logos, text) stays inside a 54 px (3 mm) safe margin.
The templates at the top of this page carry every guide in
this figure as a layer.
Front
The front carries your brand and the chip. Nothing else.- Chip: the module sits at (152, 324) and measures 236 × 164 px. It is embedded after printing, so nothing prints over it. Keep the zone from x 107 to 415 and y 279 to 533 clear of logos and text; background color and artwork may run through it.
- Logo: the samples put it right of the chip, centered on the chip’s mid-line (y 406), with its right edge 152 px from the card edge, 90 px tall. A larger mark, a centered mark, or a bleeding watermark all work if they stay out of the chip zone and legible parts stay inside the safe margin.
- Artwork: photographs, gradients, and patterns are fine on white stock. Supply vector artwork where you can. Raster artwork must be at least 1536 × 969 px at card size; larger is better.
- Cardholder name, card number, expiry date, or security code. These print on the back.
- A drawn chip, hologram, or any imitation of a security feature.
- Visa marks. We place the Visa DEBIT lockup on the back from Visa’s supplied artwork.
- Taglines, unless they are part of your trademarked logo.
- URLs or phone numbers. The back carries your support line.
- The name or mark of another card network, or of a company you do not own.
- Advertising or promotional language.
- Reproductions of banknotes, coins, or another payment card.
- Artwork, characters, or likenesses you do not hold the rights to.
Back
The back is a fixed layout. Your background color or artwork continues onto it, and you choose how the personalization prints. The blueprint carries the positions; the back template has them as guides.
Your choices on the back:
- Background: the front’s color or artwork, or a solid color from your palette. Keep the area under the lockup calm enough for silver foil to read.
- Personalization ink: white or dark, whichever contrasts with the background. The black-core body prints white only.
- Typeface: a sans serif, which Visa requires for a printed cardholder name, at 9 to 12 pt. The default is Suisse Intl Regular at 9 pt (57 px on the artboard; 1 pt = 6.33 px). The card number, expiry, and security code have no mandated face, and use the same one as the name.
- Support line: the phone number and URL your cardholders should use.
Color
Cards are printed, so specify colors the way a printer uses them.- Give brand colors as Pantone numbers, or as CMYK values if your brand guide has them. Hex and RGB values are for the digital wallet art only.
- CMYK reproduces a smaller range than a screen. Saturated screen colors, especially bright orange, lime green, cyan, magenta, and violet, print duller and darker. Look up your brand color’s Pantone or CMYK equivalent before you commit to it; a color that looks right in Figma can disappoint on plastic.
- On white stock, everything prints as a four-color CMYK process. For a saturated brand color that CMYK cannot reach, the black-core body prints your logo as a Pantone spot color instead, which reproduces the exact ink.
- Metallic and fluorescent colors do not print in CMYK. A metallic look comes from foil (see Beyond the standard card).
- Everything printed must contrast with what is behind it. This is a Visa requirement for the cardholder name and a legibility requirement for everything else.
- The Visa DEBIT lockup is always silver foil. You do not choose its color.
- Set black as 100% K, not a CMYK build. Builds shift toward brown or blue on press.
- Ink coverage under 10% in any channel can drop out. Avoid very light tints for anything that must be visible.
- Avoid borders or frames that follow the card edge. The cut moves slightly from card to card, and a border makes that visible.
- Dark solid colors with a matte finish show surface scratches sooner than lighter or glossier cards.
- Keep type in your artwork at 6 pt or larger and lines at 0.08 mm (0.25 pt) or thicker.
Digital wallet art
When a cardholder adds the card to Apple Pay or Google Pay, the wallet shows a flat image of the card. By default we produce it from your front design. You can supply your own version instead, within the rules below; Visa and the wallets require it to be recognizably the same card as the physical one. The image Visa and the wallets accept is a 1536 × 969 px PNG at 72 dpi, RGB, under 4 MB, with square corners (the wallet rounds them). The rules for what may appear on it:- No cardholder name, card number, expiry date, chip, hologram, or embossing cues.
- No 3D or skeuomorphic effects that imitate a physical card. The wallet renders the rounding, stacking, shadows, and on iOS the tilt itself; a baked-in shadow or highlight fights that rendering.
- The lower-left quadrant stays empty. The wallet draws the last four digits there.
- The Visa DEBIT lockup sits in the lower right. We add it.
- An app icon, 100 × 100 px PNG.
- Your logo, 1372 × 283 px PNG, on a transparent background.
- An overlay text color for the last four digits, white or black, whichever reads on your art.
- A card background color as a hex value. The wallet shows it while the image loads.
Carrier and envelope
Physical cards ship in a folded carrier letter with the card attached, inside an unbranded envelope. Card networks require that nothing on the envelope indicates a card is inside, so the envelope is not customized. The standard carrier is used for all programs; to discuss a custom carrier, contact your Lightspark contact.What to send
Send the following to your Lightspark contact:- Brand colors as Pantone numbers or CMYK values for print, and as hex values for the digital wallet art.
- The front design on a 1536 × 969 artboard, as the layered source file (Figma, Illustrator, or Sketch) or a PDF with vectors preserved. Keep your logo as a vector on its own layer, and include the overlay template on a hidden layer.
- Your choices for the back: background color, personalization ink, typeface, support phone number and URL.
- The body: white stock or black core, and the finish for black core.
- For the digital wallets: the app icon, the logo PNG, the overlay text color, and the card background color listed under digital wallet art.
Review and production
1
Design review
We check the design against the rules on this page and send back anything that needs to change.
2
Production files
We prepare the print files for both faces and the digital wallet art PNG, and place the Visa marks from Visa’s supplied artwork.
3
Visa design approval
Visa reviews every card design before production. We submit and handle their feedback with you.
4
Proof and samples
The manufacturer returns a digital proof, then printed samples for you to approve.
5
Production
Approved designs go into production for your card program.