Choosing the right card-stock to match your artwork can make the difference between an “OKAY” looking card and an “AMAZING” looking card. There are a variety of things to consider when making your decision and sometimes more than one option could work. Since we have a large amount of experience in this field, you can always send us your artwork and we can give you an idea of what might work best to achieve what you are looking for. We only carry a select inventory to be eligible for our 72-hour turnaround, which is generally a combination of Silk and Matte cards. For a full list of the card stocks eligible for the 72-hour turnaround scroll to the bottom of the page.

Magnetic Stripes

The magnetic stripe is where important data is stored on many different types of cards. There are the little bars that run edge to edge on the back of the card similar to your debit and credit cards. While these are usually Black or Brown, they can be custom ordered in a multitude of different colours. There are 3 different options when it comes to the size of the mag stripe on your card. A track 2 mag is the most common, this is what you have on the back of your debit and credit cards.

Silk

Silk is our default card stock option. The surface of this card is very smooth and allows for a higher amount of detail to be retained. On its own this card is not reflective, however, if you require a reflective surface you will need to ensure you have full ink coverage on the card and/or apply a full coat of varnish. Any type or style of artwork will work well with a silk card.

Matte

Matte is our second most common type of base card stock used. This card is similar to silk in the sense that it is not reflective on its own, however, this card is more textured than its smooth counterpart. The textured effect that matte offers is excellent when printing specific designs. Some examples we have done in the past would be a chalkboard, pavement, dirt/grass or wood background cards. You want to try to avoid using a matte card if your artwork has any fine details or text. Since the matte has the extra texture, these fine details tend to get lost when the ink fills in the texture and mixes a little different. A matte card will also slightly modify the final colour result and generally make it a bit brighter than it would otherwise be on a silk card.

Paper

We try to be as environmentally conscious as we can here at QuickCards. That is why we are happy to offer our customers a 100% recycled paper option to print their cards on. This cardstock is very close to “Matte” when it comes to what designs it works best with, however, it is more forgiving with the fine details since it is not quite as textured. Since paper cards are not quite as durable as plastic ones, it is not recommended to use this stock for cards that are going to have a repeating use (i.e. ID Badges, Loyalty or Membership cards, etc). They do work great for gift and promo cards (i.e. Buy 9 get the 10th free punch or stamp card)!

Metallics

Nothing says style quite as much as a nice flashy card. Our selection of metallic cardstocks will give your card that sparkle that is sure to catch the wandering eye. Coming in a wide range of colours, these are suitable for most any brand. It is very important when picking a metallic base card to remember that our process does not print white at all. What this means is that the colour of your final artwork can be drastically modified by the colour of your metallic base card (red printed on a metallic blue card will come out purple). Generally, we recommend using a “Metallic Pearl” as there is no change in colour, but you still get the sparkle. For the other Metallic colours, you should try to design your card so that it is predominately black with the elements you want to show the metallic through to be white. Take a look at some “samples” to get some different ideas.

Foils

Foil cards are the Ferrari of cards. They look extremely good, but there are very limited designs that will work with them. Foil cards give an extremely reflective surface to your card, basically like a mirror. There are many different colours and styles available, but similar to the metallics, different colours will modify the final printed colour of your cards. If you are looking on getting a foil card we require you “contact us” to complete a custom order, due to the particular nature of the stock. You may not get your cards within 72 hours with this option, but you will have the best and brightest cards of anyone around!

Card Stocks Eligible for 72 Hour Turnaround

The following card stock options are eligible for our 72 Hour Turnaround, based on quantities of 5,000 or less. For all other cardstock options, please “contact us” to get an estimated completion time for your order.