The card design web site is https://cards.aa.net.uk/.
We offer professional high quality printing of plastic cards for identification, conferences/events, club membership, or just for fun. Ideal for company ID, student ID, and even high quality business cards.
You can design your card, and preview on screen. You then enter card details for each person.
Unlike some services, we don't expect a "card image" to print, we allow you to design a card from components to insert names, photos, numbers, barcodes and everything you need. We even provide an API to allow you to load new card data from your own systems ready for printing.
We handle most unicode characters for people's names without problems.
Obviously, if you do have whole card artwork, you can use this as well, and if you need, you can ask for multiple prints of a single card design - but the system is really good for individual cards all with different details, such as ID cards. We offer security features such as micro printing and UV fluorescent overlay.
We can supply and encode mag cards and RFID cards if you need. For RFID cards the normal process is for us to log the ID of the RFID card so you can later check which card has what ID using our API. However, we can program RFID cards as well if you require (providing us with keys).
You can see your design on screen, and order as little as one card print - so why not give it a try?
We also have a small selection of standard designs you can just order.
We charge a price per card printed, plus postage. For simple single sided full colour printing, this is £1.50 +VAT. Double sided ranges from £1.60 +VAT to £1.90 +VAT depending on use of colour and black panels each side. There are extra costs if you want specialised cards (e.g. RFID, Mag stripe) or UV fluorescent overlay, etc.
The actual price for your design is shown whilst you work on the design, so you know exactly what it will cost.
Note the pricing shown in this video is out of date, and there are newer features now.
The entry level is single sided print in full colour (including black overlay layer) - ideal for name badges. However, we can do a lot more:
You can design your card template, or use one of the existing designs, or simply start with one of the existing designed and work from there. If you want, you can start from a completely blank card, portrait or landscape, and design if single or double sided, etc.
The basic ideas is that you can design a card template and have a set of cards, all different, e.g. with different names and photos, etc - ideal for ID cards.
However, you can make a fixed design and order multiple copies of that design if you prefer.
The fields you include for per card printing can be text, or images (e.g. photo), and can be represented in a range of fonts, sizes, orientations, and colours as well as allowing data to be coded in a variety of 1D and 2D barcode formats. Data can also be encoded in mag stripe tracks. You can request a slot and clip as well. You can even define a set (e.g. pull down list) to control data to code for images, text, barcodes, etc.
You can use the same named field in multiple ways, e.g. printed and encoded in a barcode or a mag stripe.
If you are designing artwork, the cards are standard credit card size which is 85.60mm x 53.98mm (about 3⅜" by 2⅛"), and can be designed as landscape or portrait. They are printed at 600dpi. We suggest you make any full card artwork (e.g. background images) at least 2048x1296, and ideally 2072x1328 pixels which (if you work it out) is slightly larger than the printable area at 600dpi so as to allow some variation in print position with over-the-edge bleed of artwork for edge to edge printing.
Our staff can offer some advice on card design if you need. For a small fee we can work on your design in detail if you want. If it doubt, do ask for help.
More information here.
The card design web site is https://cards.aa.net.uk/. You can use this to set up a new login (based on your email address) and start making cards and seeing what they look like. You can see the design on screen, and also get a pixel accurate preview of the print layers if you like. Once you have designed your card, you can create one or more instances with distinct details and specify quantities and then order. Payment is normally required with order by bank transfer.
Higher security ID cards
Cards can be used for security applications (ID cards, access control cards, etc). We have a number of features for such cards including: edge to edge printing; micro printing; printing in a UV fluorescent layer which is only visible under UV light; encoding mag stripe; encoding RFID cards in various ways.
The UV fluorescent layer can include text, images (mono), barcodes, etc, as required.
We do recommend that you consider security carefully and do not rely solely on printing features as they can be printed by anyone with the right equipment. The best security is properly encrypted RFID cards. We can provide advice and consultancy if you need. See here for more details.
If you want us to print ID cards, please send some proof you are entitled to do so. Ideally, an ID card for a company should be paid for from a bank account in the company's name to save time.
Some key terms
We will try and print the cards as accurately as possible to the design shown on screen, but screen colours and print colours can vary slightly. Whilst the print alignment is usually better, we suggest avoiding meaningful artwork within 1mm of the edge. Images and blocks of colour can bleed over the edge effectively.
As per normal terms, liability is limited to a refund of price paid. We cannot guarantee delivery dates, but we will try to print and ship on the day of ordering if ordered in the morning, depending on quantity. For events, or large orders, we recommend ordering at least week in advance and then any additional cards or reprints closer to the event. We cannot guarantee print with no defects and will re-print any returned as defective free of charge based on the template/card still on the system. You can cancel up until we start printing for no cost, cancelling after we have started you pay for any cards printed. Once shipped, full price (i.e. including delivery charges) applies. If supplying your own card stock, there may be some wastage (especially where we have to get print settings right for new types of card), and any such failed cards are returned in whatever state in they end up, with no print charge.
We may take additional steps to verify any order for "ID" cards. If ordering any sort of ID, we recommend paying from a bank account in the same name as the organisation shown on the card. We may also reject orders that appear to be trying to fake any sort of ID, are offensive, or for any other reason (You will need to request a refund, which will usually take a few days). You indemnify us against any third party claims relating to any cards we print for you, including infringement of copyright, trademark, or fraud.
