What a metal card actually is
Most metal payment cards are not solid metal all the way through. A typical construction is a metal core, most often stainless steel, with gold and titanium used at the top of the range and other metals possible on request, combined with additional layers that carry the chip and the magnetic stripe where one is present. Fully metal cards exist, as do hybrids where only the front face is metal.
This matters to a designer because construction determines what can be done to each face. A metal front and a plastic-backed rear are treated differently: one is engraved or etched, the other is printed. A design that assumes the same treatment on both sides will not survive contact with the specification.
Weight varies with the alloy and the construction, and it is the property customers notice first. It is worth deciding the target weight of the card before design starts, because a heavier card sets an expectation that the graphics then have to live up to.
Engraving and etching behave nothing like printing
On plastic, artwork is printed onto the surface and colour is the primary tool. On metal, the primary tool is contrast between treatments of the same surface: polished against brushed, etched against smooth, recessed against raised. A laser engraves; an etching process removes material to a depth; a coating adds colour over the top.
The design consequence is that fine detail behaves differently. A hairline that prints cleanly on plastic may disappear into a brushed finish, or fill in during etching. Type set too small or too light loses its counters. Large flat areas, on the other hand, become genuinely beautiful, because the material itself carries the interest that ink would otherwise have to supply.
None of this makes metal a quiet material by rule. Full colour print, coloured coatings and printed graphics over a metal face are all routine, and some of the best-known metal cards are boldly printed rather than bare. What is true is that the material is already doing something, so a design has to decide whether to work with that or over it. Both are valid; drifting between them is what produces a muddled card.
- Laser engraving
- Marks the surface with high precision. Excellent for type and fine linework, within limits your manufacturer will state.
- Etching
- Removes material to create depth you can feel. Strong for marks and pattern, less forgiving of fine detail.
- Surface finish
- Brushed, matte and polished each reflect light differently and change how the artwork reads at an angle.
- Coating
- PVD and similar coatings introduce colour. The palette available is narrower than print, and it is manufacturer-specific.
The colour conversation is different
On a plastic card, colour is close to unlimited. On metal it is not. Coloured finishes come from coatings and from the base material itself, and the achievable palette is set by what your manufacturer offers. Matching an existing brand colour exactly is sometimes possible and sometimes not.
The productive approach is to design in terms of material and contrast first, and to treat colour as an accent applied within the manufacturer's available range. Brands that insist on an exact colour match are often better served by a plastic card, or by a hybrid where the coloured element sits on a printable layer.
Achievable finishes and colours vary by manufacturer, so we confirm the range with yours before committing the design to a particular treatment. If you have not chosen a producer yet, we can suggest ones whose finish range suits the direction you like.
Constraints worth knowing before you commit
Metal introduces limits that plastic does not, and most of them are easier to accept early than to discover late.
- Embossing is usually not available
- Metal cards are generally not embossed. Numbers are engraved, printed on a rear layer, or omitted entirely.
- Edge treatment is visible
- The card edge is part of the design on a metal card in a way it never is on plastic.
- Lead times are longer
- Production of metal cards typically takes longer than plastic. Plan the launch around it.
- Cost per card is higher
- Which usually means a smaller, more deliberate programme, often a premium tier rather than a mass issue.
- Contactless performance is engineered
- Metal and radio waves interact. How this is solved is the manufacturer's engineering problem, but it can constrain construction.
Metal or premium plastic?
Metal is not automatically the right answer for a premium product. It costs more per card, takes longer to produce, and constrains the design in ways that a well-made plastic card does not. There are programmes where a heavily finished plastic card, matte laminate, spot detail, a considered palette, is the better product and a fraction of the cost.
The case for metal is strongest where the card is handed over in person and where weight genuinely signals something about the proposition. It is weakest where cards are issued at volume, where the card is mostly used contactlessly from a phone, or where the brand's identity depends on a colour that metal cannot reproduce.
The honest test is whether the physical object is part of the product experience or merely the means of payment. If cardholders will rarely take it out of a wallet, the money is better spent on the virtual card they see daily.
Personalisation on metal
Personalised data, the cardholder name, the number where one is shown, the expiry, has to be applied per card, after the base card is produced. On plastic this is routine. On metal it is a specific capability, and the available methods differ between manufacturers.
This has a direct design consequence: the areas that carry personalised data may be constrained to particular treatments or particular zones, and the typeface used for personalisation may not be the one used elsewhere in the design. Establishing early what your manufacturer can personalise, and how, avoids designing a card whose name line cannot be produced as drawn.
Personalisation capability varies between manufacturers. We check it before the design commits to a particular treatment, and if you have not selected a producer we can point you to ones whose personalisation suits what you want.
Designing the tier, not just the card
A metal card almost never exists alone. It is the top of a range, and the range has to read as one family: the virtual card in the app, the plastic card for the standard tier, and the metal card for the premium one. If the metal card is designed in isolation it tends to look like a different product from a different company.
The stronger approach is to design the system and let the material express the tier. The same layout logic, the same typographic voice, the same core mark, rendered in print on plastic and in engraved metal at the top. The tier then reads as a genuine step up rather than a separate identity, and the virtual card in the wallet still looks like it belongs.