
How to Design PVC Cards on Canva for Factory Printing: A Step-by-Step Guide by Card Monster
Welcome to this step-by-step guide on designing PVC cards for factory printing. At Card Monster, we know that creating professional, high-quality cards is crucial, whether you're designing membership cards, business cards, loyalty cards, ID cards, or more.
This guide is intended for those who might not have advanced design skills or access to professional software like Adobe InDesign or Affinity Design but still want to produce great-looking cards using Canva.
While Canva is a user-friendly tool, it does have limitations, especially for large-scale card production. This guide will help you navigate the process of designing cards on Canva for factory print, ensuring that your designs meet our high standards. If you need further assistance, our team at Card Monster is always here to help!
Check out our video below to follow our step-by-step guide:
Step 1: Getting Started with Your Card Design
The first step in creating your PVC card is choosing the right template or dimensions in Canva. PVC cards typically follow these dimensions:
- 86mm x 54mm for landscape orientation.
- 54mm x 86mm for portrait orientation.
To start, log into Canva and select the tool called custom size on the top panel and custom design with the dimensions listed above. Canva's user-friendly interface will make this process easy, ensuring that your card design is factory-print ready.

Make sure to set up your design in mm and not px.

Select create new design.
Step 2: Set Up a Brand Kit for Quick and Easy Design
A Brand Kit in Canva can speed up the design process and help ensure your cards are consistent with your brand's identity. If you're using Canva Pro (which costs approximately R110.00 per month), you have the ability to set up a Brand Kit. This feature allows you to store your logos, colours, and fonts in one place, so you can quickly access them while designing.
To set up your Brand Kit:
- Go to the Canva homepage.
- In the left panel select Brand Kit.
- Under the Brand Kit section click add new. Upload your brand’s logos, set your brand colours, and choose your preferred fonts.

By doing this, every element you need for branding your cards will be at your fingertips, allowing you to create cards quickly and consistently across your designs.
Once you have set up your brand kit its important to implement it in your card deisgn.
How to implement brand kit in your design:

- Go back into your card design.
- Choose a template or design you like or simply design your own.
- Go into the brand toggle on the left side of the page.
- Select colour palette and go through the designs until you are happy with your deisgn that is unique to your brand.
- Select your text and make sure you change it to your fonts.
- You can continue with your design.
Step 3: Use SVG Format for High-Quality Logos
When it comes to printing, ensuring your logos and graphics are in the correct format is crucial for achieving a high-quality result. SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format is ideal because it allows your logos and graphics to be resized without losing any sharpness or quality.
- If you designed your logo or graphics outside of Canva, make sure to upload them in SVG format.
- PNG and JPEG formats are not recommended for factory printing because they are pixel-based. When resized, they can become blurry or pixelated.
How to download your logo as an SVG:

- Type in logo at the top of the search bar Canva.
- Select Canva template and choose a design.
- Create an original logo on Canva or choose a template by looking at the designs on the left panel.
- Or upload your designed logo as an SVG file.

If you don’t have the original SVG file, Canva offers a solution through its Tracer app, which converts PNGs and JPEGs into SVGs.
How to get into the tracer app:

- Go to the left panel of the design and select apps as you scroll down.
- Type in Tracer into the search panel.
- Select the logo you want to convert to an SVG and select trace selected image.
- The logo will be given in black and white.
However, please note that this tool only converts the design to black and white, so it's best to upload the original SVG if possible.
Step 4: Vectorising QR Codes and Text
It’s also important to ensure that your QR codes and text are vectorised. In Canva, any text or QR code you create directly within the platform will automatically be vectorised. This ensures that these elements stay sharp and readable, no matter the size.
Here’s how to add a QR code in Canva:

- Go to the App section in Canva on the left bar.
- Type QR codes in the search bar.
- Enter the URL you want the code to link to, and adjust the background colour to match your card design.
- I use colour picker tool to select the colour of my background.

If you’re uploading a QR code into Canva from another source, make sure it is in SVG format to maintain quality.
Otherwise, you can use the QR code generator built into Canva to design it directly on the platform.
Step 5: Using Canva’s Variable Data Printing (VDP)
If you’re creating multiple unique cards, such as business cards or ID cards with different names, contact details, or QR codes, Canva’s Variable Data Printing (VDP) feature can help streamline the process.
See our blog post on how to Bulk Create Card Designs in Canva with VDP (Variable Data Printing). Or see our video below:
Here’s how VDP works:
- Prepare a spreadsheet containing the unique data for each card (e.g., names, emails, contact numbers).
- Go into the app section on the left panel.
- Click or type in Bulk Create.
- Upload the spreadsheet into Canva or enter it manually into the VDP app.
- Canva will automatically generate the unique designs for each card using the data provided.

However, Canva’s VDP has limitations:
- While it allows for bulk applying text data, you’ll need to manually upload and place photos for each card. This makes Canva suitable for small projects (around 100 cards or less), but for large-scale projects with multiple photos or credentials, you may want to use more advanced design software like Adobe InDesign, Affinity, or dedicated card design software.
Contact us for more information on which design software will be best for you.
Step 6: Preparing Your Cards for Factory Printing
Once your design is finalised and you are happy with the design. It’s time to prepare the file for printing. Here’s what you need to do to ensure your cards are factory-print ready:

- Make sure that everything in your design excluding photos are vectorised.
- Select share in the top right corner of the page and select download.
- Select your design as a PDF Print file. This format ensures your design is saved at the highest resolution, which is critical for professional printing.
- Select CMYK colour mode (best for printing) when exporting, as it ensures the colours will be accurate during the printing process.
- Check the box for crop marks and bleed:
- Crop marks show where the card will be trimmed.
- Bleed ensures that the design extends beyond the edge of the card, preventing any white borders from appearing if there’s a slight misalignment during cutting.
- Select Download.
These steps are important to achieve a professional print, and at Card Monster, we require files to include crop marks and bleed for factory printing.
Step 7: Printing on Your Own Desktop Printer
If you’re printing your cards on your own desktop card printer—such as the Primacy or Entrust range—you don’t need to include crop marks before you download your design.
These printers are designed for printing on pre-cut cards, so the trimming process won’t apply.
Simply download the PDF without crop marks and bleed, and print directly onto your pre-cut cards.
Step 8: Final Checks
Before sending your design for printing, it’s essential to double-check all the elements of your design:
- Ensure your logos, QR codes, and text are vectorised to prevent any quality loss during printing.
- Confirm that the colours, fonts, and logos match your branding, especially if you’ve used a Brand Kit.
- Make sure the file is exported in PDF Print format with CMYK selected for professional colour accuracy.
- Make sure that you have included bleed and crop marks for your factory printed cards.
Following these steps will ensure that your cards are of the highest quality and meet the standards for factory printing.
Conclusion: Canva is Great for Small Projects, But Not for Large Production

While Canva is a fantastic tool for those without advanced design skills, it does have limitations, especially for larger projects with multiple photos and credentials. For projects involving 100 cards or less, Canva’s VDP feature is an easy and effective way to create unique cards.
However, if you’re managing a large-scale production of cards with complex data and images, we recommend using more advanced software like Adobe InDesign or dedicated card design programs, which are designed to handle these tasks more efficiently.
If you need assistance or have questions about your card design, the Card Monster team is here to help. Contact us, and we’ll ensure your cards are designed to meet the highest standards for factory printing.
By following this guide, you’ll be well on your way to designing professional, high-quality PVC cards using Canva, perfect for any small-scale project.