Custom PVC Card NTAG424

Help and Advice

Firstly, if you have any questions about ordering custom printed products, then drop us an email or give us a call. We have worked on hundreds of custom print projects and we are always happy to give help and advice. If you don't see the product you need, just let us know what you want. 

Artwork Preparation

We have prepared a artwork preparation pdf for guidance on how to prepare your artwork for full colour tags. In summary, you need to make sure your artwork is good quality which means either vector artwork or a image of high resolution. If you don't have the experience or software to set your artwork, just email us what you have any any layout ideas you have. We can always help. 

Sizes and Outlines

For many products online there's also a template that you can download which will give you the size to work to. For others where there might be multiple sizes such as express labels, you can create your own outline (say 35mm round) or just ask us for a template of the size you need. 

The Process

If you are sure of your size and product, you can order online here and email us your artwork with your order reference number. If you aren't sure or want a proof first, then send us your artwork before you place the order. We can then check it's all good before you go forward. 

Once we have your artwork, we will typically produce a pdf proof to show you how the tags will look. This usually only take 24 hours but often you will get this back in the same day. You can then make sure you are happy with what we are going to print and we go to production. 

Unique ID/QR Code Elements

A unique element is something that is printed unique to each tag. For example, each tag might have it's own ID number and/or QR code. In these cases, you would prepare your artwork with an example QR/ID to show us the layout. We then remove this and use your data. You don't need to generate the QR codes - we do that automatically. You just supply a spreadsheet to us with the list of ID/QR Code data and we use that. 

Spot gloss is typically used on matt finish PVC based products to create areas that are glossy and very slightly raised. It works very well on darker colours and can either be placed over the top of print or instead of print to create a very subtle effect. 

When ordereding with spot gloss, you need to create your artwork with another layer that clearly indicates which areas you want in spot gloss. If you aren't sure how to do this, then talk with us. 

Spot gloss doesn't work very well - or at all - on fine lines or text. It's best to be used to cover a solid area such as a logo or an NFC logo. If it's too fine, you either won't get the effect at all or it won't perfectly align which can look poor. If we think your artwork isn't likely to work, we will discuss with you before printing. 

A quick guide

A normal NFC chip, such as the NTAG213, NTAG215 or iCODE SLIX can store a URL (web link) in it's memory. When scanned, it presents this link to the scanner (a mobile phone for example). It presents the same link every time, in a similar way to a QR Code. 

An authentication NFC chip, such as the NTAG424, works differently. When the URL is encoded onto the tag, a secret key is also encoded, along with some other settings. When the tag is scanned, it presents the URL but also a unique code which is generated using this secret key. This unique code changes on every scan and can be verified using an authentication server which will hold the same secret key. 

Note that the full name for the NTAG424 chip is the NTAG424 DNA. We usually just refer to it as the NTAG424 chip. 

Using authentication chips

As this code is unique for each scan, these NTAG424 NFC tags can be used for anti-counterfeit and authentication. It makes them extremely powerful as they can be used to ensure that the tag is the exact tag that you expect it to be. All from a simple scan with a mobile phone (no special app required).

Authentication chips have a huge range of use cases from the obvious protection of luxury goods, artwork and pharmacuiticals to supply chain security, document authentication, ticketing, proof of physical presence, secure log-on and more. 

Encoding authentication chips

While standard NFC tags can be easily encoded with any of the free mobile phone applications, encoding NTAG424 chips is substantially more complicated. You have four choices : 

1. Use NXP's TagXplorer desktop software to encode the tags (note that NXP no longer support this software but at the time of writing it was still available to download)
2. Build your own encoding system.
3. Get Seritag to encode your tags for you
4. Use our Ixkio Tag Management platform and encode with our ixkio mobile app.

More information

For more information on buying and using NTAG424 or other authentication chips, contact us or read more about NFC tag authentication.

What is tag management ?

NFC tag management allows you to dynamically control the destination URL of your NFC tags. It provides tracking and stats, authentication services for anti-counterfiet tags, and a host of features to assist in getting the right tags in the right locations or products. Ixkio even allows you to encode your own NTAG213, iCODE or NTAG424 tags with our mobile App. 

Using ixkio

Ixkio is designed as an engine for your NFC tags and works alongside your existing ecommerce or marketing website. You don't need to spend time and money to recreate your branding or content. Ixkio can be used as an API system for authentication or more commonly a redirect system - managing dynamic links. Of course, you can attach your own domain so the tags are encoded with your brand. 

Tags can be encoded by us at supply (free of charge for labels) or you can encode your own tags - including NTAG424 - usng our mobile app or your own mehtods. You can then manage and alter the tag destination using rules and dynamic data features to display pages from your exiting website. 

Ixkio provides additional powerful tools to protect your landing page when using authentication tags and can even pass tag related information from ixkio - such as serial numbers or prodict information - to be dynamically displayed on your page. We have even built a Shopify App to make integration easier for Shopify users. 

Can ixkio be used for Digital Product Passports (DPP) ?

Absolutely. Ixkio has a comprehensuve data factilities engineered to allow extensive product information to be connected to your tags. This data can then be dynamcially passed to your existing website for display if required. 

Getting started

Ixkio subscriptions can be purchased online at ixkio.com or contact us for more information.