DataCard Datacard SP35, Installation Manual

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SP Series Info Central: Setup
Setting up for your card design
The driver provides settings that you can use to make sure that your cards print as you intend. These settings
provide users of the printer with great flexibility in printing, encoding a magnetic stripe, or personalizing a smart
card. This flexibility makes it very difficult to provide you with a step-by-step process for getting your cards to print
as you intend. Instead, Datacard recommends that you do one of the following:
• Work with your value-added reseller or dealer to design cards and set up the printer to produce them.
• Understand the features of your card design, read information in this section to match features to printer
settings, and change the settings to produce the cards.
Getting started
How do I create a card design?
• ID Works® and Preface ID™ software from Datacard® are designed to capture, format, and manage the data
that often appears on cards. (Other applications can use the Smart Driver™ API or other driver features to
handle card-specific data.) See www.datacard.com for more information about Datacard products and
downloads.
• A PC application that can be used for many purposes, such as Word, Excel, or Paint Shop Pro, can be used to
create a card design and format the data for the cards.
• This section focuses on the settings, not the application you use. When the application has an effect on the
driver settings, this section will include that information.
What is a card design?
• Card design is the name given to the combined features of the cards you produce. Cards are useful only when
all cards contain the same information: Name, photo, and so on.
• The card design includes the different types of data (name, ID number, and so on), images (logo, photo, and so
on), and special features such as bar code, magnetic stripe, or smart card on the card.
• Card design also includes the way those components are arranged.
• Card design includes processes, such as applying topcoat either from the print ribbon or using a laminator
(SP75 only), any blocking for printed topcoat, or applying a patch using a laminator (SP75 only) to improve card
security or card life.
• Card design frequently includes quality guidelines. For example, corporate style guidelines might require that a
specific shade of red be used for a logo.
• An organization might have more than one card design. For example, a health club is likely to produce member
cards and employee cards.
• See "Card design checklist" .
When should I perform setup tasks?
• Initial setup: When you obtain the printer and have the card design complete, perform setup tasks to get the
printer to produce the cards you want.
• Production changes: If you make substantial changes to the way you produce cards, review setup tasks to
make sure cards continue to have the quality you require. For example, if you purchase a new brand of
(unprinted) cards, you might notice changes in the color of some images.
• New card design: If you change the design of your cards, or if you start producing an additional card design,
review setup tasks to make sure each design prints as required. You might identify changes to your process to
support printing of two different designs.