Signature On Your Photo ID Card
Signatures on personal ID cards have, in general, become more and more rare, since they are a hold-over from the pre-digital age. Signatures are only required on a few types of cards, like debit/credit cards, but when is the last time someone checked yours? That said, there are several ways we can accommodate ID cards with signatures. There are generally two kinds of signatures: (a) that of an authorized authority, like the Chief of Police, which does not vary between cards, and (b) that of the individual person, which is of course different on each card. The most efficient way to handle both is to provide them in a .jpg file. The first type of signature is integrated into the template, and the second is part of each individual card’s variable data.
Alternatives like signature strips are available, but signatures often rub off, and are mostly becoming relics of the past.
Did you know that the U.S. is one of the last remaining countries in the world which has mag-stripe debit/credit cards, which were “secured” in the past with signatures? Most of the other developed countries around the world, in Europe and Asia and even Latin America, have all moved to smart cards (chip-and-pin), which don’t use signatures to “verify” the owner! In fact, 44% of Americans don’t even sign their credit cards – see Infosecurity Magazine article
In any case, if your previous employee ID cards all have signatures, or your old-school boss still insists on signatures, call us – we’ll be able to figure something out!
