Designing for transparent cases: what changes
A clear case is a different canvas. The phone becomes part of the design, ink behaves differently on transparent plastic, and the best artwork uses the empty space on purpose.
The phone is your background
On a white or black case the artwork sits on a fixed colour. On a transparent case every unprinted pixel shows the device. A design that looks sparse on screen can look finished on a black phone and washed out on a white one, so preview both.
White ink underbase
UV printers lay down a white underbase before colour so that inks stay opaque and vivid on clear plastic. Where you want the artwork to be fully opaque, keep the shapes solid. Leave everything else fully clear, so the phone shows through there.
Edges, cut-outs and the camera
Keep important elements away from the camera cut-out, the corners and the raised bumper. Artwork prints on the flat back panel; the flexible bumper stays clear. Bleed is still required so the print reaches the edge of the panel cleanly.
What works well
- Line art and botanical illustrations with generous clear space
- Bold solid shapes for a graphic, opaque look
- Photographs cropped to a shape rather than filling the whole back
What to avoid
- Very fine light-grey detail, which disappears against a dark phone
- Full-bleed dark photos, which hide the point of a clear case
- Tiny text, which loses its edge on textured plastic
- Soft fades and semi-transparent pixels, which do not print well: make each part solid or fully clear
The designer in your account renders your file on the exact case and device before anything is printed, so test a few phone colours before you publish.
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