GUARDIAN™ Security Features

CCL Secure has developed an innovative range of security features designed to reduce the risk of banknote counterfeiting.

Spanning Levels 1, 2 and 3 authentication, our security features provide assurance to a wide range of stakeholders including the general public, retailers and central banks.

Level 1 features can be immediately seen and felt. They offer confidence to general public through quick authentication at the point of sale.
Level 2 features are detectable using simple devices like cash handling machines, smartphone, torches or an ultraviolet (UV) light source. They provide retail stores with added assurance.
Level 3 features require identification by a machine or forensic analysis, usually by banks.

Security features truly shine on GUARDIAN™ banknotes, thanks to polymer’s smooth and transparent qualities. The smooth surface of polymer ensures features appear bright and clear, while transparent film provides for the possibility of features that can be seen from both sides of the note.

View Security Features

WINDOWS SUBSTRATE ELEMENTS SPECIALISED SECURITY INKS VIVID™ INKS DIFFRACTIVE AND OPTICAL

WINDOWS

Clear windows are a unique and integral security innovation of polymer banknotes. They were a major breakthrough in banknote security when they appeared on the first polymer note in 1988. Since then, windows have remained the hallmark feature on more than 80 billion GUARDIAN banknotes worldwide.

Transparent windows provide an ideal platform to create further complexity in banknotes when combined with other security features. They enable designers, printers and third-party providers to integrate value-added features like inks, foils and optical elements. Visibility from both sides enables consumers, retailers and banks to quickly verify notes.

Each element of the window is created by a sophisticated combination of proprietary production techniques developed over decades. These design innovations have driven a range of breakthroughs in the appearance and functionality of window features, leading to multiple ‘generations’ of windows.

Full Window (Level 1)

A large, clear window is a hallmark security feature of polymer substrate technology and one of the most distinctive and attractive elements of polymer banknote design. The full window provides an ideal platform for integrating a wide range of other security features.

Half Window (Level 1)

Half Windows, are opacified on one side and glossy on the other. They are highly visible enabling designers and printers to incorporate complex optical security features and specialty inks. When combined with a “full” window they create design options for compelling aesthetics.

Frameless Window (Level 1)

Frameless windows eliminate the need for an offset exclusion zone, typically a white border. They create a sharper, more stylish edge, and enable designers to bring offset inks right up to the window perimeter.

CAMEO™ PORTRAIT (Level 1)

Printed within the transparent window, the CAMEO™ PORTRAIT is an image that has a rich tonal range. It typically depicts iconography of great significance to the issuing country.

EFFECT CAMEO™ (Level 1)

EFFECT CAMEO™ is achieved through printing a combination of multi-tonal and colour shifting GSWITCH™ inks with a multi-tonal CAMEO image on full or half windows. The colour-changing effect is visible when a banknote is held flat (in transmission) or at an angle (on reflection).

VIGNETTE™ (Level 1)

VIGNETTE™ is a distinctive printed design of opaque inks within a window. It is visible when a banknote is held flat (in transmission) or at an angle (on reflection). VIGNETTE adds complexity by interacting with other security features or design elements near the window’s edge. In a full window, the feature is visible from both sides of the banknote.

SUBSTRATE ELEMENTS

They often create vibrant images across the banknote, above or below opacified layers, including within a window. Substrate elements enable designers to incorporate complexity and enhance aesthetics with layered tonal images, dynamic text and colour-shifting vignettes. These instantly recognisable features support strong public recognition.

Spot Colour (Level 1)

Spot Colour creates vibrant images using coloured inks, allowing multiple design effects to be applied across the banknote.

Shadow Image (Level 1)

Visually similar to a watermark, a Shadow Image is created using multiple layers of opacification. It can be a ‘tonal image’ such as a portrait, or a bold ‘highlight’ like numerals. Designers can create a negative (lighter) or positive (darker) shadow for aesthetic appeal. The shadow image is evident when held up to the light.

Shadow Image and Micro Lettering (Level 1)

Combining the Shadow Image feature with Micro Lettering creates an easily identifiable and durable tonal text. When viewed in transmission (up to the light) it produces both negative and positive shadow effects. Micro Lettering is a tiny, clearly defined text of numbers, letters or symbols. It can be a simple straight line or contain dynamic shapes to increase the complexity. Adding a shadow image offers design options that align with the use of watermarks.

Colour Switch Stripe (Level 1)

A Colour Switch Stripe is generated by printing one or more colour shifting GSWITCH™ inks. In reflection, the colour switch effect is viewed as a series of windows of half windows overlaid with complex VIGNETTE™ imagery. When held up to the light, a continuous stripe image can be seen. When applied at the substrate stage, the feature frees up an offset print station to increase efficiency and design options.

SPECIALISED SECURITY INKS

Specialised security inks may be printed in windows or above an opacified topcoat of substrate. They can create lustrous colour and striking visual effects, or be invisible to the human eye in the absence of a forensic light source. Specialised security inks can also be textured and tactile for immediate authentication, or smooth and flat. They enable designers to combine complex aesthetic elements with sophisticated security protections.

GSWITCH™ (Level 1)

GSWITCH™ inks are applied to windows as well as on opacified topcoat of substrate. They are available in numerous colours that shift when the banknote is tilted or viewed at different angles. This dynamic feature is difficult to replicate, providing strong protection against counterfeit banknotes.

AURORA™ (Level 1)

AURORA™ combines two colour-shifting GSWITCH™ inks to create dynamic effects when a banknote is titled. When viewed at an angle (on reflection), the colours change and appear similar to each other. When viewed flat (in transmission), the inks appear as two different colours.

METALIX™ (Level 1)

METALIX™ is a breakthrough metallic effect with a brilliant sheen and lustrous colour, which is enhanced by the smooth and non-porous surface of GUARDIAN polymer banknotes. It has high resistance to chemicals and oxidation, preventing tarnishing of the metallic print colours, and can be applied onto windows or the opacified layer. METALIX can achieve a wide range of design possibilities.

IRISWITCH™ (Level 1)

IRISWITCH™ inks are printed on the opacified topcoat of substrate, forming interactive features that shift between visibility and obscurity. They appear as a pearlescent sheen when viewed from different angles. IRISWITCH can be designed as a stripe pattern, patch or image overlay.

MAGREAD™ (Level 3)

MAGREAD™ is a Level 3 security feature. It has magnetic and optical elements that are both machine readable and visually identifiable. A magnetically readable ink is applied in a straight thread format, or a non-linear, complex pattern or patch. With MAGREAD, commercial and central banks can rapidly authenticate and count large volumes of banknotes.

VIVID™ INKS

The VIVID™ family of features are visually striking, difficult to replicate, and extremely durable. Vibrant hidden elements are revealed under UV light and infrared cameras. The clearly identifiable effect facilitates easy authentication for retailers and commercial banks.

VIVID ink is embedded into spot ink and applied during the production of the substrate. This frees the banknote offset printing stage for incorporation of other feature inks and design elements. CCL Secure’s development of VIVID is another groundbreaking step in the innovation of banknote security.

In today’s increasingly mechanised cash cycle, counterfeit resilience is not the only factor in developing security features. It is also important to provide features that can be identified by automated equipment. That’s why VIVID combines Levels 1 and 2 security features, to ensure optimal versatility for a wide range of users and equipment across the cash cycle.

VIVID™ (Level 2)

VIVID™ is a range of coloured inks that fluoresce in a contrasting colour when illuminated under UV light. The inks are applied during the production of GUARDIAN substrate.

VIVID™ WHITE (Level 2)

VIVID™ WHITE is a fluorescent ink that is invisible when applied onto the opacified substrate. When a UV light source is applied to the banknote surface, VIVID WHITE ink appears as a bright, fluorescent white.

VIVID™ IR (Level 2)

VIVID™ IR combines multiple Level 2 authentication capabilities in a single security ink. Both IR and UV security inks are embedded into a spot ink to provide a distinctive means of authentication. VIVID IR produces a dark visible image under an IR camera and fluoresces brightly under a UV light source.

VIVID™ COLOUR (Level 2)

VIVID™ COLOUR is a visually stunning, highly complex Level 2 security feature that is applied within a full window of substrate as with CAMEO™ or VIGNETTE™. In ambient light, the image appears opaque, but under ultraviolet light a high resolution full-colour images appears.

DIFFRACTIVE AND OPTICAL

Diffractive and optical features generate ground-breaking visual effects by manipulating light and micro-optic lenses. Thanks to the smooth surface of polymer substrate and the transparency of the film, GUARDIAN is an ideal platform for a wide range of diffractive and optical effects. They are integrated during the manufacture of the substrate, creating an innovative illusion of magnification and movement.

The vibrancy and movement that come to life through these features is extremely difficult to counterfeit. CCL Secure’s diffractive and optical security features provide a range of Level 1 and 2 authentication.

CINEMA™ (Level 1)

CINEMA™ is the ultimate solution for central banks in their battle against counterfeits. This revolutionary security feature incorporates stunning three-dimensional movement effects with unparalleled clarity, depth of field, and animation quality. Unlike other applied features such as thread and foil stripes, CINEMA is a highly complex and layered micro optic feature seamlessly integrated within banknote windows, offering industry-leading recognisability for the public.

One of the key advantages of CINEMA is its ability to create captivating movement, depth, float, flip and magnification effects which are all visible under normal conditions without the need for UV or other special lighting techniques. This advanced micro-optic technology sets CINEMA apart as the optimal choice for central banks seeking to enhance banknote security.

WINDOE™ (Level 2)

When illuminated by a point light source such as from a smartphone or LED, the previously invisible WINDOE™ pattern emerges with striking vibrancy. WINDOE is a highly durable and chemically resistant holographic structure that is applied in a clear window.