Designing next-generation identity documents requires more than layering security features. It requires structured engineering decisions that balance optical security, structural integrity, personalization technologies, and forensic resilience.
Authentication must operate across multiple inspection levels:
However the core level we want to focus on here is level 1, as it is often the most critical and important during inspection.
Therefore, when designing a new Identity document, four key objectives must be taken into considerations:
During an inspection, officers and private inspectors often have only a few seconds to authenticate an identity document. In many everyday situations within the private sector, such as healthcare services, banking, real estate transactions, or vehicle purchases, documents are checked by individuals who may not have specialized expertise or dedicated tools.
For this reason, it is essential to integrate strong Level-1 security features that allow quick and intuitive authentication.
The portrait remains the most targeted element in forgery attempts, while it is also the primary reference used to verify the identity of the document holder.
For this reason, portrait protection must be multi-layered and redundant, using several complementary technologies to secure the link between the document and its legitimate holder.
Counterfeit documents typically reveal themselves through missing, altered, or poorly replicated Level-1 security features. These visual elements are based on advanced security technologies and production expertise, making them difficult to reproduce or imitate.
By integrating strong and easily security features, inspectors—and even non-experts—can quickly identify inconsistencies that indicate a counterfeit document.
Forgery attempts usually target specific elements such as the portrait or variable data. These attacks often leave localized degradation or visible alterations around the manipulated areas.
Protecting these critical elements with robust Level-1 security features makes such attacks easier to detect and helps ensure the authenticity of the document and its data.
Here are design principles for new modern identity documents:
a.Full face embedded transparent Optically Variable feature:
Large-area optically variable elements increase intuitive verification and raise replication complexity. Placement over the whole surface, including primary portrait, enhances protection against photo substitution and data alteration.
b.Window structures
Complex window designs integrating transparent color-shifting effects and embedded personalized portraits combine structural integrity with strong optical security features. This significantly reduces the risk of simple punched-window counterfeits with lack of optical variable elements.
c.Half-window constructions exposing electronic modules
Half-window designs add an additional manufacturing security layer, as they require very specific industrial know-how. Controlled visibility of antenna or chip modules increases counterfeit detection and reinforces the authenticity of the polycarbonate architecture.
d.OVMI/ OVI security inks in Front or Back side:
Strategically positioned for rapid tilt-based verification.
e.Embossing/tactile features on surface
Complex embossing and tactile designs applied over personalized data, including the portrait, support intuitive tactile inspection during document control. These relief elements make it easier to detect counterfeiting or forgery attempts, particularly when a laminated overlay carrying a replacement portrait is applied to the surface, as the original tactile features become flattened, hidden, or inconsistent.
They also help reveal mechanical attacks such as scratching or abrasion attempts used to reach the portrait layer, as these operations typically degrade or destroy the original embossing patterns f.Secured back side of the document with full face transparent security pattern Full-face backside optically variable elements reduce vulnerability to rear-side delamination or abrasion attacks targeting the portrait and personalization layers, while also enabling quick tilt-based authentication during inspection.
a.High Definition Main portrait
The main portrait, embedded in the core of the card (black & white or color laser engraving), prevents substitution attempts from the surface using different personalization technologies or additional substrates.
b.Portrait replication options (at least 3 replications are recommended):
i.Moiré portrait: easy to integrate and verify visually, nevertheless basic technology.
ii.ICI, Letterscreen portraits: Intuitive authentication and highly resistant to replication or alteration.
iii.Large efficient CLI/MLI switching images: combine personalization and embossing, therefore strong against forgeries and counterfeiting.
iv.Portrait inside large transparent sophisticated window: Highly unique and secure; combines optical and structural security to resist counterfeiting.
v.Colored Portrait printed on a third page in the case of passports. Easy to implement; allows efficient comparison with the embedded portrait and the holder’s face.
vi.Electronic portrait readable through secured barcode or secured chip. Very strong technology to authenticate a portrait and supports automated verification. Nevertheless it requires readers to have access.
vii.Laser colored embedded portrait: very strong technology against available substitution technologies viii.Embedded Photopolymer portrait: Unique and highly secure; requires specialized production and personalization environments, making forgery extremely difficult.
a.Missing transparent Optically Variable element or different design/ imitation
b.Simple transparent window without color change
c.No half window and no visibility of electronics
d.Poor or ineffective OVMI performance
e.Missing embossing features or incorrect design
f.No readable electronic portrait
g.Poor or ineffective replicated portraits
a.Optically Variable element missing or much less bright over the main portrait area and variable data.
b.Embossing weakened or erased at the portrait location
c.Backside full-face security patterns missing or damaged due to rear-side attacks attempting to reach the portrait layer
d.No readable electronic portrait
e.Poor quality or inconsistent replicated portraits, as modifying the main portrait also requires reproducing secondary portraits produced by different personalization technologies.
Next-generation identity documents must combine robust security technologies that are both intuitive to authenticate and extremely difficult to replicate or imitate. At the same time, they must continuously evolve to remain resilient against emerging counterfeiting and forgery techniques.
However, designing modern documents does not mean simply adding every possible security feature. Instead, each interaction with the document—whether moving, tilting, rotating, or shifting it—should reveal clear and intuitive security cues that allow inspectors and third parties to quickly understand and authenticate the document.
Achieving this level of innovation is only possible through continuous and significant investment in research and development by industry suppliers. As a result, some advanced security features may initially be exclusive or proprietary, reflecting new technological breakthroughs. This can sometimes make open competition more complex for certain features, but it also drives innovation and enables the introduction of new levels of protection for identity documents.
