Do you Need to Bleed?

On of the most often used element of design is a bleed.  What is a bleed?  It is any part of your graphics that comes right off the edge of your page.

Just like your home printer, all of our copy machines and presses leave a white margin on the paper.  To achieve a bleed, we must use paper which is larger than your finished size.  For example, an 11x17 print with a bleed must be printed on 12x18 paper, and then cut down to 11x17.  Including a bleed in your design will usually increase the cost of your print job, but materials printed with bleeds are simply more visually attractive and professional looking than materials printed without bleeds.

Art with Crop Marks.  The area outside the dotted line will be trimmed.

The secret to success with your design that will bleed is to place the elements so that they overlap the border edge of your page by ¼ inch.   Then, when you create your PDF file that you will send to us for printing, use the option to show printer marks or crop marks.  Most design software has this capability.  You will not see the crop marks until you open the exported PDF file.

If you are using design software that does not have this option, design your document ½ inch taller and wider than the finished page will be.  For example, if you want your document to be 8.5x11 after it is printed and trimmed, design it 9x11.5, making sure there is no text or necessary image in the additional .25 inch margin.

Finished art after trimming.

After we finish cutting down your prints, none of the printer marks or crop marks will be visible.  You will simple have a beautiful, high-quality print.