Bleeds: Overview

To prevent your printed product from having unsightly white lines around the border, you must set your document up with bleeds. Bleed refers to an extra 1/8" of image that extends beyond the trim area of your printing piece. The project is printed on an oversized sheet that is cut down to size with the appearance that the image is “bleeding” off the edge of the paper.

It is best practice to set up your bleeds at the very beginning of your project so you don’t have to adjust at the end.

A few terms you must understand along with bleed are trim line, safety, and borders.

Bleed
Bleed refers to an extra 1/8" of an image that extends beyond the trim area of your printing piece. The project is printed on an oversized sheet that is cut down to size with the appearance that the image is "bleeding" off the edge of the paper.

Trim Line
The final size of the document after the last cut is made.

Safety
The safe area or inner margin in which to keep all important elements within to prevent them from trimming off, should be at least 1/8" inside the edge of the final trim size.

Borders
All framed borders must be at least 1/4" from the trim line or 3/8" from the bleed line.

For a step-by-step tutorial on setting up your bleeds, select from one of the following programs:
InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Canva, Publisher, and Word.

Have more questions? Check our Bleed FAQ.