Blog
April. 16, 2019
Why is bleed so important to print when you design?
- Bleed is the area to be trimmed after printing. It is the part of the document that gives the printer enough space to allow for the movement of paper and design imperfection, allowing you to have print where it should be.
- We are all used to no bleed printing. It is when you print a regular sheet of paper and it leaves a thin white margin around the files. But what happens if you want an image in your design to maximize all the way to the edge of the sheet? That is when the bleed comes in.
- Adding bleed to your design is necessary because having none could result in leaving a hairline white edge where thee should be no white edge at all.
- Bleed area can be different on each document or design depending on your preference.
- You can use different programs to add bleed to your design. Examples are Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign. You may watch online tutorials for a more in-depth and step by step instruction on how to use these programs.
- The bleed is an extra area that you add to your design to make sure there's no "white border" once the card or flyer is cut. The reason behind it is because the cutters that the printing shops often use are not always 100% and the pages might not always be aligned or printed perfectly. By adding bleed, you can make sure that there is color where it needs to be no matter what happens.
- Even giant size banner need it unless you don't mind having a banner that is a bit smaller; it will be trimmed smaller if there's no bleed added to your layout!
- In the printing industry, bleed is a crucial concept that deals with the edges or margins of the paper being printed on. Since printers are generally not capable of printing all the way to the outer edge of the paper. It is also used for alignment as some paper and other materials are printed at a very high speed, it can cause the paper not to feed through the printer in exact alignment.
- Full bleed printing is used to achieve a "marginless" print. However, it does not require a special printer or device. It is considered as a "trick" used by printing companies. It is basically making the design a bit larger and then trimming it down to regular size. You can even do this at your home or office printer but only if it is for a small volume or number of pages.
- The only instance that a bleed is not necessary is when there is absolutely nothing printed on all sides. Another circumstance where you might not need that extra space is when your document is provided as a "printer spread". Examples are book covers with the spine on the layout, a brochure with a fold or a greeting card. The bleed would be needed only for the printer on the outer edges.
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