What is a Bleed in Commercial Printing and How to Use It
Commercial printing often requires the use of a bleed, which is an important concept to understand when creating artwork for printed products. A bleed is extra image, design element, or background color that extends beyond the final cut edge of the printed page, preventing any white edges from appearing on the finished product. In this article, we’ll explain what exactly printer bleed is and why it's essential for commercial printing. We’ll also provide some tips and tricks to help you get started with designing artwork with bleeds.
What is a Bleed in Commercial Printing?
A bleed is an important concept to understand when it comes to commercial printing. It is extra image, background color, or design elements that extend beyond the trim edge of the printed page, preventing any white edges from appearing on the finished product. In other words, it helps to make sure that all parts of the design are visible, even on the edges.
To achieve this, you need to create artwork with bleeds. This means that your artwork should have extra elements extending beyond the edges of your page so that it can be trimmed down and still look perfect upon printing. The amount of bleed you need depends on the size of your project: usually, a standard bleed for commercial printing is 0.125 inches (1/8th inch) for each side. This ensures that there are no white edges on the finished product after trimming and allows for any small misalignment during cutting or trimming.
Designing with bleeds also involves making sure that all important text or images are kept at least 0.125 inches inside from all four cut sides of the document’s boundaries as these will get cut off when trimmed down. As such, you should ensure that all important elements of your design are securely inside these boundaries and won’t be lost during trimming or cutting.
Creating artwork with bleeds can be tricky, especially if you’re dealing with complex designs or intricate details, so it’s best to consult professional help if necessary to ensure accuracy and precision when working with bleeds in commercial printing projects. Doing so will help ensure high-quality results and avoid any costly mistakes down the line due to incorrect designs or calculations when working with bleeds in print projects.
To achieve this, you need to create artwork with bleeds. This means that your artwork should have extra elements extending beyond the edges of your page so that it can be trimmed down and still look perfect upon printing. The amount of bleed you need depends on the size of your project: usually, a standard bleed for commercial printing is 0.125 inches (1/8th inch) for each side. This ensures that there are no white edges on the finished product after trimming and allows for any small misalignment during cutting or trimming.
Designing with bleeds also involves making sure that all important text or images are kept at least 0.125 inches inside from all four cut sides of the document’s boundaries as these will get cut off when trimmed down. As such, you should ensure that all important elements of your design are securely inside these boundaries and won’t be lost during trimming or cutting.
Creating artwork with bleeds can be tricky, especially if you’re dealing with complex designs or intricate details, so it’s best to consult professional help if necessary to ensure accuracy and precision when working with bleeds in commercial printing projects. Doing so will help ensure high-quality results and avoid any costly mistakes down the line due to incorrect designs or calculations when working with bleeds in print projects.
Why is it Important for Commercial Printing?
A bleed is important for commercial printing because it ensures that the edges of printed materials are clean and crisp with no white edges showing. Without a bleed, there is a risk of misalignment during cutting or trimming which can result in uneven edges, jagged lines, or even missing pieces of artwork. A bleed also helps to avoid margins and other design elements being cut off at the edge of the page when trimmed down.
Having a bleed on your designs also helps to properly match colors between different printed products since the colors can be consistently reproduced without any discrepancies. This is especially important for larger prints since slight discrepancies tend to be more noticeable in these cases. The use of bleeds also makes sure that all parts of the design are visible, including overlapped elements like text boxes, images, and logos.
In addition to its visual benefits, using a bleed helps to ensure accuracy during production. Bleeds help provide guidelines as to where the paper should be cut so that there are no mistakes during trimming or cutting processes. Bleeds also create an extra buffer zone around your design so that any minor errors caused by misalignment don’t affect the overall look and feel of your finished product.
Finally, designing with bleeds helps save time and money during production since there is no need for manual trimming or alignment processes before printing due to its automated nature. This makes it easier and faster to get large-scale projects done in an efficient manner while still ensuring high-quality results every time.
Having a bleed on your designs also helps to properly match colors between different printed products since the colors can be consistently reproduced without any discrepancies. This is especially important for larger prints since slight discrepancies tend to be more noticeable in these cases. The use of bleeds also makes sure that all parts of the design are visible, including overlapped elements like text boxes, images, and logos.
In addition to its visual benefits, using a bleed helps to ensure accuracy during production. Bleeds help provide guidelines as to where the paper should be cut so that there are no mistakes during trimming or cutting processes. Bleeds also create an extra buffer zone around your design so that any minor errors caused by misalignment don’t affect the overall look and feel of your finished product.
Finally, designing with bleeds helps save time and money during production since there is no need for manual trimming or alignment processes before printing due to its automated nature. This makes it easier and faster to get large-scale projects done in an efficient manner while still ensuring high-quality results every time.
Adding printer bleed to your documents in InDesign is simple and straightforward. Follow these steps to make sure your documents look professional and printed correctly:
- Open the document that you want to add bleed to in InDesign.
- Select the ‘File’ menu, and then select 'Document Setup'.
- In the section labeled 'Bleed and Slug', enter a value of 0.125 inches or higher for all four options (Top, Bottom, Left, Right). This will define how far the elements should extend beyond the edges of the page before it is cut.
- Click 'OK' when you're finished setting up your bleed values.
- Create or move any elements on your page so that they are at least 0.125 inches away from all four edges of its corresponding artboard/page size (not including objects bleed outside of them). If an element can’t be moved far enough away due to space constraints, consider shrinking it slightly or substituting a different element altogether.
- When you're satisfied with your design, export it as a PDF/X-1a file so that your bleeds are recognized in the print-ready pdf you are supplying. This will help our cutting and trimming processes.
That's all there is to know about adding printer bleed in InDesign!
New Indesign Document with Bleed
New Indesign Document with Bleed
Tips and Tricks to Design Artwork with Bleeds
When designing artwork with bleeds, there are a few tips and tricks you should keep in mind to ensure beautiful and precise results. First and foremost, it’s important to determine the bleed size for your project beforehand. As mentioned before, a standard bleed for commercial printing is usually 0.125 inches (1/8th inch) for each side; however, depending on the size of your project, you may need to adjust this accordingly so that all margins remain within the set boundaries.
Another tip is to make sure that all important text or images are kept at least 0.125 inches away from all four sides of the document’s boundaries since these will get cut off when trimmed down. You should also be mindful of any overlapped elements like text boxes, images, and logos; these should also be kept away from the boundaries so as not to get cut off during trimming or cutting processes.
It’s also beneficial to use grids when designing artwork with bleeds as these help create precision and accuracy in terms of placement and sizing of elements. Grids can also help ensure consistency between different printed products by providing guidelines as to how much space should be given between elements or objects in order to maintain proper alignments and balance throughout your design.
Finally, if you are unsure about whether or not your design has been prepared correctly with bleeds, it’s always best to consult professional help or use software programs specifically designed for working with print projects like Adobe InDesign or Corel Draw which have tools that can help check if your design meets industry standards before sending it off for printing. This helps avoid any costly mistakes due to incorrect designs or calculations when working with bleeds in a commercial printing project.
Overall, using a bleed when designing artwork is an important aspect of commercial printing as it ensures visually appealing results without any white edges on the finished product while also helping save time and money during production by eliminating manual trimming processes. Following these tips and tricks should help you create beautiful designs with accuracy every time!
Another tip is to make sure that all important text or images are kept at least 0.125 inches away from all four sides of the document’s boundaries since these will get cut off when trimmed down. You should also be mindful of any overlapped elements like text boxes, images, and logos; these should also be kept away from the boundaries so as not to get cut off during trimming or cutting processes.
It’s also beneficial to use grids when designing artwork with bleeds as these help create precision and accuracy in terms of placement and sizing of elements. Grids can also help ensure consistency between different printed products by providing guidelines as to how much space should be given between elements or objects in order to maintain proper alignments and balance throughout your design.
Finally, if you are unsure about whether or not your design has been prepared correctly with bleeds, it’s always best to consult professional help or use software programs specifically designed for working with print projects like Adobe InDesign or Corel Draw which have tools that can help check if your design meets industry standards before sending it off for printing. This helps avoid any costly mistakes due to incorrect designs or calculations when working with bleeds in a commercial printing project.
Overall, using a bleed when designing artwork is an important aspect of commercial printing as it ensures visually appealing results without any white edges on the finished product while also helping save time and money during production by eliminating manual trimming processes. Following these tips and tricks should help you create beautiful designs with accuracy every time!
No Blood Required
After things have been printed, the items are cut to final size (for flat items) or folded and assembled and then trimmed to the final size (for booklets or other multi-page products).
If you have questions on how much bleed to supply, your customer service representative or sales rep can further assist you. And answer any more questions about "What is printer bleed?"
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