File Prep 101: Bleeds

Hello Sally,

No printer, not even the experts at Beeline+Blue, can print right to the edge of a cut sheet. To achieve full-flood printing on things like brochures and handouts, we print a slightly larger document and cut off the excess.

That excess has a fancy name—bleed—because the art must "bleed" off the document borders to achieve an edge-to-edge print look.

Bleeds are necessary for all cut-sheet prints, but display graphics and our fine art printers don't use bleeds. Confused whether your job is a cut-sheet project? Wonder if your files should include bleeds? Just call us. We can talk you through what your artwork needs to print quickly and accurately.

File Prep 101: Bleeds

We ask that your cut-sheet graphics files include a bleed. What is that?

The outer corner marks are called bleed marks, and the inner ones—indicating the final dimensions– are called trim marks.

Do your designs for cut-sheet components like brochures, handouts and booklets have printing to the edge of the piece?

We print those designs with the art extending beyond the cut edge of the piece, and then trim off the excess to achieve the final look. That extension of art is called a bleed. And printing that floods a sheet with art edge-to-edge is called full bleed printing. Bleeds help account for paper movement as a file is printed and trimmed, ensuring that no unprinted edges occur in the final trimmed document.

If you're unsure how to create a bleed in your file, give us a call and we can (with a slight up-charge) add bleeds to your files for you.

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