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Understanding Printing Bleeds
Jeff Lehman - 10-27-09
Bleeds are a common component of printing, but quite often a document is not set up correctly to produce the desired effect. Many times when someone sends their file to a printing company, their document bleeds are not set up correctly.
A bleed is content that runs off the edge of a finished sheet. Often sales brochures, magazines and some books will have content that bleeds off the page. Bleeds can have dramatic impact on the visual appeal.
To create a bleed, the content (usually a background color, image or border) must actually be larger than intended document size. Generally, a bleed will extend at least 1/8 of an inch from the edge of the document. It is important to keep in mind that a bleed will be cut away after printing and therefore no important content should be located in this area.
Most of todays layout or image creation software applications will have options to specify a bleed area. The application will output the file to the size of the document plus the extra space outside needed to print the bleed. In addition most have the option to overlay crop marks in order to make sure the bleed content is cut off at the correct location and the final size of the document is accurate. Many applications like Microsoft Office Applications or Open Office do not contain options to set up a bleed. If your application does not specifically allow for setting up a bleed area, there are a few options to create one.
The first option is to specify a larger document size in the document set up. For example, if the final document size is 8.5x11, set the document size to 8.75 inches by 11.25 inches. This includes the letter size document plus a 1/8 bleed all around. Even if content only bleeds off one side, it is always best to include bleed areas on all four sides.
Another option is to enlarge the content slightly so it is larger than the paper size. If you have a letter size document with no set bleed, the file could be enlarged two percent to a size of 11.22 x 8.67. This is perfect for the bleed, but anything that extends beyond 11 or 8.5 will be removed when the sheet is cut to finished size. This could be a problem if there is content essential to the document that is too close to the edge.
The last option to bleed content of the edge of a sheet is to trim the finished size just under the document size. For a letter size document, the finished size would be trimmed to 8.4 by 10.9. Depending on the application of the document, this option is easy to implement but has the same potential problem as the option above.
In all cases the bleed must extend beyond the finished size of the document. There is a very slight shift from sheet to sheet that a person can barely notice. This shift is very apparent when trying to cut a stack of sheets with edge printing down to size. There will usually be at least one or two sides with a very thin white edge. Bleeding past the edge will prevent this white edge.