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When graphic designers or printers mention the word "bleed," it doesn't mean that they just sliced their thumb off with an X-acto knife. Bleed is a term used to refer to ink that runs all the way to the edge of a trimmed page. If your design calls for ink to extend to the edge of the paper (the "trim"), your ink is "bleeding" off the page, and you need to build a bleed into your document before you release it to be printer.
Can't the printer just print to the edge of the paper?
No, an offset printing press cannot run ink to the very edge of the paper. If your design calls for ink to run to the edge of the paper, your printer will have to print the piece on a sheet of paper that's larger than the actual size of your document. He will then trim the larger sheet of paper down to actual trim size. You will build a bleed into your document that extends beyond your trim size. Therefore, the trim is taken inside an area of color, which ensures that no slivers of white show at paper's edge.
How do I build a bleed into my document?
If you have created your document in a page layout program (like QuarkXpress) or illustration program (like Adobe Illustrator), and you set your document size as your actual trim size, you simply need to extend any areas of color beyond the boundaries of your document. Now isn't the time to get sloppy. Determine the exact bleed measurment that you need, and extend any area of color to that measurement.
There is no "standard" bleed size. A common bleed for an offset press job is 1/8" in the United States. However, I recommend that you call your printer and ask him how much bleed he requires. Different printing methods will differ in the amount of bleed needed.
For demonstration purposes, let's say you're designing a postcard that is 5" x 8" at final size. Your printer required requires a 1/8" bleed. You'll set up your document in a page layout program like QuarkXpress, and your new document size will be 5" x 8". If you have any picture boxes containing images or color that go to the edge of your page, you will make the picture boxes bigger, extending the width or height of those picture boxes to 1/8" (.125") beyond the boundaries of your document. It may be helpful to bring guides into your file, each placed .125" outside your document boundaries, so that you can simply snap the appropriate side of your picture box to the designated bleed line. Your ultimate "bleed size" will be 5.25" x 8.25" if color bleeds on all four sides. Your "trim size" is 5" x 8".
If you're building a file for which your document size and trim size are not the same, i.e. an ad with slug requirements or a die-cut pocket folder, your actual document size will be larger than your trim size. In this case, create crop marks within your document to indicate the trim size of your design. Create a second set of crop marks to indicate the bleed area. You will then extend any images out to your bleed marks to create your bleed.
If you using a program like Photoshop to create your document, or using a full background image that you import into your page layout program, you do not have the luxury of a pasteboard area that extends beyond your document size. You will need to set your document size to your bleed size or larger, not your trim size. You may find it helpful to pull guides into your file, and set them at your trim lines. This allows you to easily see what will be cut off when the printer takes the trim.
When do I build the bleed into my document?
You can either build your bleed into your files as you build your document, or wait until you're going through your pre-press preparations to release the file to the printer. (The exception to this is if you're building your layout in Photoshop. When using Photoshop, you must build your bleed into your document file dimensions.)
I tend to wait until my final pre-press file preparation to build my bleed. As I design a page, I don't want to see what won't be there on the final piece. That's just my preference; either way is acceptable. The important thing is that you remember to do it before releasing your file to the printer.
Is there anything else I should keep in mind?
Of course! You don't think I'd let you get off that easy, do you?
First, if you wait until the pre-press preparation to build your bleed, there's a hidden danger—literally. When you're using images in your layout that bleed off your page, and you didn't initially build your bleed, you need to keep one thing in mind: When you import these images into your page layout program, remember that you'll be pulling a bleed later. When you pull the handles on your picture box to extend it to your bleed marks, there had better be image there! If you have final approval on a layout, then find that you forgot about your bleed, you've got to either enlarge the image to fill the bleed area, or move the picture. Either way, you're forced to modify an approved layout. Avoid this at all costs.
Second, if you're doing spreads, you need to know which sides of your pages will bleed and which don't. Remember, bleeds extend beyond the trim. If you're doing a saddle-stitched catalog with facing pages, the area where the two pages meet is called a "gutter." You don’t build a bleed on this edge of your page, because it's not a trimmed edge of the page. It's a side that butts up to another page. You only bleed the outside edges of your spreads.
Third, if your using a page layout program that gives you bleed options in your print dialog box, like QuarkXpress, these options only affect the printing of your document, not the building of it. If you set your print options to include a designated bleed amount, it will only print that amount—it doesn't build the bleed for you. The bleed needs to be built into your document by you.
Remember, it is the responsibility of the graphic designer—not the printer—to build a bleed into a document. If you do not supply documents with proper bleeds, it is well within your printer's rights to either charge you to fix the file, or reject the file and return it to you to fix.
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