WHAT IS BLEED IN THE WORLD OF PRINTING?

If you’ve heard the design & printing term “bleed” you may wonder why it's so important for your files to include it. “Well I don’t want my ink to bleed, so what are you asking me?” 

Bleed is a relatively simple concept: it is the printing that extends past the edge of the final trimmed print size. Including proper bleed in your design ensures that the final printed product does not have a white margin. 

The minimum amount of bleed is 0.125” (1/8th of an inch) for smaller print jobs (posters, business cards, forms, etc) and 0.25” (1/4 of an inch) for larger jobs (large posters, banners, etc). Each printer may have different bleed requirements so be sure to check. 

Keep in mind that since bleed is past the edge of the page everything in the bleed area will be trimmed off, so don’t put anything important in this area! 

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