Bleed is one of the most important factors in any successful design. If you don’t factor it in, it can ruin your design. First lets explain bleed. Wikipedia defines bleed as “printing that goes beyond the edge of the sheet after trimming.” To be more specific with an example if you have an image or a background color that goes to the edge of your printed page, the bleed is the portion of that color and/or image that goes beyond the trim.
The standard amount of bleed in offset printing is 1/8 inch. This amount allows the printer a little variance during the bindery and trimming functions. Documents are typically cut in stacks of hundreds so the trim can vary slightly. Bleed allows for this variance so raw white paper doesn’t show on the edge of your design.
For a graphic representation of bleed check out our section on common printing mistakes
Christopher Robinson
