What is bleed in printing and why does it matter?

Bleed is the extra 0.125 inches of artwork that extends past the trim line on all sides of your design.

• Jobs print on larger sheets that are cut down, and cutting machines can shift slightly during production.
• Without bleed, those shifts leave thin white edges on the finished piece.
• With bleed, the color runs off the edge cleanly no matter where the blade lands.
• Keep important text and logos inside a safe zone about 0.125 inches inside the trim line so nothing gets clipped.
• If a proof is rejected for missing or incorrect bleed, extend the background to the bleed line, re-export, and resubmit for a new proof.

Any full-color job that prints to the edge needs proper bleed set up in the file, built in CMYK for accurate print color.