@marthadimeoSummary: In this article, you will learn everything you need to know about page bleeds: What page bleeds are; Why they’re necessary; And how to setup your print jobs so they’ll fly through the preflight check with flying colors.
What’s a Page Bleed and Why Do They Matter?
If you have ever sent a print job to your print service provider only to have it rejected because the bleeds were insufficient, you may have asked yourself the question posed in the title of this article—It’s only 1/8”… 3 tiny little millimeters…what’s the big deal?
Or, perhaps you are new to print production and have no idea what a page bleed is. In either case, read on. You’ll learn everything you need to know to set up your print jobs properly so they will fly through the preflight check process and print perfectly.
Business Cards to Billboards
The issue of page bleeds comes into play whether you’re designing a business card, a postcard, a single-page flyer, a multi-page layout, a book cover, a poster, or a billboard. In other words, they always come into play. If your layout has images or a colored background that is meant to extend to the edge of the page, bleeds are something you absolutely must pay attention to.
It’s all About the Trim
If a photograph or graphic element is intended to extend to the edge of the page the image must be large enough so that it extends past the trim line into the area of your document called the bleed
.
The standard size of the bleed area is 1/8 inch (or 3mm if you’re metrically inclined). The purpose of this additional image area is to allow for variance in the trimming process. When the cutting blade comes down, it doesn’t always hit the trim line exactly. Without a bleed, there would be an unsightly—and amateurish-looking—white edge.
Setting Up Page Bleeds in InDesign
InDesign makes it easy to ensure images are large enough to cover the bleed area. In the New Document dialog box there is the option to set the bleed width. When this option is selected, a guide is created outside of the final document trim dimensions. Simply open all picture boxes to that guide line. If the photo does not fill the picture box, you’ll know the photo needs to be enlarged.
Additionally, you can use InDesign’s Preflight Check feature to warn you if bleeds are insufficient. Go to the Window menu then Output>Preflight>Define Profiles>Document Settings.
Printer Templates
If you work with templates provided by online printer service providers, the templates will have bleed and trim lines built into the file.
Here’s an example of a template from 4by6.com, an online printer that specializes in postcards and business cards for the art and photography market.
As you can see, the guides make it very easy to assess whether the graphics placed in the document cover the bleed area and the guides also make it easy to check that the text in the layout is positioned in the Safe Area. More on text placement below.
Sometimes It’s About the Aspect Ratio
Although it’s only an 1/8” (or 1/4″ if the image bleeds on both the left and right, or top and bottom) sometimes the photo is just not big enough to cover the area.
If the photo is too small the problem can be solved in one of two ways. The photo can simply be enlarged by a few percentages. Or, the photo can be extended. Meaning, changing the dimensions of the photo by extending the photo on the side that needs to fill the bleed area.
Essentially, by creating an extension, you’re changing the aspect ratio of the photograph to match the aspect ratio of the picture box. More often than not, this is the solution that is needed. Simply because enlarging the photo often creates an undesirable crop of the image. Here’s an example.
Had I chosen the easier method of simply enlarging the photo, the flowers on the top of the cake would have been cropped off even more than how they appear in the un-retouched photo. Additionally, the sides of the cake would have landed too close to the edges of the picture box. So the better solution was to create the top of the flower that was cropped off when the cake was photographed and to extend the greenery in the background.
Art Postcards — What’s in a name? Everything.
If you’ve visited the Portfolio Galleries, you know that art reproduction is one of my specialties. So working with artists and galleries to produce promotional collateral is part of my day-to-day work. Working with images of paintings has its own particular requirements.
Text Placement
Here’s an example where alterations were needed to fix both the bleed requirements and the Save Area requirement for text placement.
As you can see, the painting’s dimension does not quite fit the aspect ratio of the postcard. An extension is needed on the left, top, and bottom to cover the bleed area. There’s also a second problem—a problem even bigger than the potential of having amateurish-looking white edges on the postcard. The artist’s signature is not in the Safe Area. If left unedited it would be chopped off in the final piece. Totally unacceptable! And, from a marketing perspective, chopping off the artist’s name is a missed opportunity for name recognition when the postcard lands in the hands of a potential collector.
Creating The Print-Ready Version
Photoshop to the rescue. I extended the background on the three sides and moved the artist’s signature up so it sits comfortably within the Safe Area.
And finally, here’s the printed postcard, trimmed-to-size with the artist’s signature clearly visible to potential collectors.
The Takeaway
With all that goes into the design and production of a printed piece, the issue of page bleeds can be easily overlooked. Attending to this small but critical detail at the layout stage of the project will save you time and the frustration of having your job flagged at the printer. But most importantly—should it slip through the cracks at the printer—it will save you from the disappointing results of having unsightly white edges on the final printed piece.
As with so many aspects of design and print production, attention to the details is key.
ChromaQueen Can Help
Do you need assistance with print production, building page bleeds, or preparing files for the printer? ChromaQueen can help. Let’s chat or shoot me a message about the project.
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Words & Photo Retouching: Martha DiMeo/The ChromaQueen
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