Bleed, Bleed, Bleed and more Bleed

Good Morning!

I would like to talk about bleed and how much bleed a standard for printing is. Our standard for bleed is 1/8th (0.125") of an inch at Clinton Press. We don't need 1/4 of an inch, sometimes we can get away with 1/16th (0.062) if there is no other way around it.

Some photos may be placed at the edge of your document and the placement may only allow for 1/16th of an inch bleed, but if possible make it bleed off the page at least 1/8th of an inch.

What happens when we do not have bleed on a page or document is when the files are imposed (placed together in a spread to print on a sheet) it make leave a white line where the two pages without bleed line up in the imposition.

Usually if a customer sends a file without bleed, I will request a file with bleed. But if the file has a solid background I can usually fake the bleed myself by adding it to the outer edges in Indesign.

Please always check and plan your design. If you plan on using photos that run off the page or to the edge allow placement to bleed at least 1/8th of an inch. In Indesign you can set your document up to add 1/8th bleed around the page and you will have a guide of the placement of your elements so that they will bleed off the page.

Thanks Have a Great Day!