UNDERSTANDING PRINTING AND GRAPHIC TERMS

We work with a lot of different people who have different levels of experience working with printers and design softwares and often see a lot of the same mistakes. These mistakes can slow progress, reduce the quality of your project, or can even increase the price of your order. Sending us your press-ready high-resolution PDF files is essential !

Bleed Area

Bleed avoids the white edges on your work. If you’re creating material that has a background, shape, line, or image spanning from edge to edge, you’ll want to add a bleed. The bleed area ensures that your posters, flyers, bookmarks, etc. doesn’t have a white edge once it’s cut.

Crop Marks Or Trim Marks

Crop marks are the lines printed in the corner of your PDF that tells us where to cut. Anything past the trim mark will be cut off. Show us the edge of your work, so we know exactly where to trim it.

Adding Bleed Marks And Crop Marks

Add 0.25” to all sides. For example if you’re printing a 8.5” x 11” flyer, your PDF should be 8.75” x 11.25” including the bleed and crop marks.

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FEBRUARY 8, 2023 AT SGW

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ARE CROP MARKS NECESSARY?

If you’re creating a document that is the exact size you want it to be when it’s trimmed, you might not need to add trim marks.

If your document needs to be cut, and you have any assets within your printing material the span edge to edge, adding bleed and crop marks are necessary.

Otherwise, your final print might have some irregularities on the edges.

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HOW DO I SET UP BLEED AND EXPORT PDF FILES?

Adobe Photoshop

1. Open a new document, setting your dpi (resolution) to 300 pixel/inch.

2. When choosing the dimensions of the document add .25” to the width and height (allowing for .125” on all sides). For example, if you want a 5”x7” postcard to have a bleed, the Photoshop file must be set to 5.25”x7.25”.

3. Once the dimensions are set, use the guide tool to set guides at .125” for the height and width to designate where the bleed area will be.

4. Design with the bleed area in mind, making sure not to put crucial text or images within the area.

5. Save the document as a PDF.

Adobe Indesign

1. Open a new document. Select Bleed and Slug and enter .125” for top, bottom, left, and right values

2. Check the Preview box in the dialogue box to see what the bleed area will look like on your document (it will be represented by a red guide). Any elements that bleed must extend to the red box.

3. Use the bleed guides while positioning your artwork or design to ensure that your design fits within the lines.

4. Export your document as a PDF using the Highest Quality Print setting. Under the Marks and Bleed tab, check the Use Document Bleed Settings box and verify that .125” is entered for top, bottom, left, and right values.

Adobe Illustrator

1. Open a new document.

2. In the New Document dialogue window, enter .125” for top, bottom, left, and right values

3. A red box will appear around your document, indicating where the bleed area is.

4. Any elements that bleed must extend to the red box.

5. Under the File dropdown menu, select Save As and save your document as a PDF (choose Adobe PDF in the Format dropdown menu in the Save As dialogue box). Click Save. Then, under the Marks and Bleed tab, check the Use Document Bleed Settings box.

You can use free online tool to help you resize, verify and convert your files.

In Microsoft Word

1. Start by creating a blank document

2. Choose the ‘Layout’ tab

3. Under the “Size” icon, click on ‘More Paper Sizes’

4. The Page Setup window will appear, and here you can input the custom sizes.

5. In this tab you must pick the paper size and then choose a custom size. For example, if the book is 8.5” wide x 11” high, adjust it to the size

8.75” x 11.25” by adding the 0.25” margins to the original size.

6. Save your file as a PDF.

In Canvas

1. Extend the design beyond the pages edge to get the bleed effect.

2. On the top right click share, then click download. Under the file type select the PDF print option.

3. The crop marks and bleed should be automatically put in for you.

4. Export to PDF

You can use free online tool to help you resize, verify and convert your files.

How do I add crop and bleed marks in Adobe PDF?

Choose Tools > Print Production > Add Printer Marks. Your file (s) must be set up with bleed in order to work.

Add Printer Marks

Specify the pages to mark.

Specify the marks and setting, use 0.25”

SAVE/EXPORT DOCUMENT

Your document will have bleed and crop marks and is now ready for print!