With the ubiquity of laser and inkjet printers in homes and office, many people have discovered they can’t create and print a document, particularly a common 8.5” x 11” sheet, with an image or graphic that extends all the way to the edge of the paper. Invariably, they discover the printer leaves a thin border (from 1/8” to 1/4”) of non-printed paper. And yet, everyone has seen printed pieces (business cards, fliers, posters, magazines, etc.) with an image extending all the way to the edge of the paper. How is this possible?
The simple answer: the piece was printed on a sheet of paper larger than the size you hold in your hand. The photo or graphic was printed to overlap where the paper would be trimmed to its final size. This overlap, the area of the image that will be trimmed away, is what printers call bleed.
However, before we discuss the topic of bleed further we need to answer the question of why an inkjet, laser printer, or a printing press can’t print a sheet of paper with ink all the way to the edge. The answer is twofold:
- The vast majority of printing devices that print on single sheets of paper (in various sizes) require an area of the paper (e.g., 1/8 to 1/4”) to be reserved for “gripping” the paper (by the printing mechanism) to enable it to be fed through the printer. By necessity, this area must be kept free of ink to make sure the gripping mechanism doesn’t slip and can latch on to the paper.
- Paper is transported through a printer or printing press via rollers of various sizes. These rollers are usually wrapped with a soft rubber membrane meant to grip the paper and aide its transport through the mechanism. If ink were applied all the way to the edge of a sheet of paper, invariably ink would overflow on to the rollers which would then spread to other rollers in the printing device. Thus, it would not be possible to keep ink from printing on areas of a sheet of paper where it was not intended to print.
Why is it Important to Understand Bleed?
Understanding bleed can help you save money! Let’s say you want to print a full-color flyer featuring a new product or service offering. An 8.5” x 11” flyer with full bleed (all 4 sides) or with a 3-sided bleed (i.e., top, left, right sides) would need to be printed on paper larger than the standard sized 8.5” x 11” sheet. Larger sheets equal higher paper costs. Most printers specify 1/8” for bleed. Designing a flyer at a finished size of 8” x 10” means there will be enough space on an 8.5” x 11” sheet of paper to allow for a 1/8” bleed margin on all sides.
Another example: you’ve designed all of your business stationery (e.g., business cards, letterhead, and #10 envelopes) with full bleeds. While this scenario does not present a significant problem for the business cards or letterhead, with the #10 business envelope a full bleed necessitates the envelope be printed on a flat sheet of paper and then folded/glued to the appropriate size. As most print shops do not offer envelope manufacturing, this requires the envelopes to be printed and manufactured by a specialty printer which adds significantly to their cost. Hence, some re-thinking of your design may be required.
In our next blog post, we’re going to discuss crop marks—the necessary companions to bleed.
Do you have questions about bleed? Give us a call (330-597-8560) and we’ll answer your questions!
