A Printer’s Guide to Bleed and Crop Marks

When designing print materials, you’ll often hear printing terms like “bleed” and “crop marks.” But what do they mean? Here’s a quick primer:

Bleed refers to printing that goes beyond the edge of the finished page size. For products like brochures, booklets, and flyers, we recommend adding 0.125” bleed. This bleed allows imagery or color to print to the very edge of the paper, without any white margins.

Crop marks serve as guides for the printer, showing where the paper should be trimmed to final size. Crop marks are thin vertical and horizontal lines that extend 0.125” beyond the edge of the bleed.

For best results:

• Set up files for single-page spreads, not printer spreads

• Export PDFs with 0.125” bleed and crop marks

• Ensure artwork extends into the bleed area

• Provide 0.5” safety margin for text/logos

With adequate bleed and clearly marked crop lines, the printer can produce accurately trimmed, professional products with vibrant full-page printing. Having no bleed could leave white edges as the paper shifts during printing and trimming.

For multi-page print products, individual PDFs for each page work best. Printer spreads can complicate the process. Simply export each page as a single-page PDF.

Following these bleed and crop mark guidelines ensures a beautiful final printed piece. Have questions? Reach out anytime. We’re ready to make your next print project look its best!