The importance of bleed and crop for print - explained

A simple video explaining bleed on printing for a borderless print result without losing any important art when trimming

Setting your print files up with bleed is required to run your artwork to the edge of a page.  Your art is printed on a sheet of paper with a border, then trimmed down to your required paper size.  The guillotine that cuts your page can misalign, so we ask you add 3mm bleed to your artwork to ensure you get the best results for your final poster or flyer.   

Example of a print file with bleed and without bleed.

Example of a print file with bleed and without bleed.

Why do I need to add bleed to my printing artwork?

Mechanical variations often caused by very slight guillotine movements can leave a white edge on your artwork.  If you set your art at 3mm larger than your final print, you'll ensure the end result is a beautiful, borderless poster or flyer or brochure.

How Do i add bleed to my artwork / print files?

Adobe Photoshop

  1. Open Photoshop and click File > New...

  2. Enter the FULL BLEED dimensions. 3mm to each side of the artwork.

  3. Set the Resolution at 300 pixels/inch

  4. Set the Color Mode to CMYK

Adobe Illustrator

  1. Open Illustrator and click File > New...

  2. Enter the FULL BLEED dimensions. 3mm to each side of the artwork.

  3. Set the Color Mode to CMYK

  4. Set the Raster Effects at High (300ppi)

Adobe InDesign

  1. Open InDesign and click File > New > Document...

  2. Enter the TRIM dimensions under Page Size (for example, a standard business card would have trim dimensions of 3.5" x 2")

  3. If you do not see "Bleed and Slug" at the bottom of the window, click the "More Options" button.

  4. Enter 3mm for the top, bottom, left and right bleed

Printing Templates

If you're still stuck, you can shoot through your order and we'll set up your art at no additional cost - Alternatively, our printing templates with bleed already included, can be downloaded for all our most common poster and flyer sizes here 

A Series Paper Size guides for printing

A0   841 x 1189mm NO BLEED NO TRIM MARKS
A1    594 x 841mm  NO BLEED NO TRIM MARKS
A2    420 x 594mm +3mm Bleed NO TRIM MARKS
A3    297 x 420mm +3mm Bleed NO TRIM MARKS
A4    210 x 297mm +3mm Bleed NO TRIM MARKS
A5    148 x 210mm +3mm Bleed NO TRIM MARKS
A6    105 x 148mm +3mm Bleed NO TRIM MARKS
DL    100 x 210mm +3mm Bleed NO TRIM MARKS