What is a bleed?
Artwork must bleed an 1/8″ beyond the die cut on all sides. The die cutting machine can shift up to 3/32″. A 1/8″ bleed will ensure that the machine won’t cut into your design. A bleed does not count towards your final sticker size — you do not pay for a bleed because it is cut off. As an example, if your sticker size is 4″ x 4″ then the file you submit should be 4.25″ x 4.25″.
A bleed is a term used in the printing industry that simply means that there is printing going right to the edge of the paper. When that occurs, bleeds must be incorporated into your file. For example, if you are ordering a 4″x6″ postcard and there is printing all the way up to the edge of all four sides, you must incorporate an 1/8″ bleed on all sides. In the above example, your file or page size must be 4.25″x6.25″. If you were to draw guides on your 4.25″x6.25″ image that were 1/8″ from the edge all the way around, the area outside that box formed by your guides is the bleed area, and that area will be cut off. You must make sure that text and image you desire to appear on your card are comfortably within those guides. Another 1/8″ within the guides is an acceptable safety zone. We have taken out most of the guesswork for you by creating templates for all our standard postcard sizes that incorporate bleeds. You can download these templates for either Photoshop, Quark Express, or Ado
