Part 1: Understanding Bleeds

“This file you sent does not bleed.”

What sounds like a morbid statement from your designer actually refers to an extra bit of ink printed around the edge of your file that will later be trimmed off to give your printed piece a clean ink-to-the-edge aesthetic.

If the final size of a postcard is going to be 8.5” x 5.5” and you don’t want to have a homemade-looking white border around the design, then you will have to build some bleeds around the edge of your piece. Usually 1/8 of an inch (.125”) is adequate, however some printers are more specific about the size of bleed necessary for good output.

The size of the document sent to press becomes 8.75” x 5.75” and should be sent to the printer with instructions that a .125” bleed was included on all four sides and should be trimmed away once printed.

This has bearing on your in-house pieces as well. If a designer is going to be preparing a file for you to print on a color copier in the back room at your church, they will need to know some information from you about that machine before work can begin.

Supposing the piece a designer crafts for you has a largely navy blue background with white (reversed) text. The piece is meant to be a letter, so the finished size is to be 8.5” x 11”. There are two choices:

1) Have the designer build the file with no bleeds. This means that the final file dimensions will be 8.5” x 11” exactly, and that their design will have to include some sort of white space around all four edges of the design to make sure that the file accommodates the machine’s margin printing limitations.

2) Instruct the designer to build the file with bleeds. In this case, the final file they send will be oversize (8.75” x 11.25”), which means it is no longer printable on standard letter paper. If this is the workflow you choose, you will need to print the file centered on tabloid (11” x17”) paper and trim off the extra ink once the file has printed.

Introduction

“Did you receive the concept comps I sent via pdf?”

“There is not adequate DPI in this file for press.”

“The file you sent has no bleeds.”

You and your colleagues can throw around terms like ‘missiology’ and ‘eschatological’ with the best of them. You communicate the word of God in clear and relevant ways week after week. You skillfully guide the downtrodden through counseling conversations that bring hope from the throes of despair.

“Why then,” you rightfully inquire “can it be so difficult to communicate with my graphic designer?”

The answer is a bouquet of factors, most stemming from the combination of industry-specific vocabulary and sensory-driven artist personalities. Communicating with an artist is an issue worth discussing, and the staff of ChurchGraphics.org will broach the topic soon. Until then, this series of articles is intended to take a touch of mystery out of the ubiquitous lingo that designers will throw your way.