Bleed is a term print shops use when printing artwork. It allows the design to go to the edge of the page. It helps to have a basic understanding of how most print shops print so you can design your templates in a way that makes them compatible and will allow your customers to get their designs printed anywhere.
What is the Bleed Area?
The bleed area, on a design, is an extra 1/8" added all the way around the design. So the end size of a 5" x 7" design, when bleed is added, is 5.25" x 7.25". This is important when you want to print all the way to the edge of the page.
Why is it Important?
Print shops do not print to the edge of a sheet a paper. They print on a large sheet of paper and then cut the design out. There is always some small margin of error when cutting, so the bleed is there to allow the printer to cut with a small amount of shift and still get a perfect looking finished result. If the bleed wasn't there, you'd see small slivers of white around the edges and the results would be less than ideal.
What Does it Mean for my Design?
It helps to know what bleed is and how it can affect your design and the customer's finished product so you can create your templates in a way that supports the bleed.
Here's what you need to do when designing, to allow for the bleed:
- Allow objects to go off the page (so they'll be shown in the bleed area).
- Do not crop objects right at the edge of the design (they need to flow off into the bleed area).
- If you add a background image, make sure it's larger than the template itself. A background image used on a 5" x 7" should be 5.25" x 7.25" so when bleed is added, the background will still be shown in the bleed area.
If you do the things listed above, your customers should not have any issues with the bleed when going to print.
How is Bleed Handled in Templett?
Bleed is an option in Templett when downloading a file. If your customer chooses this option, we'll expand the template 1/8" all the way around and show whatever was in that space. That's why it's important to make sure the design flows into that space.
After knowing and understanding what bleed is and how it affects the end printed result, you really won't have to think about it that much when you are designing. You should design with bleed in mind and all of your templates will be "bleed compatible" and your customers won't have any issues when getting their designs printed.