What is bleed in the print world?
Bleed refers to the part of the product that will be taken off when it is cut to the finished size.
Bleed Zone:
The bleed zone refers to the black line in this picture. This part of the picture will be trimmed automatically, but it is just there to extend the colors of the image.
Trim Zone:
A trim zone is there in case the product needs to be cut for something. The trim zone is important to know so that if you have text that you need to include on the product, you don’t want to have it within this zone.
Safe Zone:
The area within this zone is safe for anything. It is safe for text, pictures, and everything you can think of. There is no way that it would be damaged by trimming. Anything important that goes on your print design needs to be within the safe zone.
What is a border?
A border is an edge or boundary on a print product that outlines the actual design.
Should you include borders on your products?
Borders might look pretty, but borders on print products are not necessary. Many printing companies recommend that you do not include borders on your design because there are many shifts that can occur in the cutting process.
Example:
Here is an example of what we are talking about. Let’s say that you are trying to print the product on the left. You want the border included on the picture to be printed. The picture on the right has the bleed zone, trim zone, and safe zone labeled.
The red lines in this picture show where this product could be trimmed at. The problem with trimming products with borders is also the fact that the chances of the border not being even on every side is extremely high as well. Our advice is to not include borders and let the physical edge to be the border.
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