Just had a print shop tell me my bleed was set up wrong on all my flyers for the last 3 years - the crop marks were inside the trim area the whole time

I was lining up my artwork to the crop marks instead of extending it past them, and it took the guy literally 30 seconds at the counter to show me my mistake, so has anyone else been doing bleeds totally backwards without realizing it?

2 comments

2 Comments

michaelcoleman12h ago

Took me three print jobs and a lot of wasted money before a guy at the counter showed me the same thing, @felix478. I had been putting my crop marks right on the edge of the artwork thinking that was the trim line. Now I just add a half inch border of my background color on all four sides and set the marks a little bit outside that. It's such a simple fix but once you see it you can't unsee it.

felix47812h ago

The print shop caught the same mistake for me a few years back. I just started adding a quarter inch of extra space around everything and setting the marks outside that area. Now I always double check by showing a proof to someone who runs presses before sending the final file.

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