How to prepare a file for print: bleed, safe margins and PDF

“The file is not suitable: we need 3 mm bleed, safe margins and a PDF.” What these requirements mean, why they exist and how to meet them in a few minutes.

You made a business card in an online editor or got a picture from a designer, sent it to the print shop – and the answer was: “The file is not suitable, we need 3 mm bleed, safe margins and a PDF.” This is not a whim of the print shop but technical requirements without which a run can come out defective.

The good news: these requirements are the same almost everywhere, and there are not many of them. Let us go through each one.

BasicsWhat bleed and safe margins are

Products are printed on large sheets and then cut in stacks. The knife can shift by a fraction of a millimetre. If the background ends exactly at the edge of a business card, a white strip appears on one side. So the background is extended beyond the edge – that is bleed.

The safe margin works in the other direction: text, the logo and important details are moved inwards from the edge so the knife does not catch them.

Requirements differ slightly between print shops – check with yours before ordering.

How-toHow to prepare a file: 4 steps

1. Open the toolGo to Print-ready file.
2. Upload the artworkJPG, PNG or PDF. A two-page PDF becomes the front and the back.
3. Choose the productBusiness card, sticker, postcard or your own size. Bleed and margins are added automatically, and the tool checks the resolution.
4. Download the PDFA separate file for the print shop and a sheet layout with crop marks. There is EPS as well.

QualityResolution and colours

300 dpi. Print needs about 118 pixels per centimetre. A 90 × 50 mm business card is a picture of at least 1063 × 591 px, a little more with bleed. A picture from a messenger or a screenshot is usually too small.

RGB and CMYK. A screen glows; paper does not. Bright “neon” screen colours come out calmer on paper. If the brand colour is critical, ask the print shop for a colour proof or give the Pantone number.

Text. Small text under 6 pt and thin light lines on a dark background can fill in. Check that the smallest lettering is readable at real size.

HonestlyThe tool adds bleed. It will not draw the artwork itself

The tool prepares what you uploaded for print: it adds bleed, checks the resolution and builds the PDF. If the picture is too small or text is pressed against the edge, it will warn you but will not fix it.

Business cards, flyers, menus, stickers and gift certificates from scratch are what we design – in your brand style from the start and with files the print shop accepts without corrections: print design.

Print the artwork on an ordinary printer at 100 % scale and cut it out with scissors. You see at once whether the text is too small and whether anything is pressed against the edge.

FilesWhich formats a print shop accepts

If the artwork was made in Word or PowerPoint, save it as PDF and check the result: the print shop will print exactly what the PDF shows.

TextOutlined fonts: what they are and why

If the print shop’s computer does not have your font, the software substitutes another – and the text “runs”. To prevent this, text is converted to outlines: the letters become a drawing that looks the same everywhere.

In PDFs from ordinary editors the fonts are usually already embedded. If a designer makes the artwork, ask for two files: a working one with live text (so it can be corrected later) and a final one with outlined text for print.

ColourBlack and large solid areas

Text in pure black. Small text is printed with black ink alone. If black is built from four inks, the slightest misregistration gives a coloured halo around the letters.

Large black areas in rich black. A solid black fill in one ink looks greyish. For a background a little of the other inks is added to black; the print shop will give the exact formula.

Solid fills on a fold. On cards and leaflets dark ink can crack along the fold. In such cases lamination or creasing is ordered.

White ink. Ordinary printing has no white: white is the colour of the paper. On kraft or coloured paper white will not print without a separate white ink.

ReferenceStandard print sizes

ChecklistChecks before sending to the print shop

1. SizeThe finished size of the product plus bleed on every side.
2. BleedBackground and photos extend 2–3 mm beyond the cut line.
3. Safe marginsText and the logo no closer than 3–5 mm to the edge.
4. ResolutionEvery photo is 300 dpi at real size.
5. TextProofread; phone numbers and addresses checked by calling and by opening the link.
6. QR codeScanned from a printout. A vector code does not blur when enlarged.
7. SidesIn double-sided artwork the front and back are labelled and oriented the same way.
8. File formatPDF, one page per side of the product.

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