Shellharbour City
Print Shop
Business printing, photocopying, Canva and Etsy invitation printing, flyers, brochures and more
What Is Bleed?
If you've ever sent artwork to a printer and been asked to include bleed, you're not alone. It's one of the most common questions we hear from customers.
The good news is that bleed is actually a very simple concept.
Bleed is the part of your artwork that extends beyond the finished size of the printed piece. It helps ensure colours, backgrounds and images print right to the edge without leaving unwanted white borders after trimming.
Whether you're designing business cards, flyers, brochures, invitations or posters, understanding bleed is an important part of preparing print-ready artwork.
What Does Bleed Mean In Printing?
When a printed job is produced, it is usually printed on a larger sheet before being trimmed down to its final size.
Because trimming machines have a small tolerance, the cut may vary slightly by a fraction of a millimetre. If your artwork stops exactly at the finished edge, even a tiny shift during trimming can leave a thin white line around the edge of the print.
Bleed solves this problem by extending your artwork beyond the final trim size.
This means that even if the cut moves slightly during production, the colour or image still extends all the way to the edge.
A Simple Example
Imagine you're printing an A4 flyer with a blue background.
If the blue background ends exactly at the edge of the flyer, a tiny movement during trimming could reveal a white border.
If the blue background extends 3mm beyond the edge of the flyer, the trimming machine can cut anywhere within the normal tolerance and the finished flyer will still have colour right to the edge.
That's why professional printers ask for bleed.
How Much Bleed Do I Need?
For most commercial printing, the standard bleed requirement is:
3mm on all sides
For example:
Finished SizeFile Size With Bleed
A4 (210 × 297mm)216 × 303mm
A5 (148 × 210mm)154 × 216mm
Business Card (90 × 55mm)96 × 61mm
The extra 3mm around each edge is the bleed area.
What Is The Trim Line?
The trim line is the final size of your printed piece after it has been cut.
Anything outside the trim line will be removed during trimming.
The bleed area exists outside the trim line and acts as a safety margin to ensure backgrounds and images continue right to the edge.
What Should Extend Into The Bleed Area?
Anything that touches the edge of the finished print should extend into the bleed area.
This includes:
• Background colours
• Background patterns
• Photos
• Graphics
• Design elements that run to the edge
If it touches the edge of the finished piece, it should continue through the bleed area.
What Should NOT Go In The Bleed Area?
Important information should never be placed in the bleed area.
This includes:
• Names
• Phone numbers
• Email addresses
• Logos
• Small text
• QR codes
Anything important should sit safely inside the trim line.
As a general guide, keep important content at least 3–5mm inside the finished edge.
This area is often called the "safe zone".
What Happens If My File Doesn't Have Bleed?
Files without bleed can cause several problems.
These include:
• Unwanted white borders around the edge
• Extra artwork adjustments before printing
• Production delays
• Rejected print files in some cases
If you're unsure whether your file includes bleed, we're always happy to check it before printing.
Bleed vs Crop Marks
Bleed and crop marks are often confused, but they're different things.
Bleed is the extra artwork that extends beyond the final size.
Crop marks are small lines that show the printer where the job should be trimmed.
Most professional print PDFs include both bleed and crop marks.
Do Business Cards Need Bleed?
Yes.
Business cards, flyers, brochures, postcards, invitations and most professionally printed products should include bleed whenever colour, images or design elements extend to the edge.
Even small items such as business cards can show white edges if bleed is not supplied.
Need Help Setting Up Bleed?
If you're not sure whether your artwork has bleed, don't worry.
At Shellharbour City Print Shop, we check artwork every day and can help ensure your files are ready for professional printing.
Whether you've designed your artwork in Canva, Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop or another design program, we're happy to answer questions and help you achieve the best possible print result.
What Bleed Is Not
In printing, the term bleed refers to artwork that extends beyond the final trim size. It has nothing to do with ink soaking through paper.
Sometimes customers notice dark colours, large solid areas, or heavy ink coverage showing through to the other side of a sheet and describe this as "bleed". In printing, this is usually called show-through (or sometimes print show-through).
Show-through occurs when ink on one side of the paper becomes visible from the other side, particularly when using lighter paper stocks or designs with heavy ink coverage.
For example, a flyer printed on thin paper with a large black background may show some visibility of the reverse side when held up to the light. This is show-through, not bleed.
If show-through is a concern, choosing a heavier paper stock can often reduce the effect.
In simple terms:
• Bleed = Artwork extending past the trim edge.
• Show-through = Printing visible through the paper from the opposite side.
That distinction can help avoid confusion when discussing artwork setup and print quality.
Need help with bleed or preparing a print-ready file? Contact our team today.
