Bleed - major confusion. Please help!

[grynch]

Hey there. I am doing brochures/ print ads for my company. I have read the explanations for what "bleed" is but I just don't get it. Here are the required specs for the latest job I am working on:

It will be a 1/2 page horizontal ad in a magazine.

No bleed document size: 7.375" x 4.875"

Bleed document size: 8.25" x 5.125"

Final bleed size: 8.75" x 5.625"

Final checklist: 1/4" bleed on all edges

This is all Greek to me. Can anyone shed some light? Much appreciated.

Thank you,

-Aaron.

[uncle carbunkle]

those seem like funny numbers for bleed, but i've been known to be wrong...

a simple explaination of what bleed is, is this: the printer won't print your document 100% exactly perfectly just the way you see it on your screen. they need to print it all a little larger, then trim it down. if you don't give them a little extra around the edges you'll have some wonkey edges when it gets cut...and since you don't want any white space or odd colours, you make your document slightly larger (bleed). so, if you've got a big coloured page, take your background colour/image and make it the size the printer has asked for. if you are still confused about how to set up your file, call the printer. i should imagine they'd rather field a 'silly' question from you and have you set up your file properly, rather than have to send it back or make corrections themselves.

i hope that helps, and welcome to the forum. there are lots of printing/prepress resources to be found in the resource section of this forum. they'll help you a lot, i'm sure.

...Ruffa' dan ruff, tuffa' dan tuff...

[3howards]

those are odd bleed specs, usually an 1/8' all around will do. that's a 1/4' added to the overall dimensions of the finished ad.

Instead of focusing on what you won’t be about, decide what you will be about and make that good thing the central aim of your life. -- Pieter Van Waarde

[grynch]

Thanks guys. I think I've got it...

[DeleteYourself]

What they said, and usually you'll need to keep all 'live material,' or the important stuff in your design such as text and vital graphics, a certain distance from the edge of the page. Usually, 1/8' from each edge. That way nothing important gets cut off. Every printer has different specs, though, check with them to be safe.

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[Keyare]

UHHHHH!!!!!

Since when do we BLEED a Half Page Ad?

Oxygen's for losers.

[PrintDriver]

LOL @ Key.
I'm curious about the 7/8' difference in the first two bleeds.
And why you'd need another 1/2' on top of that.
I don't even ask for that much on a 4'x8' mural.

PrintDriver is a large format digital print dude. His advice/opinions may not apply to the 4color/offset/web world of printing

[D-Frag]

are you by chance my old boss?? is your name Steve???

http://www.pillargraphicdesign.com/dfrag/dfragsig.jpg

[D-Zine]

LOL @ Key!

That's a really good question...why do you need to 'bleed' the ad AT ALL? You don't have to worry about a bleed if its an ad gettin placed in a magazine.

I'm confuzzled??

Boobie Island or Bust!

[uncle carbunkle]

ah...aha....ah haha...


what i MEANT to say was...oh man. okay. i can't read.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v290/ylaenna/badassbuddy_com-add.gif <-i'll thank yleanna for...something...lalala.

...Ruffa' dan ruff, tuffa' dan tuff...

Post Edited (uncle carbunkle) : 7/28/2004 7:19:53 PM GMT

[Keyare]

"It will be a 1/2 page horizontal ad in a magazine."




;)

Oxygen's for losers.

Post Edited (Keyare) : 7/28/2004 7:13:39 PM GMT

[DeleteYourself]

Methinks the production director for the magazine is a little dim.

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[D-Zine]

Yeah ^^ what Key said ^^

If its for a magazine, the bleed is totally a NON issue...it won't matter. You don't need a bleed.

Boobie Island or Bust!

[defjoe]

Unless you have a full page ad then you would need a bleed of course. you know that DZ

I have also bled half page ads

'I will become the most powerful Jedi ever!'

[D-Zine]

You have? Huh! I've worked for like 4 diff magazines and 3 diff papers and never had to bleed an ad...not even a full page. That's wierd!

LOL!!

Boobie Island or Bust!

[Keyare]

Full page ads difinitely - but bleeding a half page - kinda wierd. Cool idea though. But he'd have to know whther the ad was going to be on top or on the bottome before submitting the artwork unless the production dept. cropped the art to suit.

Oxygen's for losers.

[defjoe]

DZ you never bleed a full page ad? wow..that is mind blowing. I would do it all the time. Every issue at least the covers.

Key, Yea we would bleed a few half pages. Mostly on the bottom. It would be set up that way prior so I knew it was coming or I needed to design it that way.

'I will become the most powerful Jedi ever!'

[DeleteYourself]

I work at a magazine and we only bleed full page ads.

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[D-Zine]

Joe - Newp never. Odd. I had a good working relationship with that press too when I worked for those mags....I said 4 but I remember know there were only 3. Seems like they would have told me to bleed it...that's wierd. Now I'm puzzled!

I will know for next time I do a magazine ad tho! thanks!! :oP

Always learning here...yes I am!! /emoticons/cheers.gif

Boobie Island or Bust!

[grynch]

Holy cats!! Thanks for the reply friends. So you don't need to add bleed if the images are far enough away from the edge already, correct? There is only solid color on the edges. So, you don't need bleed unless your graphic is close to the edge? Or not?

I'll post a jpeg of the ad I have so far on my website - doing that now. Maybe peep it for me to see what's what.

Cheers.

[uncle carbunkle]

page not found. you're not with imagelinkusa are you?

...Ruffa' dan ruff, tuffa' dan tuff...

[grynch]

Sorry, here:


http://www.gunnar.ca/venture.htm

[uncle carbunkle]

so, if the edges of your printed sheet are the white lines i see, then you'll have to add 1/4' of the grey background colour.

like deleteyourself said, you should be sure that your 'live' images/content is 1/8' inside the edge (for good measure)
and
like 3howards said, it's 1/8' of grey on all sides, (making it 1/4' extra all the way around).

if you just have grey to the edges of where you want it to be, and the printer trims it and is SLIGHTLY off, you'll see it. big time. have you ever baked a cookie? used a cookiecutter? imagine that extra 'bleed' as the dough that you have left over after you've stamped the cookie cutter. you need to leave extra to make sure that it all comes out right.

nice work. it'd be a shame to have it messed up in print! :) can you get me a discount on a coupla' comfy office chairs? huh?

...Ruffa' dan ruff, tuffa' dan tuff...

[uncle carbunkle]

but i still don't understand why they'd need the bleed for a 1/2 page ad. i would definately call the printer...maybe they'd like the bleed on a separate layer, so they don't have to touch your content layer...

you should call them.

...Ruffa' dan ruff, tuffa' dan tuff...

[grynch]

Sorry - there will be no white lines - I just put those in to show the border. The edges will be the same as the body color.

[grynch]

Thanks Carbunkle - your reply did help me with the bleed conspiracy though. It IS sinking in. Finally! But keep the feedback rolling please. This is great.

Cheers.

-Aaron.

[uncle carbunkle]

i understood that, but what i was trying to say is that you'll have to take the grey 1/4" BEYOND those lines, that's all. but again, talk to your printer and see what they need, because there seem to be a few different opinions about this one.


glad to be of service!

...Ruffa' dan ruff, tuffa' dan tuff...

[DeleteYourself]

Is the body color grey? Or does grey represent the paper? I'm confused. If your printing on white paper, and the background of the ad is grey, you will need to make it bleed (aka, leave extra grey around the etire perimenter of your file, call the printer for the exact amount necessary). If the ad background is is the same color as the paper, no need to make it bleed.

In either case, make sure all 'live' material is far enough inside the edge of the page (usually an 1/8') so that it doesn't get accidentally cut off.

Does that help you?

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[grynch]

White background - just the ad itself is grey. Yes that helps.

Thanks!

[grynch]

Hey Todd - I see you are into making music. I have a little home studio where I write/produce/perform music for film and TV (mostly - although down the line I would like to release a CD). You can check out my stuff here if you are interested. http://www.aaronpenton.com/mp3pg.html

My tastes are ecclectic as well - I love all styles of music.

Peeped your website - nice portfolio!

Cheers,

-Aaron.

[DeleteYourself]

Thanks for the kind words, but that website and portfolio is UNBELIEVABLY outdated. (I don't even know why I make it available for people.) Yeah, I like making beats, rhyming over beats, and I dabble in guitar. I tried streaming your songs, but it wouldn't let me. (Using Quicktime on Mac OSX). I'm not sure that the problem is.

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[grynch]

Really? Are you on a Mac? I use a G4 for recording but I use a windows machine for the web crap.

Cheerz.

[DeleteYourself]

Yup. At work I use a G4 on OSX 10.3, at home I use a G5 on OSX 10.2

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[dakels]

wow i wrote a response a while ago in notepad and forgot to post it :P

anyways real simple. Anytime ink runs to a edge (where the paper is cut), you will need bleed. Unless you have white/non printed borders, you will always need bleed.

Bleed costs more money though because you have to run larger paper and cut it down and also cutting costs money. An 11x17 makes a perfect 8.5x11' booklet/magazine. But with full bleeds they use 12x18 paper and trim it down.

Type safety is an allowance on the inside of the edge so critical elements like text dont get chopped off if the registration is not perfect. Generally an 1/8-1/4'.

but yea... there is no need to bleed the middle of the page... edges yes but not middle. That makes no sense at all. Trap yes, bleed no. Just keep in mind bleed is meant to be cut off so dont imagine the whole thing, use your page borders as a reference of the final look. Like a camera viewfinder that has crops of what the actual photo size is.