Adding Bleed In

Adobe Illustrator

What is bleed, and why is it important?

Bleed in print refers to artwork that extends past the edges of what will be the final size of a product. The industry standard is to extend all artwork (colors, graphics, images, text, etc.) that touch the edges of a product .125 inches past where it will trim. For instance, if you are printing an 8.5 x 11 inch page, the artwork with bleed would measure 8.75 x 11.25. This slightly larger artwork ensures that when the product is cut out, the operator will have space to trim without leaving any unprinted material along the edge.

How To Add Bleed In Adobe Illustrator – Video

How To Add Bleed In Adobe Illustrator – Text

Create a new document with bleed

1. Create a new document.
2. In the new document settings, set unit of measurement to “inches”.
3. Set bleed to “.125” inches (industry standard) to the top, bottom, left and right.
4. Click “Create”.

If you already have a document created

1. Go to File -> Document Setup.
2. Set unit of measurement to “inches”.
3. Set bleed to “.125” inches (industry standard) to the top, bottom, left and right.
4. Click “Okay”.

Design your artwork to the bleed guides

5. Extend any artwork that touches the edge of the document to the red bleed guides.

Export your artwork

6. Go to File -> Save As.
7. Name your project and choose where to save it.
8. Change Format to “Adobe PDF”.
9. Click Save.

10. Change Adobe PDF Preset to “[Press Quality]”.
11. Navigate to the “Marks and Bleeds” menu on the left-hand side.
12. Check “Use Document Bleed Settings”.
13. Click Save PDF.

Thats it! Your PDF is ready to send off to be printed!

Last updated on February 27, 2024 by Jason Williams