What does a print shop mean when they use the term “bleed”?

A bleed is simply a graphic or color that extend past the edge of the page. There will be no border around the finished piece. All printed materials, such as business cards, letter head, envelopes, posters and postcards can potentially have a bleed – depending on what the graphic artist designs and the customer’s preference.

Here is an example of a business card with a bleed.

The gray lines at the corners represent crop marks. The crop marks are where the printer will cut the card to the standard 3.5” by 2” size (using a 1/8” standard margin). The color at the bottom right corner is “bleeding” over the crop mark into the margins. This means when the cut is made, the color will cleanly extend to the end of the card.

Above is a sample of the card with the bleed margin cropped out.  A black line around the card has been added to help define the image but would not actually appear on the finished product. Now you’re ready to present a professional, stylish business card to your clients!