What is the bleed margin and why is it important

BLEED MARGIN: where is it located?

By downloading our template, you’ll notice some coloured guidelines that help you place your design correctly. Among these guidelines, one is green, called the bleed margin.

Close-up of a print template's corner with the green bleed margin line outside the magenta cut line and red safe area, showing where the bleed margin sits on the downloadable template.

If you use Designer, our online graphic design tool, the bleed margin is not marked by a line, but is the white area beyond the cut line (magenta).

Close-up of a document corner in the online Designer tool, with the magenta cut line and green safe area labelled, showing the white bleed margin area that extends beyond the cut line.

BLEED MARGIN: what is it for?

During the cutting process of the printed product, slight deviations of about 1-2 mm may occur. This is a normal and unavoidable cutting tolerance. It's the same as when you cut a sheet of paper with scissors, right?

To avoid unwanted white borders caused by slight cutting shifts, please extend the background colour or image beyond the cut line, covering the full bleed area specified for your product.

If you use the template:

Comparison of two identical designs: the correct example, marked with a green checkmark, has its background extended past the cut line to the bleed margin, while the incorrect example, marked with a red X, stops the background at the cut line leaving a white frame.

If you create your design through Designer:

Side-by-side comparison with cut line and safe area guides marked in the online Designer tool: the correct design, with a green checkmark, extends its background to the bleed margin, while the incorrect design, with a red X, leaves the background short of the bleed margin.

Print result with artwork extended to the bleed margin (on the left) and artwork that does not go beyond the cut line (on the right).

Photographed comparison of two printed cards viewed at an angle: the correct print, marked with a green checkmark, has colour extending fully to the edge, while the incorrect print, marked with a red X, shows a thin white border from insufficient bleed.

The dimensions of the bleed margin vary depending on the product you have purchased. If you use our templates or create your project with our Designer, the document size (including the bleed margin) and guidelines are already correctly set up, making it much easier to create a print-ready file.

Bleed margin	Products
1 mm	Flyers, Folded flyers, Invitation cards, Self-adhesive vinyl, Rigid media, Posters, Standard advertising banners
2 mm	Tags, Stickers, Paper business cards
3 mm	Books, Unbound sheets, PVC cards, Blockout and Backlit fabric banners
5 mm	Cardboard packaging and Envelopes, Double sided advertising banners and Rigid media
10 mm	Flexible packaging and Shipping supplies

Always extend the background colour of your artwork of your product all the way to the bleed margin to avoid white edges after cutting and ensure the best possible result.

If you still have any doubts, please contact us. We'll be happy to help!

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