Bleeds & Safe Areas for Print Designs

When preparing artwork for printing—especially if your design goes all the way to the edge of the final product—it’s important to include bleeds and observe safe areas. These ensure a clean, professional final print without unintended white edges or cropped information.

What Is a Bleed?

A bleed is extra artwork that extends past the final cut edge of your design. At Uncle Marty’s, a 0.125" (⅛") bleed is required on all sides whenever color, backgrounds, or graphics run to the edge of the page. This ensures that slight variations in trimming do not leave white borders.

Example: If the final printed size is 11" × 17", your design file should be 11.25" × 17.25" to include the required bleed.

What Is a Safe Area?

The safe area is the space inside your design where all important information—such as text, logos, or critical graphics—must remain.

To prevent anything from being cut off during trimming, all essential content must be at least:

• 0.5" away from every edge of the final size.

Example: For an 11" × 17" final product, keep important content within a 10.75" × 16.75" area.

Putting It All Together (Using the 11" × 17" Example)

• Final trim size: 11" × 17"

• Design file size with bleed: 11.25" × 17.25"

• Safe area (keep important content inside): 10.75" × 16.75"

This ensures:

• Your background extends fully to the edge (thanks to bleed)

• No important information gets trimmed (thanks to the safe area)

The diagrams in the reference PDF show this visually through:

• A red line indicating the bleed boundary (page 1)

• A green line indicating the safe area (page 1)

• Examples of text positioned correctly within the safe zone (pages 2–3)

• A full-photo design demonstrating proper bleed for imagery (pages 4–5)Design bleed example

Why These Requirements Matter

Commercial trimming always has slight variation. Including the proper bleed and respecting the safe area ensures your final product looks exactly as intended—clean, centered, and professional.