When designing print ready files in Illustrator, you will need the graphic to extend beyond the trim line to the furthest edge of the printed material – to prevent white space or your text getting cropped once the printed material is trimmed to its final size. This concept is referred to as print bleed, and setting your Illustrator file up properly is critical to ensure your printed artwork is successfully produced.
Common Bleed for Print Files
Determining a proper bleed depends on the final size of your print material. For the most common size marketing materials and printed documents at Clash Graphics, the standard bleed margin is .125 inches on all sides.
For example, using a Letter size document, you will be adding .125 inches to the top, right, bottom, and left side of the file. The printed Letter artwork will be cut down to 8.5 x 11 inches, but the final print-ready file needs to be sized at 8.75 x 11.25 inches – allowing for margin and trimming.
For printed material that is equal to or exceeds 18 x 24 inches, the standard bleed margin is .5 inches on all sides (top, right, bottom, and left). So when preparing artwork to be printed at 18 x 24 inches, the print-ready template, including bleed margin, should be 19 x 25 inches.
How to Add Bleed in Illustrator
How to add bleed to an existing print file smaller than 18 x 24 inches:
- Open your file (graphic/document)
- Click on “File > Document Setup”
- Select “Inches” from the dropdown under “Units”
- Input your desired bleed value (e.g. “0.125 inches”) for all sides (Top, Bottom, Left, Right)
- If the “link” icon is selected, the same entered value will auto populate to all sides. If the “link” icon is left unchecked, you can choose separate/different bleed values.
- Click “OK”
How to add bleed to an existing print file 18 x 24 inches or larger:
- Open your file (graphic/document)
- Click on “File > Document Setup”
- Select “Inches” from the dropdown under “Units”
- Input your desired bleed value (e.g. “0.5 inches”) for all sides (Top, Bottom, Left, Right)
- If the “link” icon is selected, the same entered value will auto populate to all sides. If the “link” icon is left unchecked, you can choose separate/different bleed values.
- Click “OK”
TIP: Once bleed is added, to ensure the printed and trimmed artwork has no white space or gaps, extend your artwork (background colors, images, text, etc.) to fill the bleed area - up to the surrounding red rectangle line.
If you created your print layout in Photoshop, read our post How to Add Bleed in Photoshop.
Creating a New Document with Bleed in Illustrator
Here’s how to create a new print-ready file (inclusive of the proper bleed) in Illustrator for some of the most common print materials:
Small Poster (18 x 24 inches)
- Click “File > New”
- Select “inches” in the dropdown
- Input “18” for “Width”
- Input “24” for “Height”
- Input desired “Bleed” (e.g. “0.5”) for all sides (Top, Bottom, Left, Right)
- If the “link” icon is selected, the same entered value will auto populate to all sides.
- Select “CMYK" dropdown under Color Mode
- Select “300 PPI” dropdown under Raster Effects
- Click “Create"
Letter Document (8.5 x 11 inches)
- Click “File > New”
- Select “inches” in the dropdown
- Input “8.5” for “Width”
- Input “11” for “Height”
- Input desired “Bleed” (e.g. “0.125”) for all sides (Top, Bottom, Left, Right)
- Select “CMYK" dropdown under Color Mode
- Select “300 PPI” dropdown under Raster Effects
- Click “Create"
Legal Document (8.5 x 14 inches)
- Click “File > New”
- Select “inches” in the dropdown
- Input “8.5” for “Width”
- Input “14” for “Height”
- Input desired “Bleed” (e.g. “0.125”) for all sides (Top, Bottom, Left, Right)
- Select “CMYK" dropdown under Color Mode
- Select “300 PPI” dropdown under Raster Effects
- Click “Create"
Postcard/Flyer (4 x 6 inches)
- Click “File > New”
- Select “inches” in the dropdown
- Input “4” for “Width”
- Input “6” for “Height”
- Input desired “Bleed” (e.g. “0.125”) for all sides (Top, Bottom, Left, Right)
- Select “CMYK" dropdown under Color Mode
- Select “300 PPI” dropdown under Raster Effects
- Click “Create"
Postcard/Flyer (5 x 7 inches)
- Click “File > New”
- Select “inches” in the dropdown
- Input “5” for “Width”
- Input “7” for “Height”
- Input desired “Bleed” (e.g. “0.125”) for all sides (Top, Bottom, Left, Right)
- Select “CMYK" dropdown under Color Mode
- Select “300 PPI” dropdown under Raster Effects
- Click “Create"
Business Card (3.5 x 2 inches)
- Click “File > New”
- Select “inches” in the dropdown
- Input “3.5” for “Width”
- Input “2” for “Height”
- Input desired “Bleed” (e.g. “0.125”) for all sides (Top, Bottom, Left, Right)
- Select “CMYK" dropdown under Color Mode
- Select “300 PPI” dropdown under Raster Effects
- Click “Create"
Once you have your print ready file properly sized, setting guides will be helpful to visualize where cutting may occur, to ensure proper spacing and that no important elements on your artwork get trimmed or cut off.
How to Add a Guide in Illustrator
After the bleed margin is added to your graphic, using guides will help you visualize the bleed area, safe zone, and areas of the file that may be trimmed by the printing company. The instructions below will help you add guides to your Illustrator artwork.
Add a Vertical Guide:
- Create a New file, or Open your existing artwork
- Press “Command + R” (Mac) or “Ctrl + R” (PC) to enable rulers
- Right click in the margin where the ruler is and select a desired metric (e.g., “inches”) for your guides, margin, and bleed
- Click in the vertical ruler area (and while keeping the mouse clicked), drag the cursor to your artboard and a guide will be created (do it once more so that 2 vertical guides exist)
- In the menu bar click “View > Guides > Unlock Guides”
- Press “V” to access the selection tool
- Click and select one of the vertical guides
- In the “Properties” panel next to “X” input your desired guide location (e.g., “0.125”) and press enter
- Then click and select the other vertical guide
- Again in the “Properties” panel next to “X” input your desired guide location. Note: this time you will input the largest value of of your file width size minus the desired margin (e.g., “8.5-0.125”) and press enter
Add a Horizontal Guide:
- Click in the horizontal ruler area (and while keeping the mouse clicked), drag the cursor to your artboard and a guide will be created (do it once more so that 2 horizontal guides exist)
- Press “V” to access the selection tool
- Click and select one of the horizontal guides
- In the “Properties” panel next to “Y” input your desired guide location (e.g., “0.125”) and press enter
- Then click and select the other horizontal guide
- Again in the “Properties” panel next to “Y” input your desired guide location. Note: this time you will input the largest value of of your file height size minus the desired margin (e.g., “11-0.125”) and press enter
A Distinction About Adding Bleed
As an example, when adding bleed to an Illustrator file, a total white space of 0.25 or 1.0 inches will be added around the entire artwork. Once this whitespace is added, your artwork and the elements of your graphic design will need to be extended to the edge to cover this bleed margin (otherwise in this area your artwork will be blank with white space).
Saving with Bleed in Illustrator
After ensuring your artwork is properly extended to fill the bleed area, you will need to save your final print-ready file. Follow these instructions to do so:
- Click “File > Save As”
- Select “Adobe PDF” from the dropdown
- Under PDF options select the dropdown “[High Quality Print]” next to “Adobe PDF Preset”
- Then go to “Marks and Bleeds”
- Check the box next to “Use Document Bleed Settings” (includes the created bleed area in your PDF)
- Note: if your printer requests the trim marks, select the corresponding check box options under “Marks”
Concluding Adding Bleed to Your Print File
Using bleed in your artwork is required by printers and critical to achieving the desired look for your printed materials. Understanding its purpose and the best way to incorporate it in Illustrator is an important component of your design workflow. Once bleed is created in your file, using guides in Illustrator will help you manage the bleed area, trim line, and safe margins for your text and graphics. Now that you understand how to create and add bleed, your project will be printed as you intended.
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To view the original version on Clash Graphics, visit: https://www.clashgraphics.com/printing-tips/how-to-add-bleed-in-illustrator/
