Reply To: Professional printing and bleed settings

[Jason T. Radice]

First, what kind of technology is the shop using (laser, offset, digital offset, etc) and what is the shop capable of. Most copy/printing places now use high quality laser prints for short run printing. Digital offset is next (if you can find a place that has the machine), and offset is for when you are looking for several hundred to thousands of prints, as it is very expensive to set up.

Second, with any of these technologies the use of oversized paper is required to get a full-bleed print. The “press” prints on 12″x18″ or 13″x19″ paper. This is so the printer’s paper path has something to grab on to keep the paper level and moving through the machine properly without smudging the print on the press or ruining the toner transfer on a laser system.

 

If you intend to do full bleed from the start, your page size must also refect that in InDesign. You then tell it or set up your margins including a bleed of 1/8″ (.125″). So your full image will be 11.25″x17.25″ with the bleeds added in. Any text, graphics, or important images should be around 1/4″ from the edge of the 11″x17″ page size to allow room for error in trimming. This is pretty much standard for most printers. Traditional offset can sometimes require a little more depending on the equipment or the press operator’s preference. The paper is then trimmed using a guillotine cutter set to trim the paper to the size you require. Cutting cost depends on your print shop, the quanity, and what kind of equipment they have to do the cutting. I am always charged for trimming laser prints (which is why I don’t trim them), but my prepress house who has a digital press and my traditional offset press shop include trimming in the price, as it is their finished product.

You also don’t always need to print crop marks either, as the guillotine cutters are usually already set up to trim the extra half in or inch off each side of the paper. Crop marks are handy for proofs or cutting one offs or cutting by hand. Ask your shop if they need them.

Some print shops may also slighly enlarge a regular 11″x17″ print to include a bleed if you don’t set it up properly in InDesign. Be careful doing this, as image edges and text can get cut off or be too close to the edge using this method. Slightly enlarging the image is also how most ‘borderless’ inkjet printers work. They can print edge-to-edge because the ink dries before the second set of feed rollers come in contact with the printed surface.

 

If you want to be sure you get the results you are after, simply ask your print shop if its not a Kinkos. They will tell you how they want the page and file formatted and what not to do.