In this document you will find instructions on adding bleed to your graphic file in Adobe Illustrator. Bleed is when your design extends beyond the finished size of your project to give us room for trimming. Without bleed, your finished product can-not be trimmed correctly and will not be centered.

At 48HourPrint.com we require all submitted graphic files to have a .25 inch bleed, making your document size .25 inches bigger than the finished size you intend to create. So a 2” x 3.5” business card would require a graphic file sized to 2.25” x 3.75”.

This PDF document will guide you through the simple steps of adding bleed to your file. This is an interactive PDF that allows you to click as instructed for a realistic training experience.

Customer Service can also help guide you through this process. For questions or assistance, please call 1.800.844.0599 Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE

1.

As you can see here, our document is2” x 3.5”. Even though this is the finished size of a business card, we must prepare the digital file for trimming. This requires a .25 inch bleed to be added to each edge.

Click on the Document Setup button.(Click on the Image button in this PDF to proceed to the next page)

Click on the Edit Artboards button.

2.

Your screen will change to look just like this. Notice in the program bar that the document size settings display a W for width and an H for height. As you can see here, the document is only 2” x 3.5”.

Click in the Width and Height boxes to change the size to include bleed. In this example it would be changed to 2.25” x 3.75”.

3.

As you can see, the Artboard has expanded in size.

Click in the gray area to return to your original Illustrator screen.

4.

Now that you are back on your original Illustrator screen, you may continue designing.

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE FIRST PAGE

CLICK HERE TO BE DIRECTED TO 48HOURPRINT.COM