Bleeds and Margins
Work is rarely printed on precut stock. The overwhelming majority is printed on oversized stock -- generally n-up -- and trimmed out. Although most work is diecut, some is not, but is cut on guillotine cutters.
Although a great deal of money and effort is expended to ensure repeatability, because of the nature of the materials used, it is not possible for every image to be placed exactly in the same place on every sheet. The requirement that images do so is called "register." Subtle variations in position are called "misregister." Both terms are equally valid as verbs or nouns.
Die-cutting allows for more accurate cutting, but is expensive, requiring a more labor-intensive process and special tooling for each job. Guillotine cutting is restricted to rectangular shapes and can vary considerably in size and positioning, but is much quicker and therefore less expensive.
Because of subtle variations in register, it is necessary that allowances be made in the size and position of design elements to allow for the important elements to be presented as desired on the finished piece. This requires that the image stop short of the intended trim edge of a piece or that it conversely lap over, beyond that edge. The practice of allowing for the former is called leaving a margin, while the latter is called allowing a bleed.
In order to conform to Otto's design standards, margins and bleeds must be at minimum one eighth of an inch. We request that "ready" art submitted have no more or no less margin or bleed than one eighth of an inch should either be required.
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