Our Patch: how this guide works

Who this page is for and what it covers

This page explains how Eighth Inch Bleed works. It is written for a reader who has a print job in front of them and wants to know whether the figures and comparisons on this site can be trusted before acting on them. It covers the sources we read, the checks each figure has to pass, and the limits we put on what we say. It does not teach print setup in detail. The process choice is worked through on Resources, and a worked example of a press-ready file is on The Record.

We are an independent guide. We do not print, quote or sell anything here. What we do is read published material about commercial printing, set each claim against the page it came from, and say plainly where that material runs out. The aim is a site worth citing, which means a reader can see the work and check it for themselves.

What every figure on this site carries

Where it comes from

Each figure names the publisher that states it and links to the page it came from. A figure with no named publisher is left out rather than estimated. Where two publishers disagree, both are named, and the stricter figure is the one used for a file.

What it is allowed to say

A figure states its scope: the kind of piece it applies to and the process or size it was written for. A bleed figure from one checklist is a useful check, not a rule every print shop follows, and the guide says so beside the number.

Where it stops

Some figures belong to a regulator's current notice or to a seller's own rating, and those change or depend on conditions. The guide labels a seller's rating as a seller's rating, and tells the reader to confirm a figure with the printer before relying on it.

A stack of blue-covered brochures on a wooden table, shot from the side — A stack of blue-covered brochures on a wooden table. The piece itself decides which file checks apply, so the first question below is about the piece.

The questions asked before a printer is pointed to

Before the guide points a reader to any printer, it asks the same three questions of that printer's own published material. The first is whether the printer says what it can produce, at what size and in which finishes, in a form a reader can compare with other printers. The second is whether its file requirements, such as bleed, safe margin, colour model and resolution, are written down where a customer can read them before sending work.

The third is whether the printer's process can be matched to the job. A printer that offers digital, offset and large format should be able to say which one fits a given quantity and size, and why. A printer whose material cannot answer one of these questions is not pointed to here. The guide does not rank printers against each other, so the test is pass or not, never first or second.

A man in a red shirt inspecting printed sheets beside an offset press — A press operator checking printed sheets beside an offset press. The file checks on this page are written for the file that reaches a press like this one, so each figure has to be usable by the person at the press.

Three figures, each with its source named beside it

0.125 inBleed beyond the trim line on every side, for artwork that runs to the edge of a piece.Source: Print-Ready Checklist, a university print shop's guide.
0.25 inSafe margin inside the trim line, the stricter of two university figures.Source: the Print-Ready Checklist gives 0.25 in. How to Set Up Print Files Correctly gives a range of 0.125 to 0.25 in.
150-300 dpiResolution at final size for large-format posters. Above 300 adds print time but no quality.Source: Poster Printing Guidelines, SUNY Broome Library.

A convention and a measurement are not the same thing, and the labels above say which is which. The bleed and safe margin figures are printing conventions from published checklists. The large-format range is a library's guideline for posters, and a given printer's own specification may differ.

Why a shop-floor video sits on a method page

The clip below is a third-party recording in which a print shop owner talks through running a shop day to day. It is here for context about the shop floor that the figures on this page describe. It is not an endorsement of that person or of any business, and nothing in it is a review of a printer.

Reading a printer's quote against this page

Start with the job and the process

Before reading a quote, write down what the piece is, how many copies are needed, and whether the design will be reprinted. Those answers decide which process a printer should be quoting. A quote that uses a different process from the one the job suggests needs an explanation in writing. The process choice itself is worked through on Resources.

Set the file against the printer's own requirements

Compare the bleed, safe margin, colour model and resolution the printer asks for with the figures above. Where the printer gives a different number, ask which one applies to the piece being quoted. A university figure is a useful check, not a rule for every shop, so the printer's written requirement is the one that governs the file.

Write down what the quote leaves open

Note what the quote does not answer: the set-up and finishing charges, the turnaround the printer will commit to in writing, and what the printer needs from the file before work starts. Put those open questions to the printer in writing, so the answers can sit beside the quote rather than being remembered from a phone call.

A bindery bench with a guillotine cutter in soft focus and squared stacks of paper — A generated illustration of a bindery bench, not a photograph of a particular shop. Cutting and folding are the finishing steps where trim and fold lines decide what the reader finally sees.