We like to think the second part was a very clever hint. If we were the type to overdo the puns, we would make a comparison to those "Nightmare" movies, since we are discussing bleeding and sharp edges. However, we are not that sort, so let us move on to the Marie Antoinette portion of the program. The password is guillotine blades! Fortunately, unlike the French version, it is possible to recover from this error. Simply pull your content back into the body of the page, away from the final trim!

In the last article written, bleed was explained as being any object that you would use as a background and that it should extend to the very edge of the paper.

Anything that is not classified as a background effect is called 'critical content'. Examples of critical content are the text of the body and its headlines, photographs and caption, and a logo. Keep in mind that critical content and background effects are each other's opposites.

If you recall, we discussed how the book cutter never cuts two sheets in the exact same position every time. Each sheet of paper reacts differently to the pressure it experiences during cutting and slight variations in the cut result. Well, guillotines work the same way. Bleed compensates for a slightly larger sheet length.

If the blade ends up cutting closer then formal for the final trim, your "critical content" of text, logos, and other items could end up being cut.

Even where it has not been lopped off, if it comes within 1 to 2mm, the unfortunate result will be that it will appear to the eye to have been shaved too closely.

The solution is to place critical content at least 5mm from the final trim. Place graphics and text by using margins as guidelines. This is important for any printed product including magazines, business cards, brochures, and stationary.

If you are publishing a large volume, you will have to make the space from the spine considerably more than 5mm, rather in the neighborhood of 15 to 20mm. You will also have to be certain that the settings for facing pages are set to "on" so that the pages with odd numbers will have the binding on their left while the pages with even numbers will have the binding on their right.

Your top, bottom and right (not the spine) would need to have distances of at least 5-10mm away from papers edge for a more uniform appearance.

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