Print terms, in plain words.

Bleed is artwork that extends past the trimmed edge of a printed piece, usually 0.125 in (3 mm) on each side, so no white edge shows after cutting.

Printers cut many copies from one large sheet, and the blade can drift slightly. Backgrounds and images that touch the edge must run into the bleed. Text should not: keep it inside the safe area.

The trim size is the finished size of a printed piece after it has been cut, for example 3.5 × 2 in for a US business card.

A print file is set up at the trim size plus bleed on every side. Crop marks show the printer where the trim falls.

The safe area is the margin inside the trim, usually at least 0.125 in (3 mm), where text and logos should stay so they are never cut off.

Folded and bound pieces need a wider safe area, often 0.25 in (6 mm), and text should also be kept away from folds.

Crop marks are thin lines printed outside the artwork that show exactly where the sheet should be trimmed.

They are added when exporting a print PDF, together with the bleed. The registration mark in the Silentt Design logo comes from the same family of printer’s marks.

CMYK is the colour model used by printing presses: cyan, magenta, yellow and black (K) inks combined to make every colour.

Print files should be in CMYK so the colours you approve are the colours that print. Very bright screen colours can’t all be reproduced in CMYK.

RGB is the colour model of screens, which mix red, green and blue light; it can show brighter colours than ink can print.

Photos from phones and graphics made for the web are RGB. They need converting to CMYK for print, ideally by someone who checks the colours that shift.

DPI or PPI is how many image pixels fall in each printed inch; about 300 is needed for sharp print at normal reading distance.

What matters is effective resolution: the pixels you have divided by the size it prints. Large-format pieces seen from further away need less: 100–150 ppi for banners, lower for billboards.

A vector graphic is made of mathematically defined lines and curves, so it can be printed at any size without losing sharpness.

Logos, type and icons should be vectors: AI, EPS, SVG or vector PDF files. Printers, sign makers and screen printers usually require them.

A raster image is made of pixels, like a JPEG, PNG or photo, and goes soft or blocky when enlarged beyond its resolution.

Photos are always raster. Logos saved as raster images are the most common cause of blurry print.

A dieline is the template that shows where a label or box will be cut, folded and glued, supplied by the printer for the exact size and style.

Artwork is placed on the dieline with bleed past every cut. The dieline itself goes on its own layer as a named spot colour set to overprint, so it guides the cutter but never prints.

Outlining a font converts each letter into a vector shape, so the text prints exactly as designed without the printer needing the font installed.

The alternative is embedding fonts in the PDF. Outlined text can’t be edited, so keep an un-outlined copy.

Rich black is black made from black ink plus some cyan, magenta and yellow, such as C60 M40 Y40 K100, to print deeper than black ink alone.

Use it for large black areas only. Small text and fine lines should be 100% K, and total ink should stay under the printer’s limit (often 300%).

A Pantone or spot colour is a specific pre-mixed ink, printed on its own instead of being built from CMYK, for exact and consistent brand colours.

Spot colours are common in packaging, labels and screen printing. In the file, they are kept as named swatches rather than converted to CMYK.

PDF/X is a family of PDF standards for print (PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-4 are the usual ones) that guarantees fonts are embedded and colours are print-ready.

Exporting as PDF/X catches many of the problems printers reject files for. Ask your printer which version they prefer.