Bleed in printing refers to artwork that goes beyond the edge of the trim area. Due to slight variations in trimming, extra artwork is added beyond the trim area to ensure that there are no white (paper) margins on the final trimmed product. The standard bleed width is .125 of an inch.
Example: A standard business card has a trim size of 3.5 inches wide x 2 inches high. The artwork needs to be extended .125 of an inch on each side. The final size of the artwork should be 3.75 inches wide x 2.25 inches high.
