Concept · Business cards
Business cards with bleed
Bleed is the 3 mm strip of artwork that extends past the trim line on every side of a card. Without it, slight drift in the printer's cutting blade can leave a thin white edge on one side. With it, the card always trims cleanly to its final dimensions.
Export sizes by region
The trim size is what you and the recipient see. The export size is what you actually save and send to the printer. The difference is 6 mm in each axis (3 mm of bleed on each side).
| Region | Trim size | Export size (with 3 mm bleed) | Safe area (3 mm inset) |
|---|---|---|---|
| EU / UK | 85 × 55 mm | 91 × 61 mm | 79 × 49 mm |
| US / Canada | 88.9 × 50.8 mm | 94.9 × 56.8 mm | 82.9 × 44.8 mm |
| Japan | 91 × 55 mm | 97 × 61 mm | 85 × 49 mm |
How to set up bleed in any tool
- Create a document at the export size (e.g. 91 × 61 mm for EU).
- Draw a "trim" guide rectangle 3 mm inside each edge.
- Extend background colour, photos and patterns to the outer edge.
- Place text and logos inside a safe-area guide 3 mm inside the trim.
- Export as PDF or SVG at the full export size.
Common mistakes
- · Exporting at the trim size (no bleed) — printer rejects the file.
- · Placing text right against the trim line — text gets cut.
- · Sending the file at 72 DPI instead of 300 DPI — visible pixellation.
- · Forgetting the back side — printer prints whatever you sent, including a blank page.
Where bleed lives in the tools you actually use
Every serious design tool has a bleed field at document setup — the export dialog then offers “include bleed and crop marks”. Canva hides it under File → View settings → Show print bleed; Illustrator and Affinity expose it in the New Document dialog. Our business-card generator sidesteps the setup entirely: the PDF download already draws trim, bleed and safe boxes at true scale.
The mental model that prevents every bleed mistake: the artwork ends at the bleed box, the paper ends at the trim box, and your text ends at the safe box — three rectangles, three different jobs.
Frequently asked questions
What is "bleed" on a business card?
Bleed is the extra image area that extends beyond the trim line. Printers cut along the trim, and bleed ensures that if the blade is off by half a millimetre, the final card still has no thin white border. The convention is 3 mm on every side.
Why 3 mm? Why not less?
3 mm gives commercial guillotines and digital cutters enough tolerance to drift slightly without exposing the underlying paper. Some printers accept 2 mm; some demand 5 mm. 3 mm is the safe default across most of Europe and is widely accepted in the US.
Do I need bleed if my card has a white background?
Not strictly, but it is still good practice. A white card with bleed is identical visually to one without, and adding bleed costs nothing. If you decide later to use a coloured edge or background, you do not have to redesign.
How do I add bleed in a generic vector tool?
Set up the document at the export size (trim + bleed × 2). Draw the trim rectangle inside that document. Extend any background colours, photos or patterns all the way to the outer edge. Keep text and logos well inside the trim. Export as PDF or SVG without trim marks unless your printer requests them.
What is the difference between trim, bleed and safe area?
Trim is where the card will be cut. Bleed is the extra area outside the trim. Safe area is the inner zone where text and logos should sit — usually 3 mm inside the trim. The three boundaries together form three nested rectangles: bleed (outer), trim (middle), safe area (inner).
EU asks 3 mm, US asks 0.125 in — which do I use?
Whichever the shop printing the job names — 0.125 in is 3.175 mm, a difference of 0.175 mm that vanishes inside cutting tolerance. The bleeds are interchangeable in effect; preflight software is pedantic in form, so submit the exact figure from the printer’s spec sheet.
Plain black or rich black on a card?
Small text and thin rules: 100 % K only — four-plate rich black on 8 pt type shows every hair of misregistration as a colour fringe. Large solid areas: a rich black (around C60 M40 Y40 K100) prints deeper and more even on 300+ gsm stock. One card can — and usually should — use both.
Why do printers hate borders on cards?
Because the cutter is honest. Trim tolerance runs ±0.5–1 mm, invisible on a borderless design and glaring on a 2 mm frame that comes out 1.5 mm on one side. If a border is non-negotiable, make it at least 4–5 mm thick so the variance reads as design, not defect.