Gutters and Bleeds

SL
Posted By
Stacy L Richardson
Aug 13, 2003
Views
677
Replies
10
Status
Closed
I have been asked to design the activities pages in our church directory. On the instructions they specify 1/4" gutter or bleeds. They say both. Could someone help me out in telling me what they are looking for? Is it another word for border? Margin?

I am a wedding photographer and I am skilled at doing montages, collages, and different layering techniques. I just am not a graphic designer. It will be 12 pages so it is not a huge project but I do need to know what this means 🙂

Stacy

PS anyone who has done this before it is with Lifetouch company and I would love your help Thanks
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K
knielsen
Aug 13, 2003
If you’re talking gutters and bleeds, you need to be linking your images to a page layout program, InDesign2 comes to mind, or, some use Freehand for some projects like you are working on.

If you are new to print production then I would strongly advise taking on a CAPABLE graphic designer to guide you through the project and help you avoid the 10,000 common pitfalls that ruin jobs for newcomers who insist on trying it on their own.

: )
TH
Tina Hayes
Aug 14, 2003
This from me…a person who does graphic design for screen display and keeps a large bottle of Excedrin at arms length whenever I need to print something other than a photo.

I can tell you about a couple of ‘pitfalls’.

I use a photo quaily printer that isn’t borderless.

1) If you start with a new image at 8.5 X 11 when you go to print it’ll pop off a message saying the image is too large. That’s becasue PS reads it as *image* not paper.

2) If you don’t have a borderless printer, your printer margins prevail and your copy won’t be centered on the page.

As someone informed me here on the Forums back in June the printer leaves a larger border/margin at the bottom to give it room to push out the paper.

Yesterday I went to the HP site to see if I could find the numbers because it’s not in the manual.

Indeed. My printer leavers the following margins:

For US Letter size in portrait mode it’s minimun margina are:

Top – 0.07 in
Bottom – 0.46 in
Left – 0.25 in
Right – 0.25 in

I have yet to do the math to see if I can figure out just how to size an image to avoid that uneveness around the edges.

Luckily anythin I’ve done in print has not been for anything professional, and I’ve found that my son’s DTP ‘PrintMaster ‘ does an acceptbale job for home use.

So those are two issues coming from someone who does do graphic design…but not for print!

* Just back to add* I work back and forth with Photoshop and the DTP.
Y
YrbkMgr
Aug 14, 2003
Stacy,

The reason that Mark said "please say you aren’t doing this in photoshop", is because as Tina said, Photoshop is an image editing program, not a page layout probram.

And as others have said, you can print with photoshop to be sure, but you will run into pagination and margin issues when you are trying to create a newsletter-type document.

In truth, even Microsoft Publisher would do a better job at creating your activity pages than photoshop. Of course, there are issues with sending it out to print, and it’s not color managed like other Adobe applications, but the point is… you’ll pull your hair out most likely trying to do it in photoshop.

I will say, though, if you need to know bleeds and gutters, it sounds like you are sending it out. It’s still possible to use PS to do that, but you have to be really really good and communicate with the print service so you know how to provide it to them.

That’s my two cents anyhow…

Peace,
Tony
L
LenHewitt
Aug 14, 2003
so why are we hoping that I am not doing this in photoshop?<<

1) Photoshop is not a multipage application
2) Photoshop is a raster image editor and not a page layout application
3) Unless presenting these files to the printers as either .PSD or PDF
formats for output on a PostScript device, text will be rasterized, and poor quality
4) File size will be far greater than necessary
5) Unless using PDF format you have no way of embedding fonts (and the receiving end won’t even know what fonts you used)
6) Text options in Photoshop are severely limited compared to a page layout application
MH
Mark Hiers
Aug 14, 2003
1 – 8.5 x 11 CMYK file is 32mb. multiply that by 12 pages and you have 384mb of files that your printer has to deal with. Compare that to the same files in a page layout app that would probablyu weigh in at less than 20mb, depending on the quantity of graphics on the pages.
TD
Thee_DarkOverLord
Aug 14, 2003
I agree as its more or less what i had to say, but its not always the case, there may be full page graphics as back drops, as you say depending on the graphics. hang on am i just reapinting what I have said then what yopu have said, ill shut up.
SL
Stacy L Richardson
Aug 14, 2003
ok thank you for all your good advice. I have the outline of what the company "accepts" as page layouts and photoshop is one of them that is why I asked. They accept PSD files for pages. LET ME CLARIFY…I AM NOT DOING THE ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE FAMILIES…yet the more free activites pages or pastoral staf pages…NOT 5 by 6 cubes with photos of familyes!! THAT WOULD BE A NIGHTMARE…do you still think it is risky if I have total creative abilities to put random pictures anywhere that reall dont have to be 1.5 inches by 1.5 inches? I would love to post a sample of what I have come up with because I dont think I am communication the project well..If anyone would like to email me and help me I can email them a layout that would really be helpful BUT I understand if that is too much trouble…

As far as the comment that someone made that I said that I have done this before and yet I didnt know what bleeds and gutters are…I HAVE NOT done this before if you read my first post I HAVE done Photoshop one page designs…NOT BOOK style. One page PSD does not use gutters or bleeds…thanks though…I appreciate everyones adive and will look into this with the company. I will clarify what their expectation is before attempting this. It really is easy to create a layout with layers just put things where you cwant them and then print, I understand that I need to leave space for bleeds and gutters, if this company accepts PSD files why would they do that if they werent able to print. I am not printing ANY of this…basically people will give me the pictures, 300dpi and I will put them in places, BUT what I am hearing fron you is that the FONT is what wilil be the problem? It says on the companys guidelines taht I just need to include the font, with the files? So is it still going to print all wacky? everything must be at 300 dpi.
I am really grateful for your help!
Thanks
Stacy
K
knielsen
Aug 15, 2003
‘carry on’

Yup.
TD
Thee_DarkOverLord
Aug 15, 2003
One page PSD does not use gutters or bleeds

err, ok think that was at me, sorry if it was.

would like to add, a one page psd would still have bleed.
JS
John Slate
Aug 15, 2003
would like to add, a one page psd would still have bleed.

It would if it was bigger than the final trimmed size…. Like 8.75×11.25 for an 8.5×11

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