Q: I know vampires are all the craze, but my designer just asked me if I wanna bleed. Should I be shopping for garlic?

A: Unless your designer has sharp, pointy teeth and was sporting a "Team Edward" tee, we're pretty sure she was just doing her job and actually asked, "Do you want a bleed?" "Bleed" is a printing term. It's when the ink on a printed page goes all the way to the edge of the paper, leaving no margin.

When a designer creates a document with a bleed, she places some elements so that they extend (or "bleed") 1/8 inch off the edge of the page. After the document gets printed, it is trimmed (cut down) to the right page size. All documents can have a bleed, but a bleed can sometimes add to the printing cost. So if you're strapped for cash, you'll have to decide whether it's worth the extra cost.


Q: I am irritated with my designer. I keep telling her that the color looks off on these proofs and she keeps insisting, "It's your PMS!" She can blame PMS for my irritability, but I don't think it's making me color blind.
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Q: Lorem ipsum dolor whoosey whatsy? Why did the designer translate my brochure into Latin?
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Q: We have a site map for our new website, but the designer says we should also create a wire frame before we start design. What’s a wire frame?
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Q: I think the large type on my poster looks a little spacy, but when I said that to the designer, he said he was going to do some kerning. Now I think he’s spacy! How will it help my poster if he’s off playing some game with brooms and ice and yelling?
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Q: What is the difference between  a registered trademark (®) and a trademark (™)?
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Q: What’s a 20build ogreen and why is there a conference about it?
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Q: I am required to use this one photo, but there’s lots of junk in the background. How can I make do with what I have?
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Q: My designer created our capabilities brochure in some fancy program I don’t have. I want her to convert the file to Microsoft Word so I can update the brochure myself. She thinks that’s a bad idea. What do you think?
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Q: Our designer says she can’t give us our new logo until she converts it to outlines. I want the logo we chose, not an outline of it. And I want it now!
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Q: I asked the graphic designer to use 10 point type in my print materials. So why does this font look so small?
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Q: Our designer says she hates widows and orphans, and we should get rid of them. Is she a sociopath?
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Q: Now that I know how to send photos to my designer (see last month’s news and tips), is there any special way that I should be naming these files?
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Q: I followed your advice about shooting high-resolution photos for print, but when I email them to the designer they don’t go through. What am I doing wrong?
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Q: Can my digital camera pictures be used for a printed piece?
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Q: There’s lots of important text on my brochure and I want to highlight all of it to make it really eye catching. Which option is best?
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Q: What is branding and how important is it for my business?
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Q: I want to print full color, but I only need a small number of printed pieces. What’s the best way to do this economically?
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Q: I need to send a headshot of the CEO to a publication. Could I just pull the one I have from the company website?
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Q: I used 100% black on my brochure, but somehow it’s just not black enough. Is there a way to make it “blacker?�
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Q: I want to flip a photo in my design. Anything wrong with that?
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