What Are Crop Marks?

 Crop marks,  little lines in the corner of your design have a big role in the printing world

As printers we sometimes take the the lingo of our industry for granted. Words like bleed, dot gain, prepress, knockout, and on and on. They are a part of our everyday vocabulary.

Yet every so often a customer reminds us these words can be completely unknown for those not in the know. That is why we made this blog, and why we set out to provide little tidbits of insight each week.

That said, crop marks are one of printing’s most common symbols, and very important to making great print.

So what are crop marks.

Simply put, crop marks are short lines at the edges of a printed piece that show where it should be trimmed. The lines act as guides for our finishing team so they know where an item will be cut.  They also give designers a heads-up for how there design will look at finish. Crop marks are a good guideline for ensuring proper bleed and a safe zone for cutting.

If you are printing something at home then you choose paper at the size you want to print. So you print a letter, on a letter-size sheet of paper and so on. Of course, this doesn’t work in professional printing.

For example, the business card below is printed on a large piece of paper, and  will be cut down to its ‘finish size’. That size being the actual size of a business card you would hand to a customer.

What’s a safe zone you ask?

A safe zone is an area of extra space between the edge of your design and where a piece will be trimmed. This is simply a way to ensure that even if something slips just a little bit mechanically on a press or a cutter, your design will still come out looking great.

Of course with most of our machines and our team, things like this rarely happen. However, if a design is being printed thousands of times, and just one piece comes in just a little bit off, the effect could be big. If the text of a design is too close to a trimming edge, then the cutting blade might take part of it off.

So, respect the safe zone!

Why not just print a line to cut along?

Another question we hear is why not just put a line across the whole design where you want to cut a printed piece? Again, this is the same problem as having a part of your design too close to an edge. If a cutting blade moves even the slightest bit, part of that line could end up on your design. That’s no good.

Our team members take care to line up the crop marks for cutting and make sure a project is cut to the proper finish size and look great.

If you have more questions about the symbols and terms of print, feel free to write us below.  If you’re ready to start your next (or first) print project, then feel free to call or stop by.

cutpasteandprint Printing, graphic design, binding, and promotional product specialists in Huntingdon Valley, PA. We proudly serve the Bucks and Montgomery County areas with superior quality, great customer service, and a commitment to getting you and your the best possible printed materials. Our services include: Digital Printing, Offset Printing, Graphic Design, Promotional Items, Bindery, and Copying.