If I am designing a flyer to be printed, and I am told to make quarter-inch bleeds....

Question

... do I make my canvas a quarter-inch larger, or do I keep it the same size and count off a quarter inch from the borders?

Answer 1

The first person is right, although it depends on what program you are setting things up in. But a bleed is the allowance of overflow because when the item is printed and trimmed out, there can be some shifting in the process. The idea is to avoid the possibility of any white showing if for example, you have a color or design that you want to run to the edge. The other thing to be careful of is that you do not put any important things close to the edge, for the same reason.

What file format are you giving the printer?

Answer 2

It means extend your artwork 1/4" over the edge of your canvas.

let's say you were printing just a green 5x7 block of ink. your canvas is 5x7 but your green area will be 5-1/4 x 7-1/4.

this only applies to art near the edge of your canvas. if you don't have art near the edge don't worry about it. but if you have art going off the page then you need to compensate to ensure the printer will actually print to the edge.

Answer 3

1/4" bleeds will mean adding 1/2" to each dimension (1/4" over each edge – not 1/4" over each dimension, 1/8" extra is not enough for most print guillotines).