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I have to create a banner of 1.25mx2.5m and others. When I sent it to the print company they told me to add a bleed of 15cm, but the limit size in Illustrator is 2,5cm. Can I create a bigger one?
By the way: is a bleed of 15cm normal? I've never seen this before.
Thanks you guys for all te comments! I confirmed with them and it's 15cm truly. So i created the artboard bigger by 30cm horizontally and vertically.
On a big banner, it might be necessary to have a big bleed. When folded it can reinforce the holes where it is attached. But I would say that 5cm is enough.
If the Banner needs to be folded around a structure, for example, a metal framing you possibly need more.
A bleed is relative. It is simply an area where the design is still present but will not appear on the final product, either will be trimmed or as in this case folded.
Simply make your artboard bigger by 30cm horizontally and vertically. Add manually some trim marks, and talk to the printer about it.
But as said, first of all, confirm the requirements with the print company.
You can design the banner at 1/10th scale. At 10th scale, you can set the bleed to 1.5cm, which illustrator can easily handle. The vendor will print at 1000%, resulting in a 15cm bleed. This is common practice for large banners and billboards.
Note: If you are using raster images in the piece, be sure that their resolution is 10X higher at 1/10th scale so that your output resolution will be unaffected. For example, if your desired output resolution is 150 at 125cm, it will need to be 1500 at 12.5cm in the layout.
I agree that 15cm sounds unusually high, but not unheard of. If the vendor is creating a pole pocket, wrapping the banner around a wide frame, or if they are stitching and folding in, that might be appropriate.
