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Bleed is the word used to describe the region that extends beyond the edges of, let's say, a rectangle.

What is the word used to describe the region that converges towards the center of the rectangle?

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3 Answers 3

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"Margin" is the term for the area inset from the trim to the content.

Another term possibly more related to bleed is "Safe area" (or similar). This is often smaller than any margins and is (similar to bleed) usually a small distance specified by the printer as an area to avoid placing content in as it will possibly be trimmed (since trimming is never as precise as we'd like it to be).

Margins are a design and visual consideration whereas any safe area is more of a (as is bleed) technical printing issue.

enter image description here

Note that "margin" is a pretty set term whereas "safe area" is not—I have seen it called many things, but all basically synonymous with "safe area".

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  • Are you saying that Margin is the 'blue' area pictured here? The graphic has misleading color coding. At first it looks like it's saying the blue is the safe zone but then the text says the white is the safe area. Commented Nov 20, 2016 at 18:51
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    There is no explicit margin in that example. The blue shows the safe area, but the area that is actually safe is the white area (does that make sense?). The margin would be up to where your content is (i.e. Where the text and bar legend is). I'll add a clearer example once I'm back at a computer.
    – Cai
    Commented Nov 20, 2016 at 19:00
  • @CandiedOrange updated the image to be a bit clearer btw
    – Cai
    Commented Nov 21, 2016 at 13:31
  • Ah, so it isn't safe to put important details in the safe area. We humans are so good at naming things. I suppose the white area within the blue margin line has no name at all then? Commented Nov 22, 2016 at 12:17
  • Not to confuse, just to add, there is a further area outside the bleed (and document boundary) called 'slug' which you might see come up - essentially where the printer's press and colour marks will go for press work. If you have to prepare pre-press files for outreach printing (say China) they may well ask you to include slug - its in Indesign settings / Adobe support. Commented Nov 28, 2016 at 12:59
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If what you mean is an area that is left (mostly) empty to prevent content from being flush to the edge of the medium, then margin is the world you are looking for.

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    Margin is a great answer, would be cool if there were other synonyms... Commented Nov 20, 2016 at 17:28
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    @HishamMaudarbocus: From css: margin and padding. Of course, they are different things in CSS but they are basically the same in English
    – slebetman
    Commented Nov 21, 2016 at 2:46
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There is no opposite term to “bleed” largely because “bleed” is originally and still largely a verb, meaning “to bleed over (the boundary)…” Can you imagine an opposite for that? “Remain within” would not be an opposite. “Shrink into” might and seriously, how would that work in practice?

The correct noun usage is not “bleed” but “bleed area” because the whole point is that it wasn’t measured or considered or in any other way interesting at the design stage.

Anyway “the term” would suggest such a thing applied to print design generally and here we have some thoughts about Indesign particularly. Can we please all acknowledge that Adobe likes to make its own rules, irrespective of what the print design world has accepted for generations?

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  • Hi user81299, welcome to GDSE and thanks for your input. I'm sorry, but I fail to see how your post answers the question. Please note that we are a Q&A site, not a forum, and are a bit precise about what goes where. Please have a look at the help center to understand how the Stack model works. If you could edit your post to actually answer the question, that'd be great. Failing that, I'm afraid you'll collect some downvotes because it isn't an answer. Thanks for understanding!
    – Vincent
    Commented Nov 30, 2016 at 9:23
  • Thanks, Vincent. Sorry but the simple answer to the question as posed remains 'There is no opposite term to “bleed” ' and I said that because I am a bit precise about what people say, particularly in areas like print and graphic design. If there was an opposite to "bleed" it would be something like "press-safe"; a kind of paper equivalent to TV's "screen-safe" but there isn't. Why is that objectionable, please? Commented Nov 30, 2016 at 20:43

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