Vertical Banner - Safe Zone Printer Requirement

[NikChan]

Hi, 

I am designing a vertical retractable banner. The printer stated the size needs to be 33 x 79.5 in. with .75 safe area. When I create my document, do I add 0.75 as the bleed equal on all sides?

My concern is the original mock-up for the design has a lot of elements - a logo at the top inside of a white banner across the top and text below that aligns horizontally that falls close to the right and left edges. I want to ensure the logo is placed in the safe area, but I don't want to expand the white banner across the top. 

I hope someone understands what I am trying to communicate. I have tried to get a resolution from the printer, but no help yet. I appreciate any help. 

nik

[Randy Hagan · Accepted solution]

I believe your printer is talking about exactly the opposite of bleed here.

Generally when a printer talks about "safe area", it means that the printer doesn't want you to put critical design or text information within, in this case, three-quarters of an inch, inside the final banner trim size. That way, nothing of importance is accidentally cut off if the final trim is slightly off from your final specification.

Hope this helps,

Randy

[Randy Hagan]

To put it simple terms, don't put your company logos within three-quarters of an inch of the final trim size.

[NikChan]

Yes it does help. I was confused on their definition of the safe area. So, if I am setting up a document in illustrator, how would I make sure that I have captured those marks at .75in?  

When creating the new document, I would enter 33 in width and 79.5 height. I would decrease the dpi to 150ppi because this is a large print format to reduce the size. I use CMYK color. What should I enter for bleed and margins etc?

[Randy Hagan]

If it was me, what I'd do is:

• Set up a 33 inch by 79.5 inch artboard within Illustrator.
• If your rulers aren't immediately visible when the artboard is created, use the View>Rulers>Show Rulers menu command so you could access your Ruler Guides.
• Place Ruler Guides three-quarters of an inch inside all four edges of the art board to define the safe area (also known as the live area)
• Design your banner as you normally would, making sure that anything important to the banner is placed inside the ruler guides defining the live area.
• One more note: If you want to have printing go all the way to the edges of your banner, then you would set an additional three-quarters of an inch outside the artboard to define your bleed area.

You can count on that bleed area being cut into, but that's OK because if your respect the margins you set within the Ruler Guides, nothing important is going to be cut off from your final product.

Good luck with your banner job,

Randy

[NikChan]

You are the best!!!! Your help is greatly appreciated. 

The printer wants to see the safe area, do I export as Adobe PDF and make sure the "All Printer's Mark" is selected before i export?

[Randy Hagan]

The safe area will be defined by the ruler guides, which in this case are not printer's marks.

What I would do is:

• Create a separate layer named Live Area from the Layers panel. Be sure to de-select (uncheck) the Print check box.
• With the Live Area layer selected in the Layers panel, draw a hollow rectangle within the Ruler Guides using a loud contrasting stroke color and a fill of None.
• Then save your PDF from Acrobat with your printer's preferred settings, but as Acrobat 8 (PDF 1.7) in the Compatibility: options box, and select the Create Acrobat Layers from Top-Level Layers check box and click the OK button. You can read more about how to do this through this link.
• Be sure to let your printer know that the live area can be viewed by selecting the Live Area layer in Acrobat.

As to whether you should export your PDF with printer's marks? I'd ask your printer. Some printers do want that information, and some really don't. I'd ask the question to them about printer's marks, and abide by their call.

Randy

[NikChan]

Thanks again. Yeah they want it. 

[Randy Hagan]

It was my pleasure. I was happy to be able to lend a hand.

If you find yourself in a spot working with Adobe Illustrator — or heck, any Adobe Creative Cloud program — in the future, please don't hesitate to come back here and sound the alarm. There are a lot of sharp people around here who may be able to help.

Good luck, and wishing you good work with Adobe Illustrator.

Randy