Guidelines on Printing with Borders on your artwork

Printing with borders can be very tricky and if the artwork is not setup properly, it will end up looking not symmetric.

Q1. What refers to a Border?

Ans:
a) Line Border: A thin Rectangle line all around the finish edge of the card. See example below:




b) Solid Border: A full bleed border all around the edge of the card. See example below:



Q2. Why would it not look symmetric?

Ans: All Cutter have a mechanical tolerances of 1/16" or 0.0625". And if your borders are very close to the edge it will look uneven as your eyes can easily reference this small 1/16 inch shift and thus making it look uneven.

Q3. So how to fix it or avoid it?

Ans:

2 Options:

1. Do not use borders. The most safest approach. The reason most people put borders is - because it is very easy to add in any design software, and it looks good on the computer screen, but when printed and cut, even a small shift (mechanical tolerances on cutter and press) can end up making the finished product look uneven. So the best thing to do is avoid it overall.

2. If you are stuck with borders - then do not put them very close to the finish edge. We need at least 1/4" (or 0.25") margin. Please refer to our guideline templates attached with every product. See screenshot attached.