What size bleed does a square flyer need?
A standard square flyer is printed with a 210 × 210 mm trim size and needs a 3 mm bleed on every edge, which makes the artwork board 216 × 216 mm and keeps important text and logos inside a 204 × 204 mm safe area.
The numbers
- Trim
- 210 × 210 mm
- Bleed box
- 216 × 216 mm
- Safe area
- 204 × 204 mm
- Page
- 222 × 222 mm
- The bleed box adds the 3 mm bleed to every edge of the trim, so 210 + 3 + 3 = 216 mm wide and 210 + 3 + 3 = 216 mm tall, giving a 216 × 216 mm bleed box.
- The safe area pulls the same 3 mm in from every edge of the trim, so 210 − 3 − 3 = 204 mm wide and 210 − 3 − 3 = 204 mm tall, giving a 204 × 204 mm safe area.
- The page adds room for crop marks on top of the bleed, so 210 + 6 + 6 = 222 mm wide and 210 + 6 + 6 = 222 mm tall, giving a 222 × 222 mm page.
- Bleed is only added once per edge, so the 3 mm bleed setting adds 6 mm to the total width and 6 mm to the total height, not 3 mm.
The most common mistake is building the artwork at exactly 210 × 210 mm with no bleed at all, so any background colour or image stops right at the trim line and a sliver of white paper shows up along one or two edges after the flyer is cut.
A square trim removes the portrait-or-landscape decision, but it does not remove the bleed: the 3 mm still has to extend past all four edges.
Because the width and height are equal, the bleed box and safe area are square too, at 216 × 216 mm and 204 × 204 mm.
Guides are placed in a PDF optional-content layer flagged not to print, so they stay visible on screen but are omitted when the file is printed.
- Bleed216 × 216 mm
- Trim210 × 210 mm
- Safe area204 × 204 mm
| Box | mm | pt |
|---|---|---|
| Bleed box (make artwork this big) | 216 × 216 mm | 612.28 × 612.28 pt |
| Trim (final cut size) | 210 × 210 mm | 595.28 × 595.28 pt |
| Safe area (keep text inside) | 204 × 204 mm | 578.27 × 578.27 pt |
| PDF page (MediaBox) | 222 × 222 mm | 629.29 × 629.29 pt |
- Trim
210 × 210 mm- Bleed box
210 + 2 × 3 = 216 mm wide, 210 + 2 × 3 = 216 mm tallBleed is added here, and only here. Setting your document page size to the bleed box (216 × 216 mm) and then adding bleed again in your design software double-counts it, leaving a white gap at the crop marks.
- Safe area
210 - 2 × 3 = 204 mm wide, 210 - 2 × 3 = 204 mm tall- Marks
3 mm long, offset 3 mm from the trim edge- Page
210 + 2 × 6 = 222 mm wide, 210 + 2 × 6 = 222 mm tallThe page (222 × 222 mm) is larger than the bleed box (216 × 216 mm) so it has room for the crop and registration marks; the artwork itself does not need to fill the page.
PDF metadata
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The generated PDF is a correctly sized blank canvas: a page with MediaBox, TrimBox, and BleedBox set to the dimensions you specify, plus crop marks showing where to cut. It does not contain any artwork.
Colour in the PDF is plain RGB or grayscale and is not colour-managed.
Confirm the bleed value with your printer before sending final artwork.