crop mark

Printing trim indicator

Crop marks are printed lines at the corners of a document indicating where the paper should be trimmed after printing.

They guide the cutting process when a piece is printed on larger stock than its final size: The designer added crop marks to show where the bleed ends.

Also called trim marks.

In a different sense, crop marks are patterns visible in fields from the air, where buried archaeological features affect plant growth above them.

printing

registration

Formal recording of participation

  • trimRemove unwanted edges
  • bleedLose vital fluid
  • guidesThose who show directions

cutting · prepress · proofing · layout · imposition · color separation · offset · lithography · die-cutting · scoring

agriculture

harvest

Gathering mature crops

farmland · cultivate · rotation · fallow · tillage · furrow · seedling · threshing · winnowing · reaping

Opposites
content vs. production guide

crop marksafe zone

Protected area from threats

body text · artwork · bleed · print area

Family

crop, mark, crops, cropped, cropping, cropper, marks, marked, marking

Familiarity
Top 500,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Timeless · Concrete · Rated G