Why would you Leave Prints Left Rough Trimmed with Crop Marks?

When working in print design and production, leaving prints rough-trimmed with crop marks is a common practice for several reasons:

1. Flexibility for Final Trim: By leaving prints rough-trimmed, you allow for a final, precise cut to be made later. This ensures the finished product will have clean edges without any unwanted borders or design elements.
2. Proofing: Before the final trim, a design might be reviewed multiple times. By leaving the design rough trimmed with crop marks, reviewers can easily visualize the final size and layout of the design.
3. Avoiding Mistakes: Cutting right to the final size during initial prints can lead to mistakes, especially if the cutting equipment isn’t precisely calibrated. You provide a margin of error by rough trimming and leaving crop marks.
4. Alignment and Registration: Crop marks are crucial when a design has multiple layers or colours printed separately (as in offset printing). The marks ensure that each layer or colour is aligned correctly.
5. Bleed: Many designs include elements extending to the page’s very edge. To ensure no unwanted white borders in the final product, designers extend these elements slightly past the final trim size—a feature known as “bleed.” Rough trimming with crop marks ensures the bleed remains intact until the final trim.
6. Multiple Processes: Sometimes, a design will go through multiple processes, like embossing, foil stamping, or folding, after initial printing. Keeping the prints rough-trimmed with crop marks helps guide these additional processes.
7. Cost Efficiency: In large volume printing, it might be more cost-effective to rough trim initially and then do a final trim after all other processes are complete.
8. Protection: When transporting prints, rough edges can get damaged or dinged. Rough trimming with a margin can help protect the final product from this kind of damage.

When working with a printer or design professional, it’s essential to communicate your needs and understand the process they will be using. If you want your prints delivered at the final size without crop marks, be sure to specify that. Otherwise, many printers will default to delivering prints rough trimmed with crop marks for all the reasons listed above.