Crop marks are lines near the edges of an image indicating the area of print to be reproduced. The area outside of these lines may be cut off during guillotining. Crop marks are also known as cutting marks and tick marks.
You will often (but not always for us) need to add crop marks to any web to print file as these are used as a trimming guide. It is vital that no important design elements sit within this area as they will be cut off once the print run is finished. Don’t add calls to action, numbers, or test within this area. It’s only a 3mm a around the outside so just ensure that all the good stuff is well within this frame.
Top Tip: It’s always a good idea to set up your document with guides so that you can clearly see where not to add crucial information.
There is a bit of an art to correctly setting up design files for print, here is a simple guide:
Find out how to set up crop marks on your artwork here.