A safe zone for printing is an area inside of the cut lines of a printed piece that does not contain any important information and that may be cut off. The printing safe zone is important because it ensures that no important or relevant information is cut off when the printed piece is cut to size.

During the printing process the location of the print may shift slightly when on the printer or the cutter may not cut exactly on the crop marks. Having a safe zone with no relevant text or imagery helps avoid anything being cut off. It is rare that anything in this printing safe zone will be cut off, but it is best practices to ensure there is a safe zone so that if the printing does move or the cutting is not exact the piece will still look the same with no substantial changes.

The safe zone should be 1/8 inch inside of the cut line. It is recommended the the safe zone and bleed be filled with background imagery which will not matter if it gets cut.