“What do you mean why there are white borders in the printout?” yelped my first designer, incredulously. “If you wanted borderless design, your brief should have included instructions about the bleed!”
He was right. My brief never mentioned the ” bleed“, mostly because prior to that conversation I exclusivelythought about that word in the context of medicine scrapes and nose injuries.
He explained: In graphic design, “bleed” refers to the area of a design that extends about 3 mm (1/8 of an inch) beyond the edge of the final product, to ensure that the design prints all the way to the edge of the paper without leaving any white borders.
Objectively, he was right – but using clear and simplified language shows respect for the client’s time. I needed the print, not the lesson.
The problem is, just like with driving skills, creativity, or joke-telling abilities most people rate their clarity as above average, although that’s statistically impossible.
You might be tempted to think this doesn’t apply to you, but know this: So did I.**
So let me issue a challenge today: Next time you write something intended for your clients, ask ChatGPT “Can you re-write this to be suitable for an audience that has little to no prior knowledge, using 8th-grade level words, while retaining its meaning?“. Comparing the result of that prompt with what you wrote will get you a much clearer view.**