Design Nomenclature / Composition
Crop
Also called cropping
The decision of what the frame excludes. Cropping changes scale, weight, and reading all at once — a face cut at the crown reads closer than one with air above it — and it operates on the image's content. What is cut is as compositional as what is kept.
In practice
Crop and bleed get swapped constantly. Crop is an editorial cut inside the image; bleed is a production allowance past the trim. One is a decision, the other is insurance.
Not to be confused with
- BleedArtwork extended past the trim line so that trim variance never leaves a white sliver at the edge — conventionally 3mm or one-eighth inch. 'Full bleed' names the intended result, ink to the edge, which is only achieved by printing beyond the edge and cutting the surplus off.
- FramingElements inside a composition that enclose another and route attention to it — an arch, a doorway, a bank of shadow, a column of text. A frame within the frame. It works by common region and by the contrast of the enclosure against whatever it surrounds.