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Postcard Design Specifications

When designing a postcard, there are a handful of guidelines to keep in mind. Following these guidelines will help to ensure your postcards print and trim as you intend them to. Adherence to these guidelines is also necessary for making sure your postcards meet strict postal requirements, allowing utilization of the lowest possible postage rate. While we are providing guidelines for the three most common-sized postcards, the same concepts would apply to other sizes. If you have questions or would like details for a unique sized postcard, please contact us.

Postal and Design Specifications for a 4.25 x 5.5 Standard Postcard

Note: Diagram shown is proportionate but not at actual size.

  • The postcard TRIM size is 5.5” wide by 4.25” tall. If you would like the background color and/or image(s) to extend to the edge of the card, then an extra .125” should be added to each side of the card, outside of the trim. (This is called “bleed” and is indicated by the blue dotted line.) All non-bleeding imagery or text should remain at least .25” inside the trim size so it doesn’t get cut off. (See the red dotted line.)
  • The Postal indicia or stamp can be added by Unique Litho. For an indicia, we need an area at least 1.125” x 1.25” that has no live text near it. However, it can have imagery — we will just print the indicia in a box over top of the image. An indicia does not have to go in the upper-right corner; it just needs to be above and to the right of the address block. For a postcard mailing with a stamp, there must be a 1.125” x 1.25” white box that the stamp can go into. Stamps cannot be placed over any image, and must be in the upper-right corner of the mailing side of the postcard.
  • The addressing area needs to be 3.25”wide and at least 1.5” tall. It must be .5” away from the right trimmed edge of the card, and it must be .625” from the bottom of the card. The maximum height of the addressing area is 4” above the bottom of the card.
  • When you finalize your artwork, please export or print a high-resolution PDF file. You should always select “High Quality Print” or “Press Quality” when exporting your PDF. (Do a Google search if you’re unsure how to do so with the software you’re using.) Also, always select the page size to match your document size (including the bleed). In this case, your document size would be 5.75” x 4.5” (trim + bleed); or 5.5” x 4.25” if the document does not have bleed.

If you would like to download this specification sheet, please click here

Postal and Design Specifications for a 5.5 x 8.5 Standard Postcard

Note: Diagram shown is proportionate but not at actual size.

  • The postcard TRIM size is 8.5” wide by 5.5” tall. If you would like the background color and/or image(s) to extend to the edge of the card, then an extra .125” should be added to each side of the card, outside of the trim. (This is called “bleed” and is indicated by the blue dotted line.) All non-bleeding imagery or text should remain at least .25” inside the trim size so it doesn’t get cut off. (See the red dotted line.)
  • The Postal indicia or stamp can be added by Unique Litho.
  • For an indicia, we need an area at least 1.125” x 1.25” that has no live text near it. However, it can have imagery — we will just print the indicia in a box over top of the image. An indicia does not have to go in the upper-right corner; it just needs to be above and to the right of the address block.
  • For a postcard mailing with a stamp, there must be a 1.125” x 1.25” white box that the stamp can go into. Stamps cannot be placed over any image, and must be in the upper-right corner of the mailing side of the postcard.
  • The addressing area needs to be 3.25”wide and at least 1.5” tall. It must be .5” away from the right trimmed edge of the card, and it must be .625” from the bottom of the card. The maximum height of the addressing area is 4” above the bottom of the card.
  • When you finalize your artwork, please export or print a high-resolution PDF file. You should always select “High Quality Print” or “Press Quality” when exporting your PDF. (Do a Google search if you’re unsure how to do so with the software you’re using.) Also, always select the page size to match your document size (including the bleed). In this case, your document size would be 8.75” x 5.75” (trim + bleed); or 8.5” x 5.5” if the document does not have bleed.

If you would like to download this specification sheet, please click here

Postal and Design Specifications for a 5.5 x 11 Standard Postcard

Note: Diagram shown is proportionate but not at actual size.

  • The postcard TRIM size is 11” wide by 5.5” tall. If you would like the background color and/or image(s) to extend to the edge of the card, then an extra .125” should be added to each side of the card, outside of the trim. (This is called “bleed” and is indicated by the blue dotted line.) All non-bleeding imagery or text should remain at least .25” inside the trim size so it doesn’t get cut off. (See the red dotted line.)
  • The Postal indicia or stamp can be added by Unique Litho. For an indicia, we need an area at least 1.125” x 1.25” that has no live text near it. However, it can have imagery — we will just print the indicia in a box over top of the image. An indicia does not have to go in the upper-right corner; it just needs to be above and to the right of the address block. For a postcard mailing with a stamp, there must be a 1.125” x 1.25” white box that the stamp can go into. Stamps cannot be placed over any image, and must be in the upper-right corner of the mailing side of the postcard.
  • The addressing area needs to be 3.25”wide and at least 1.5” tall. It must be .5” away from the right trimmed edge of the card, and it must be .625” from the bottom of the card. The maximum height of the addressing area is 4” above the bottom of the card.
  • When you finalize your artwork, please export or print a high-resolution PDF file. You should always select “High Quality Print” or “Press Quality” when exporting your PDF. (Do a Google search if you’re unsure how to do so with the software you’re using.) Also, always select the page size to match your document size (including the bleed). In this case, your document size would be 11.25” x 5.75” (trim + bleed); or 11” x 5.5” if the document does not have bleed.

If you would like to download this specification sheet, please click here