There are a number of practical considerations to keep in mind when creating your documents.

SPOT COLOR PRINTING:

• For spot color print jobs, you must provide 3/8" gripper space. This means the sheet of paper your job is to be printed on must have a clear area of 3/8" along the side the press will grab while pulling the paper through the press. For example, if you intend your print job to be run using 8.5" x 11" paper, make sure that either the top or the bottom (portrait) has no image within 3/8".
  
• Yes, you CAN design your piece to have printing close to all the edges, or even "bleed" over all the edges. However, you increase your printing cost this way, because the piece must be printed on oversized paper to gain gripper and bleed space, and then cut down to your intended finish size after printing. The simplest, least-costly, and most fool proof approach is to design a 3/8" (or more) white border all the way around the piece. See Fig. 1
• Digital printer/copiers also have limitations as to how close the image can be to the edges.
• Full color (process printing) pieces can be designed to bleed on all sides.
  

• If you are designing a brochure that will letterfold, meaning the 3rd panel will fold inside the 1st and 2nd panels, you must provide gripper space and allow for the fact that letter folding makes the last panel a different size. For example, for an 8.5x11 letterfold brochure, the 1st and 2nd panels will measure 3 11/16" and the 3rd panel will measure 3 5/8". To accomodate the different sizes, but still keep the content of each panel centered, you must size and position the layout area of the last panel differently. See Figs. 2 & 3.
  
• Here is a basic layout for 8.5x11:
  left margin=3/8",
  1st column=2 15/16",
  1st gutter=3/4",
  2nd column=2 15/16",
  2nd gutter=3/4",
  3rd column=2 7/8",
  right margin=3/8".
  
• Reverse the order for other side. See Fig 4.
  
• Click on images for full size examples.
• Digital printer/copiers also have limitations as to how close the image can be to the edges.
• Full color (process printing) pieces can be designed to bleed on all sides.