Postcard geometry
The millimetres a printer works to, drawn from the same constants the renderer uses. A photograph in the wrong place is a question for the preview inside a journal; a margin in the wrong place is a question for this page.
- bleedartwork runs to here and is cut away
- trimthe finished edge
- safenothing that matters goes outside this
- postalposition is specification, not taste
The card, back
A6 landscape · 148 × 105 mm trim · 3 mm bleed · 5 mm safe · 300 dpi
lib/postcard/spec.ts · lib/postcard/preview.ts
The address block and the stamp area are where the sorting machine looks. Their position is a postal specification — moving them to balance the card is the one change on this page that would be rejected by a machine rather than by a person. The figures box holds the traveller marks beside the signature (B628); it is anchored to the divider rather than to the signature text, so a long name and a short one need no different geometry.
Every number on the card
lib/postcard/spec.ts
| Trim | 148 × 105 mm | the finished card, after cutting — the standard European postcard |
|---|---|---|
| Bleed | 3 mm on all four edges | media box 436.5 × 314.6 pt |
| Safe | 5 mm inside the trim | nothing that matters goes outside it |
| Resolution | 300 dpi target | a full-bleed photograph therefore wants 1819 × 1312 px |
| Print floor | 180 dpi | below this, and only below this, the preview warns — a card is read at arm's length (B1010) |
| Divider | 72 mm from the left trim edge | message to the left of it, address to the right |
| Address block | 60 × 40 mm, 78 mm from the left, 12 mm up | machine-read; the position is postal specification |
| Stamp area | 26 × 32 mm, 6 mm in from the right, 6 mm down from the top | kept clear |
| Figures | 22 × 14 mm, 3 mm clear of the divider | the traveller marks beside the signature — B628 |
| Type | message 10 pt · signature 8 pt · address 11 pt | leading 1.45× for the message, a fixed 14 pt for the address |
| Crop | at most 4× into the photograph | beyond that a phone photograph on A6 is mush — B627 |