When it comes to designing an effective label, it’s important to keep in mind that it will represent your product on the shelves of every store to which it goes. Even long after a customer has left or when someone walks by the front window, a label has the ability to leave an impression on anyone that sees it.
How one presents their product to the public shows a lot about how a business wants to be seen and whether someone can trust that a product is of quality. Designing the perfect label is no easy task, but following a few general guidelines can get one started on the path towards successful labeling.
The Essential Info
First, it is important to have a good understanding of what exactly needs to be included on a custom printed label. While certain elements exist that are essential to every label, depending on what kind of business you’re in, there may be requirements for what needs to be included on the outside of a product. For example, the packaging labels on tools and hardware typically have instructions for safe use and warnings of possible hazards. A label on a food item will have an ingredients list, nutrition facts, and any kind of certification that goes along with the product, such as Non- GMO or Organic. It is imperative to pay attention to industry specific requirements for labels.
A product label with missing information shows a lack of professionalism, and, even worse, can get a businesses into legal trouble. In addition to certain requirements that are dependent on the type of product, an effective label also usually includes the name of the product, a company logo, details about the product itself, and a barcode. All of these items are typically standard across most labels. In some cases, it might be useful to include a picture of the product on the label, but this depends on how exactly the packaging is designed and what kind of product is being sold.
The Design
Once you’ve established what it is that needs to be included on the label, it’s time to find a way to make it stand out. Whether it is intended or not, the manner in which everything on the label is presented sends a certain message to customers. Sometimes, it is within the capacity of a business to hire a graphic designer to decide on the actual aesthetics of the label, and on other occasions, it may be appropriate for a company to do the work in house.
Despite whichever of the two camps you might land in, there are certain principles which hold true for all of graphic design. For starters, a quality label must be easy to read, meaning one should limit the number of fonts used, choose type colors that are distinguishable from the background, and limit the amount of type in any single area on the label.
Another way to ensure a label turns out visually pleasing, is to create space between the individual items presented using the color white. Cluttered labels, on which a bunch of information is crammed into a small space, are one of the most common mistakes one can find in any store. Use of white space and setting colors apart from each other can do wonders for a label that looks like it has too much going on.
The Importance of Branding
Lastly, it’s necessary to make your label stand out from everything else on the shelf by adding something that makes it distinguishable. Typically this has something to do with the incorporation of a logo, but adding a picture or catchphrase can also work. Creating a label that is unique often begins with something that is personal to the company and recognizable to customers across any type of branding that a business does.
A good example of this idea is Captain Morgan Rum. On every bottle, there is a distinct illustration of their “Captain” character that customers have likely seen on billboards and commercials. The addition of this image to each of their labels makes it clear that one is buying a Captain Morgan bottle, and it connects to the branding they’ve already done on multiple other platforms.
There are many different elements to be considered when trying to create the perfect label, but as long as one understands fully what needs to be on it and has a decent sense for aesthetic design, its possible to create a piece of branding that truly sticks out to customers when they’re shopping in a store. An effective custom label is definitely an important aspect to any marketing scheme and should be crafted with attention to detail and a flair of personal touch. With the right combination of design and information, one can give any product a refreshing look.
To start creating your own custom labels, contact Morgan Chaney today!
