Redesigning Labels & Labeling Processes

Shakti (http://www.drinkshakti.com/)  creates value for their stakeholders (customers, team members, suppliers & investors) by producing the purest functional beverages on earth and sustainably distributing them to the masses. They’re a triple bottom line company interested in conscious capitalism. To Shakti, triple bottom line means success goes beyond turning a profit as they have an incredible opportunity to make a positive impact on the planet and community.  At Shakti, they measure success in three ways: People • Planet • Profit. 

Existing Shakti Labels

Recently, Shati decided to change the label printing/application process.  According to Ryne O’Donnell, Founder & CEO, “We wanted to move to a label printer and applicator in house so that we could quickly change LOT#, Expiration Date and Organic Certification Information on our labels.

Existing Shakti Labels

In addition to changing their label production process, Shati wanted to change their label design as well.  Ryne says, “We decided to have our labels redesigned so that we could easily open PDF files from a workstation and print.  It’s important to change the LOT# and Expiration Date for each production run. With our existing labels, we could not make these changes easily.”

Existing Shakti Label

Existing Shakti Back Label

To improve their label production process, Shakti purchased a C3500, rewinder, and waterproof, matte poly, die-cut labels.  To change their label design, Shati asked Color Label Solutions to assist.

For the Shakti redesign, our graphic designer Tony Molina had three key issues to consider:

•    Creating full-bleed effect on the color bands on the labels
•    Adding the fillable forms for the enjoy by date and lot number
•    Insuring the barcodes would scan

When asked, “what are the most important elements of a label design”, Tony says, “I don’t have a set of rules specifically.  However, I consider the coloring of the actual product or container.  It’s important to insure the label stands out and communicates the key attributes and positioning of the product.  I create graphics or images using a variety of software tools; and select fonts to enable buyers to read the label up close as well from a distance.   For Shakti, we had a design template; we just needed to update the label to print on the C3500.”

To print full-bleed, Tony created the actual sized document in QuarkXPress.  Then he manually create the bleed by extending the color or graphic element outside the edges of the document, normally by 1/16 of an inch.

New Shakti Label with Full Bleed

New Shakti Label With Full Bleed

With this setup, you just print in Reader selecting “actual size” to get the full-bleed effect on your specific die-cut label size.

To create the forms, we use Acrobat; making it easy to convert a label to a form fillable PDF.

On the barcode, however, we had to be careful with size.  As the C3500 has less print resolution than a printer typically used by a printshop, smaller barcodes may not scan properly.  To produce small barcodes, Window-based, lower resolution printers may not create small lines sufficiently “straight”; disrupting the spaces between the lines and thus scanning.  For Shatki, we needed to increase the barcode size from the original design to insure they scanned properly.

Once the label was redesigned and the printer was setup, Shakti was printing and rewinding labels to place on their applicator.

After this first label project, Ryne says “We are very happy with the printer and applicator decision as it gives us the ability to change labels quickly. Also, we’re excited that our labels are now waterproof and smudge proof.

Now Shakti not only has great tasting beverages, but also a label printing process that is much easier to do.  If you need a label redesign and/or a new labeling process, contact Color Label Solutions.  We’ll make sure your labels look great and are easy to print.

Guy Mikel

855-962-7670

info@colorlabelsolutions.com