Designing Labels

Recently, I came across an article that would seem to fit almost all of our customers in the label business; How To Design A Label; the Ultimate Guide.

How To Design Labels

In the past, we’ve posted about several aspects of label design.  For example, our graphic designer, Tony Molina’s work designing label and logo art for one of our customers.

Raster vs Vector; When To Use What Type of Art.

Improving Label Print Quality; Fonts to Select.

And Creating/Printing Black.

But we’ve not provided a How To approach to designing a label from scratch.  The “How To Design A Label” article provides good ideas for those of us who need to create labels.

After reviewing the article, I found three key steps you should complete when designing a label.

First, consider writing a “Creative Brief”.  This document should describe the technical and aesthetic requirements of the label.  Basically, a document to hand over to a graphic artist.  This type of summary helps contemplate all of the elements needed in the label design.

In the Creative Brief, make sure you add the specific requirements needed in the label.  Some examples include the following.

Package and Label dimensions.  We get customers every day contacting us with no idea of the size of label required.  Make sure you know the packaging type and label size required.  Many times, I recommend considering a label size with whole integers (i.e. 2” x 1”) may fit your product.  These standard sizes are more readily available and generally less expensive.

Printer Technical Capabilities. Many times, people contact us wanting to produce the same type of labels from an on-demand, 4 color printer that they purchase from a company using million-dollar presses.  By understanding the capabilities of an on-demand color printer, graphic artists can create designs that produce the best possible print output; regardless of the price of the printer.

Logo’s, Brand Colors, Certifications and other Icons.  Be sure to include all images and colors needed to complete the desired label look.

Nutritional Facts, THC/CBD Content, ingredients, or other specific content as we as any table of information required.

Front, Back, Top, Neck, Security label sizes/types/materials needed.

Barcode and QR code data.  If selling through a retail channel, a GS1barcode may be needed.

Find more information on creative briefs of all types here: 

I asked our Graphic Artist, Tony Molina about developing a “Creative Brief”.  Tony says, “I want to learn as much information about the product as possible; Including who is the target audience or preferred sizes.  Also, I ask customers for samples of existing labels they like. I want to see the label so I can get a feel for what the customer has in mind. If the company has a particular color scheme, I could integrate those colors in the design as well.”

Second, document the Branding Direction of your product.  This effort ensures the label design visually supports the “Product Position” and/or the product strategy. Logo’s and branding style are important elements of the Branding Direction.  In addition, companies with multiple brands should want “Brand Consistency” across their product line.  In this post, 60 different label designs are presented to provide ideas.  Although all of the products are consumer oriented, it may give you creative ideas for labels. 

and more here.

For Branding Direction, Tony recommends, “Have a color scheme in the label design that reflects your product positioning. Your logo should be clean and easily recognizable. Label content should be well balanced and uncluttered. Maintain label style/consistency throughout the product line.” 

Third, mock up your product using the label design and packaging.  This step is important to ensure the label design (2D) works on the product package (3D). On-Demand Color Printing of continuous labels and then hand-cut to size makes this step easy to do for anyone with a printer.  Although not within my capabilities, graphic artists should be able to create electronic version using software such as Photoshop to create realistic images of the finished product as well.

Following these three steps should help you create label art that fits your products and works well with on-demand color label printers.  By adding one more step (Contacting Color Label Solutions), you’ll create great looking labels that your customers will approve.

Guy Mikel

855-962-7670

info@colorlabelsolutions.com