Labels are basically just pieces of paper, plastic, film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. They are helpful in providing information about the product’s origin, manufacturer, use, shelf-life, and disposal.
They are also used for any combination of identification, information, warning, instructions for use, environmental advice, or advertising. Label designs can come in the form of stickers, permanent or temporary labels, or printed packaging.
Creating your own label design doesn’t come with rules and guidelines to be followed to be able to create an attractive design, but this doesn’t mean that we can’t work toward achieving one ourselves.
Below, we will discuss certain elements that will make a product label design examples compelling, and provide tips on how to use these elements to your advantage.
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There was a time when product packages were just a container and labels were meant only for specifying the product details. The changing market has now put many additional responsibilities on those in charge of product packaging design and labeling of a company. They now have the important responsibility of also attracting customers.
To successfully achieve that, here are some tips and tricks for making label designs more alluring to customers.
1. Look out for typographic pairing
Since a product label has usually little space for image and content, designers create a visual juxtaposition by typographic pairing. Viewers can easily recognize the pieces of information with the help of the contrast. Using the same font is only suggested if there’s a need for continuity between information. The main objective of typographic pairing is to display the relationship between the information and different type choices.
2. Emphasis on white space
White space is the area of a design that has not been used by the designer for images, text, or other illustrations. In other words, it is the background color of the design. White space is a significant element in designing a product label since it helps separate the chunks of different information so that customers can read the details easily. It is also used to create a visual distinction.
3. Illustrate
Some product labels require illustration and graphic design elements. It is used when you have to speak about the product more visually.
4. Maintain originality
Make sure that your label design looks unique, memorable, and original. Research into your competitors’ label and then get a design that stands out.
5. Focus on the print quality
This is the last but definitely not the least point to consider: get a good print of the label. Try and enhance the visual presence of the product with the quality cards to ensure a good first impression. So whether to make it a stick gloss, matte surface, or coated, get an expert to make it for you.
Here are the easy steps that you need to follow if you want to start creating your own label design:
The first step involved in creating your own product label is deciding which software to use in the design process. There are many good graphic design software choices out there, such as Adobe InDesign, PagePlus, CorelDraw, Adobe Illustrator, and Microsoft Publisher. Choose an application that you are comfortable using.
But it is also important to make sure that the software you choose has the ability to save or export your artwork as an EPS file or PDF file. You may also want to have the ability to convert all fonts in the design file to outlines, since some printers will request that you do this because converting fonts to outlines transforms all text in your artwork into vector objects, ensuring that the appearance of the text remains as you see it on your screen.
You should consider whether you want your product labels to be printed using spot or full-color printing. With spot colors, you are typically limited to choosing one, two, or three single colors. In this type of printing, you may just have black ink on the printed space, or you may choose black, red, and blue ink, and so on.
Full-color printing is more complex and uses all four main printing colors—cyan, magenta, yellow, and black—blended together to create the printed piece. Full-color printing is usually needed if you want to produce a color photograph on your label.
It should go without saying, but be sure to feature the product or company name prominently on the label design, so that it is easily identifiable and the first thing the consumer notices. It is also important to stay as consistent with the look of the brand as possible so that customers can quickly find the product on the shelf next time they visit a retail center to purchase merchandise. You may also see thank you label designs.
Before beginning the actual design process, it is a good idea to choose the product label’s material. Whatever your design, it ultimately needs to be in sync with your label material.
Bleed essentially means that your artwork flows off the edges of the label. No bleed means your label has a white (or other colors) border around the artwork. Bleed can refer to the overall layout, as well as text or graphics that extend to the edge of the label. Product labels that extend all the way to the edge of the label without margins are referred to as bled off.
The barcode is the portion of the label that tells electronic scanners information about your product. First used in grocery stores, barcodes now make it easier for a product to be sold in stores of all kinds. Universal Product Barcodes (UPC) are also used to help companies track inventory or add security to their products.
Here are four of the unique label types that are popping up in the marketplace and at our locations.
Rectangular Labels
Round Label
An advantage of having your label created using a standard size is that it would be readily available to buy from stock, which means that you can simply choose to design and print your own label using any label printing software available to you. You may also see bottle label designs.
A private brand is a product that is exclusively manufactured for a retailer. The retailer will market the product under its own brand name, which will be printed on the product to show consumers that they own it.
There are four types of labels: brand label, grade label, descriptive label, and informative label.
Whatever type of label you need, keep the suggestions and steps we have discussed in this article in mind to make sure that you come up with a design that will be both functional and eye-catching.