How To
How to Create an Effective Label
A bottle is only as good as the contents in them, but what good is that if you don’t know what’s in them? Your bottle’s label is the first thing customers are going to notice when looking at your product, therefore your choice in label should reflect what you want to say about your product, what your product says about your brand, and how your product should make others feel. The great thing about the Internet is how easy it’s made our lives, and with websites like StickerYou.com creating custom labels online has never been easier. Here a few tips to get you started on creating an effective label.
Colour
It may seem obvious, but colour plays one of the most important roles when it comes to creating custom bottle labels. Colour is the first thing to draw a customer’s eye to the bottle label and your product, therefore it’s important to choose a colour that is as bright as it is bold. A good exercise to help choose a bottle label colour is to go to a store in your neighborhood and see what other palates companies are choosing for their product labels – and pick the opposite one. It’s important to follow trends in branding, but it’s equally as important to have your product stand out as well.
An eye-catching colour that stands out from others on store shelves will increase the likelihood of customers picking up that product and looking at the label. It’s also important to consider how you want people to feel when using your product, which will affect how they feel about your brand. Warmer tones (oranges and yellows) suggest feelings of comfort, assurance, and are optimistic.
Whereas cool tones (blues and purples) create notions of familiarity, effervescence, and even charming. Red and purple tones will suggest to consumers that your product is exciting, spontaneous and suggest something debonair.
Know Your Material
Material is an important aspect of bottle label printing, especially if you’re creating custom labels online (ordering the wrong material for your bottle labels can be a serious waste of not only time but money too).
For beverages and products in glass bottles a label with a clear backing is recommended. This allows for the contents of the product to shine through and appears sleek and modern. For products in plastic bottles, it’s generally best to opt for a matte finish.
Plastic bottles often endure the elements, so a label with a matte finish will ensure your product’s label will stand out no matter what it goes through. Matte labels are also easy to write on with permanent markers, making them perfect product labels for items that require time sensitive information such as best-by dates. The advantage of creating custom labels online today is that’s never been easier (or cost effective) to create metallic or foil labels. These often work best as alcohol or beverage labels and are an effective way to let consumers that your product is high end and luxurious!
Design for Size
Size and shape are key elements in any product label creating. Over-sized labels can look clunky and can make your product look cheap. A label that’s too small won’t be able to fill all the vital information and design on it. It’s also important to consider using two product labels, one for the back of your product and one for the front. This way design and information doesn’t become a problem, your front product label can have all your branding design elements, while the back label can have smaller information such as ingredients or instructions.
However, depending on your packaging, an all-encompassing wrap-around label is also an option (although they aren’t as cost-effective and can be difficult to adhere). Product and beverage label shape is also a key element in getting your product noticed. Luckily Creating custom labels online has made picking and choosing a label shape simpler than ever. Think about what kind of shape not only reflects your brand, but also matches with your logos and aesthetic. If your product label is already full of design elements, basic simple shapes won’t take away attention. A fancier label shape is an effortless way to be eye catching if your design is more minimal.
Be Clear and Concise
The last and certainly one of the most important parts in beverage and product label design it to be clear and concise in both design and description. It’s important to find an appropriate balance between both. Mixing and matching elements of design is always a clever idea – however if you go overboard you can end up with a beverage label that looks jarring and amateurish.
Mixing colours to portray completely feelings can be a very successful element of label design. Make sure your colours and palate are complimentary though, clashing colours will draw negative attention to your product. Having too many ideas can make a product label look chaotic and can take away from important branding or information you have on your product label.
If you want a example of all the different label types to make your label making decision either, you can order a free samples catalogue from StickerYou.com.
