Challenges Faced In Product Label Design

There are many challenges that come with creating a label that accurately depicts your product and grabs the attention of your target consumers.  Not only do you need to create a label that is appealing to your market it must accurately represent your company’s brand identity.   This is the challenge graphic designers and label manufactures face when designing a label for a new product; especially when labeling food products.

Your label design must be eye-catching, reliable and unambiguous; this is the key to food product labeling.  This may sound like a simple concept however when introducing a new product to the market creating something that stands out, gets noticed and creates a purchase is far from easy.

Below are useful guidelines to help design an impressive label for your product:

Get to know your target consumer in depth:  When designing a product label you must first verify the target market and their desires.  It is important that there is clarity when it comes to what consumers are looking for before you begin creating a design concept.  It is important to understand the problems your target market are faced with and how your product helps solve them before beginning the label design process.

Decide what your information your label should contain:  The job of your product label is to sell your product.  It is impossible for product manufacturers to personally sell their product to each individual customer.  This is the job of the product label.  Your product should say everything you would want to say to a consumer if you were sitting in front of them.  The label should answer such questions as: what type of product is it, how the product is used and what ingredients are used in its creation as well as other such questions.  Convey the core values of your product on the label.  This is the information consumers look for to make an informed buying decision.

Establish the style of your product:  Part of your company’s brand images are the illustrations, fonts and colors that are used when labeling the company’s various products.  This should be taken into consideration when introducing a new product into the mix.  This will increase brand awareness when consumers are looking to select a product.  Positive brand recognition will bring awareness to new products that are available on the market.  When consider a style it is important to bear in mind the following: label colors, label graphics and label readability.

Graphic designers and label manufactures must work together with companies to create an attention grabbing label for their products.  The products label is the first step in compelling consumers to make a purchase.

At Anchor Printing, we take pride in offering our clients cut & stack labeling, pressure sensitive labels, roll-fed labeling, shrink sleeves as well as flexible packaging options. Contact us today at http://anchorprinting.com for all of your product label design, printing and packaging needs.

Creating New Product Labels

As a new product is launched it is crucial that it has an attention grabbing label.  A label that is appealing to consumers is one that will sell products.  With new products entering the market place the buyer’s first impressions are what help move the product and hopefully create a lasting impression for repeat purchasing.  The label needs to be extraordinary to entice buyers into picking the item up and contain all the pertinent information needed to make a purchase.

There is no clear cut formula in label design when it comes to creating a label that will sell your products.  There are however certain criterion that should be considered when laying out the design for your new product’s label.

Colors: The colors used when designing custom labels influence the buying decision of consumers.  Each color and combination of colors works to entice customers to feel certain emotions.  Certain colors such as yellow and red encourage purchasing however these colors aren’t always the best choice.  If you are selling a certain feeling along with your product consider what colors work to create that same feeling and use them in developing your label.

Fonts:  Avoid fonts that are overused.  The goal is to create something unique.  The font that is chosen should also be easy to read and capture the personality of your brand and product.  For instance, if you are creating a label for potato chips look for a font that perfectly describes the crispy texture.  If the chip is bbq flavored consider adding additional font that represents the spicy tang of the flavor.  If the chip is pickle flavored consider using a font that exemplifies the sour, salty nature of pickles.

Company/Product Name: In order to be easily identifiable the label must always contain the company and or product name.  This is a no brainer in marketing.  This should be consistent amongst your company’s product to create a brand that is easy to identify quickly.

Ingredients: If it is a food or drug being marketed the label should contain the ingredients that make up the product.  This will allow consumers to easily identify allergens.  It is also a requirement set forth by the FDA to ensure that products accurately account for all substances used in creating the product.

Label Size/Type:  The type of label used as well as the size will be dependent on the packaging or container of the product.  Will the item require two labels, one front and one back? Should the label cover the entire container of leave some of the container to be seen?  There are many types of label options to choose from such as:  shrink sleeves, cut and stack, pressure sensitive, roll fed and flexible packaging.

Bar Code: A universal code placed on the product label helps to convey valuable information to electronic scanners.  It includes recognizable information to the scanner such as the product name, weight, price and such.

Contact Information: It is essential that your company’s contact information is clearly represented on the label.  This should include the company name, product manufacturer, company address, phone number and email address.  If your social presence is important to the company’s image add that information as well.  The contact information, stated visibly on the label, helps to encourage communication between you and your target market.

The factors above form a foundation that custom label and graphic designers should use to create and manufacture a label that encourages sales.

At Anchor Printing, we take pride in offering our clients cut & stack labeling, pressure sensitive labels, roll-fed labeling, shrink sleeves as well as flexible packaging options. Contact us today at http://anchorprinting.com for all of your product label design, printing and packaging needs.

Product Labels That Stand Out From The Competition

How many products do you estimate are on your local grocery store shelves on any given day?  The ballpark figure from the Food Marketing Institute is that there are about forty thousand different items to choose from.  That is a lot of opposition for your product.  How will you make sure that your product stands out from the competition?

The answer to this billion dollar question – your products package and label design.  Here is a closer look into what makes or breaks your company products packaging and label design.

Simple and Clear:  The next time you are visiting the supermarket take some time to check out a random shelf.  Take a moment to browse through the selection of products.  While you are doing this ask yourself two very simple and clear questions; what is the product used for and what is the brand behind it?

You will simply be amazed at how hard it is to answer these two simple questions.  If your product and label design doesn’t answer these two questions in less than four seconds you can be sure that consumers will move on.  It is a subconscious decision that is made within four seconds.  When you are designing your products label and package it is crucial that you are clear about the product and clear about the brand.

Truthful: Nothing sells your product time and time again more than an honest depiction.   Don’t give your product a “facelift” to a degree that portrays it in a light other than what it is.  Your label should not mislead consumers.

Here is a prime example of what not to do.  Don’t show a soft, gooey chocolate covered cookie on the product label when in reality you are selling a simple, flat, chocolate flavored biscuit.  Instead take time to show the simple, flat, chocolate flavored biscuit in a complimentary, flattering way.  Your label should represent your product at its best allowing your targeted market to get an honest look in to what they are purchasing.

Shelf Impact:   Remember that your product will never be viewed alone or in great deal at the store.  It is important for your product to make a different when sitting on the shelf next to the competition; this is known as your product’s shelf impact.   Your label and product packaging need to be distinctive and appeal to consumers.  Your product’s shelf impact is one of the most important reasons consumers make an initial purchase as well as recalling it at a later date for continued purchases.

Practicality:  Your products container, not just the label, should be sensible as well in size, shape and function.  The container should be practical, simple to use and possible reusable.   Practicality helps combat many package design challenges that exist.   One such example is how difficult ketchup is to get out of the glass bottle.  Ketchup manufacturers decided to win the battle by designing a plastic container where the lid was used as the bottom allowing it to stand upside down.  The struggle with getting the ketchup out of the glass bottle no longer exists.  Practicality sells products.

Using the tips above when designing your package and label will help you to create and manufacture a product that flies off the shelf.

At Anchor Printing, we take pride in offering our clients cut & stack labeling, pressure sensitive labels, roll-fed labeling, shrink sleeves as well as flexible packaging options. Contact us today at http://anchorprinting.com for all of your product label design, printing and packaging needs.

Using Color In Product Labeling

Labels are not simply thrown together, slapped with a product name, put on a shelf and popular with consumers.  Graphic designers work together with marketing teams to create labels that sell products.  It is important that both the designer and marketing team consider how the colors used within the label work alone and together.  To better understand color psychology and how it can be used to influence buying decisions let’s look deeper into the influence color has on our human emotions.

Your company’s label is arguably the most important marketing tool used to encourage consumers to purchase your product over the competition.  The colors you choose to represent your product and incorporate within your label will help to make or break your sales.

Colors used on their own evoke different emotions than when used together.  It is important to have a solid understanding of this concept when designing any label.  Consider how you want consumers to feel before, during and after they purchase and use your product.  Analyze what colors or combination of colors work to evoke these emotions and incorporate them within your label design as well as promotional marketing materials.

Colors and Emotions That They Evoke

Black: Black is a color that can be interpreted to mean several things.  It is a different than many colors in that it evokes two very different meanings.   Black is a color that people associate with virility, firmness, strength and permanency.  It can also trigger emotions such as despair, hopelessness and sorrow.  Be careful when using black in labeling noting that it can evoke different feelings for consumers.  Black is often used to highlight text making it pop and stand out from the design surrounding it.

Blue:  Creativity, pleasure and well being come from the color blue.  Consumers relate blue to ideals such as freedom and happiness.  The color is great for label designs looking to create a feeling of free will.  Consumers will subconsciously choose your product over the competition because they feel free in making the decision.

Green: If you are looking to bring a sense of peace, happiness and relaxation to consumers then green is your color of choice.  The color green should be used when looking to calm and reassure clients.  This color will make them unequivocally purchase your product; consumers will not question the integrity of your product when you use green as a main color within your label.

White:  White is used to create a feeling of lightness.  It is a color that offers security, tranquility and relaxation.  White is used to accomplish a feeling of complacency as well.  Marketers should use white in label design to make consumers feel good about choosing their product.  White makes us feel clean, new and renewed.

Brown:  Brown is great for stability.  If you want to have a label that gives off a feeling of being natural, down to earth and organic brown is a great color to chose.  Using the color brown in product labeling gives the sense of trustworthiness.

Orange: If you are looking to make consumers hungry use the color orange when designing your product label.  Orange offers a sense of clarity, strength and vigor.

Purple: Purple is a color that shows prestige.  When used in a label it evokes sensitivity and security.  The color purple sends signals of compassion.  Purple used in labeling makes your product something that is needed and motivates consumers to purchase.

Red:  Label designs using red will literally cause consumers heart rates to pick up.  It is a color that offers a sense of warmth, love and sexuality.  It entices consumers; although the color red can give off a sense of mystery and danger it intrigues customers into making a purchase; perhaps as more of an impulse than a regular purchase.

Color is a powerful element when used in design and labeling.  Make sure that your product label emits the emotions you are looking to provoke an immediate purchase.

At Anchor Printing, we take pride in offering our clients cut & stack labeling, pressure sensitive labels, roll-fed labeling, shrink sleeves as well as flexible packaging options. Contact us today at http://anchorprinting.com for all of your product label design, printing and packaging needs.