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Product Label Design for Small Business Owners

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It’s the mission of this guide to arm you with all the information you (a small business owner) need to either:

1. Design your own product label from scratch2. Or find a professional designer to do it for you

And to accomplish that, we’ve packed this guide from cover to cover with detailed advice, tactical video tutorials and design inspiration.

Feel free to jump around, reading about what you need to know and skipping what you don’t. And after you’re done, you should have everything you need to design the label of your dreams.

What you’ll find in this guide

3 A DETAILED WALKTHROUGH OF THE LABEL DESIGN PROCESS

13 [VIDEO]HOWTODESIGNA LABELINCANVA

13 [VIDEO]HOWTODESIGNA LABEL IN ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR

14 A NOTE ON FINDING PROFESSIONAL DESIGNERS

15 AND FINALLY, SOME DESIGN INSPIRATION TO GET YOU STARTED

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Let’s walk through the label design process, from start to finishIf this is your first time dipping your toes into design, have no fear! We’re here to help. Here you’ll find a six-step process to designing a label.

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Designing your labelStep 1: Create your brand

Before you start, it may seem like there are a million steps to think about — What color do I choose? What fonts do I use? How do I even MAKE a label? — but there’s one ques-tion you should ask yourself first:

What is your brand?

Defining your brand identity is crucial to the look and feel of your product. Figuring it out can help you decide on colors, fonts, imagery and materials.

So why is your brand identity so important? Consider this — consumers face endless buying decisions everywhere they go, online or elsewhere. Forming a distinctive identity that promotes appealing values can make your product far more memorable, and even foster loyalty in your customers down the line.

Start thinking about ways you can distinguish your brand. One easy exercise is thinking of a list of adjectives to describe your brand’s tone. What tone do you want your product to convey? Is it playful or serious? Bold or soothing? Come up with as many descriptive adjectives as you can.

Think about the lifestyle you want to promote with your brand, and what kind of person should want to buy your product. A good amount of thinking and research into your brand identity will help you determine the fundamental look of your label.

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Step 2: Consider your color options

Here’s a piece of advice to consider for every step of this process: Look at competing brands and products. If you take note of the general colors and shapes you see, you may find some obvious visual patterns.

For example, hot sauce bottle labels often feature fire on their labels to indicate spice or use the color red to convey some intense heat. These bottles are designed to get your mouth watering just by looking at them.

But your product shouldn’t simply blend in with its neighbors on the shelf.

A good use of color is one that allows your product to stand apart as eye-catching with-out appearing garish or jarring to the browsing consumer. In an environment where the product shelf looks like a jumbled Rubix cube, a conservative, understated or neutral color scheme may be the way to go.

Color selection more than a question of personal preference — it can make or break your shelf presence, the perception of your product and the image of your brand.

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CHOOSING COLOR BASED ON COMMON PERCEPTIONS The following is an overview of some common perceptions of colors and their meanings, with examples.

WARM COLORS

Brown is an earthy color, the color of simplicity, practicality, reliability and dependability, wholesomeness and friendliness (leather, age, cigars and chocolate).

Red is the color of love and passion, and can convey heat, power, anger or even joy. Red can command attention and spur action. Red is believed to spur appetite (stop sign, sports car, lipstick, fast food).

Pink conveys a playful attitude, a delicate sweetness, sentiment, calmness or romance (bubble gum, candy, valentines, blossoms).

Yellow is a happy and cheerful color that can inspire joy or remembrance. It's also an attention getter (like orange, the other color of taxi cabs).

Gold equates to riches and extravagance, with a sense of the traditional, and is also as-sociated with wisdom. Gold is notoriously difficult to reproduce as a design color (gold metal, jewelry, candlelight).

Orange is the color of urgency, excitement, vitality and energy, and is very appealing to children. Also common yet still eye-catching even in nature (fruit, vegetables, flow-ers). Despite being very eye-catching it commonly ranks as people's least favorite color (warning signs, fire).

COOL COLORS

Green means growth, fertility and nature, freshness and a sense of the environment (predominant in nature, soothing in lighter shades).

White and gray communicate a sense of calm, peace and tranquility (cotton, parchment, bedding, feathers).

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Blue communicates respectability, authority, intelligence, power, trust and dependability (steel, rushing water), as well as a peaceful feeling in lighter shades (sky, calm waters).

Purple is the color often worn by kings, conveying elegance and majesty. It's relatively rare in nature (fruit, vegetables, flowers). Purple is a complicated color, where bright purple is a favorite amongst children while deep purple is a favorite of religious organi-zations.

NEUTRAL COLORS

Black is a conservative or formal color that can be seen as sophisticated or mysterious, luxurious and sophisticated (darkness, coal, oil, ink).

White, silver, ivory and gray are considered formal in many circumstances, and can com-municate elegance, purity, calm and sophistication (silver metal, lace, weddings, jewelry, classical architecture).

Beige is a relaxing color with emotional implications similar to brown depending on the shade (sandy beaches, woods, textiles).

After looking at the above information on the perception of color, list the adjectives and consider the visual associations you want your viewer to make with your brand.

Do you want to use a bold, bright orange to tell your customer your brand is daring and energetic? Or do you prefer a soothing shade of purple, to make your product feel calm and mystical?

If you don’t know where to start with picking your colors, check out Coolors, an online color scheme generator. This free app generates a series of colors that you can rotate and switch until you get to a color scheme you feel best represents your brand.

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Step 3: Choosing a font

There are many wonderful fonts in the world today, thanks to many talented type de-signers. The downside: It can feel like you have to sort through a mountain of options to find the right match.

Without getting too deep in the weeds of typography 101, let’s just say that fonts are complicated, and it could be a good idea to educate yourself on some basic typographic principles. If you’re serious about making a beautiful, enduring label, consider reading this good primer on basic typography: Design for non-designers: Five visual principles to give you a head start.

Now, there is a good amount of intuition that goes into choosing your font. Look through some pages on Adobe Fonts or Google Fonts and observe the fonts you see. How would you describe this font (Luckiest Guy):

As opposed to this font (Playfair Display)?

Keep your brand’s list of adjectives in mind. Can you see either of these fonts matching your brand’s tone?

A good rule of thumb is to choose two fonts. Aim to have one font for display purposes (i.e., the name of your product) and another font for reading (i.e., the ingredients list). The display font can have more character to convey a distinct tone with your product. The reading font should be more legible and functional.

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Before deciding on any fonts, make sure you read the terms of use. Google Fonts allows you to reproduce fonts for commercial use, but other font websites may have different rules. Just be careful when using anything created by someone other than you.

Step 4: Finding strong imagery

Though it is possible to create an intriguing design without the aid of any images, why only use words when a picture is worth a thousand of them?

Design elements can really make your product labels pop. The proliferation of accessible and unique stock imagery online makes it easier than ever to find the right illustrations and design elements for your label. As long as you understand their terms of use, you can find a stock illustration for almost anything you need. Websites like GettyImages offer premium illustrations for a price. Free stock websites include Pixabay and Unsplash.

Be cautious, however — for as many viable stock illustrations exist, unsuitable ones abound. Carefully consider the kind of style you are looking for. Do you want a more modern, minimal look? You could consider some simple vector art (for a definition and better understanding of vector art, click here). Does your brand require a more vintage, homey style? Look at rustic illustrations to harken back to old-fashioned label designs.

And of course, custom illustrations and imagery will always stand out more than stock. Consider hiring a graphic designer or illustrator to bring your vision to life.

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Logistics and production Step 5: What info do you need on your label?

It’s in your best interest to make sure your label presents all the legally required informa-tion — what, exactly, is required will vary depending on what your product is. You’ll need to conduct some independent research to find guidance from the regulatory organiza-tion(s) (FDA, TTB, EPA, USDA, etc.) for your product segment.

The point is that you’re ultimately responsible for ensuring the information on your label is compliant. But if you’d like a general list of label requirements by product category, check out this guide.

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Step 6: Printing your labels

Now that your design is done, it’s finally time to think about printing your labels.

Before putting together all the previous steps to finalize your design, make sure your file is put together correctly. The printing company you’re working with may provide you a template to use. Make sure you lay out your design according to their specifications. They may ask for things like color profiles, bleed lines and other printing terminology that you may not be familiar with. Read this guide to help you in the production process.

If you think you’re ready to bring your beautiful design to life, get a quote from us here.

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A few additional tips to help you along the way

1. The label material you choose will impact the overall look of your packaging, so make sure you consider your material as you’re designing your label. If you’re going for an all-natural look, kraft paper might be a good choice. Want to get the ‘no-label’ look? Choose clear BOPP. If you need to see materials to visualize their impact on design, order free samples and choose the one that fits your design best.

2. When arranging your design, make sure there is enough negative space or white space. You may feel the need to cram as much information onto your label as possi-ble. But give your type and imagery some breathing room.

3. Try different creative options. Create three to five distinct designs, with different colors and font choices. Try other options before you finalize your design.

4. Have a small, unbiased group review your label design and tell you what you think. You can use sites like UsabilityHub or SurveyMonkey to gather a panel of real people to review your design.

It’s a lot of information to take in. If needed, refer to the infographic below for a con-densed version of this step-by-step process.

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[VIDEO] How to design a label in Illustrator

[VIDEO] How to design a label in Canva

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Tactical label design tutorials for non-designersYou’ll need to choose the right digital tool to start actually designing your labels. Adobe Illustrator is what professional designers typically use. But if you’re hesitant to learn a new program, we recommend you try a more intuitive label design program like Canva.

To give you a choice between the two, we created in-depth video tutorials for both. Click on the video you’d like to watch.

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A quick note on hiring designersIt’s time to be truthful — if you have no formal design training or experience, you likely won’t come up with a label of the same quality as one created by a professional graphic designer.

Before committing to making your own label, do a little research into your local designers and see what they typically charge for a label design.

It’s important to remember that designers do very specialized work with a lot of training and experience under their belt, so pay them fairly! If their price quotes don’t fit under your budget, don’t try to haggle your way into a lower price.

Alternatively, there are many websites where designers offer freelance work, such as 99designs, Upwork and Smashing. LinkedIn also provides a comprehensive list of places to find freelance designers. And, as long as you have a finished logo, our team at Your Labels Now can design a label for your product as well.

With all these online resources, it’s easier than ever to find a designer that offers the work you’re looking for.

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Some label design inspiration to get you started Novels could be written about design best practices and trends — so we can’t cover them all within the scope of this guide. But we can leave you with list of inspiring resources if you’d like to explore the topic of label design further.

DATA-DRIVENINSIGHTSABOUTLABELDESIGNThis report from Avery Dennison looks at real consumer reactions to label design choices like font, material and texture.

INSPIRATIONANDADVICEFROMLABELDESIGNPROFESSIONALSCheck out M_use for innovative label designs from the world’s leading professionals, and hear how they approach label design. You can also browse different label material options, and get ideas for your own product label.

PACKAGING DESIGN RESOURCES FROM INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL CLAY TOWNE For a quick primer on label design best practices like visual hierarchy and flow, look at Clay’s packaging design tutorial.

CHECK OUT THE TOP DESIGN TRENDS As with fashion, design trends go in and out of vogue. Designhill gathered all of the de-sign trends that are “in,” and put them in this article.

The bottom line is that there are a million ways to customize your label. The stylistic label design choices you make must serve to authentically communicate your brand and your differentiators, so your packaging stands out on a shelf of similar products.  

Let’s talk product labels

We work with small business owners every day to design, manufacture and deliver prod-uct labels. For many of them, we’re the first professional label printer they’ve worked with. And we make it our mission to give them a seamless labeling experience, from design to delivery.

If you’re ready to move from product label design to printing, let’s talk. Our experienced team can help.