There is a lot of work involved when starting a new company or launching a new product line. Some of the work can be fun, and some of it, well, not so much. Choosing a product label design that sells falls somewhere between the two. While it may be fun to create and play with new designs, it’s also a daunting task because there is so much to consider to ensure that your label attracts customers to your product. With that in mind, here are some things that you will want to consider when you sit down to create your masterpiece of a label.
What to Consider Before Creating Your Design
Before you put drafting pen to paper or paintbrush to canvas, you need to consider a number of things. These elements will guide you in even the most basic aspects of your label. You can then work out more details that will make your label spectacular from these starting points.
Your Brand and Story
Everyone loves a good story, and your label should speak to your brand and your story. What sets you apart from your competition? Do you have a unique story that sets you apart? For example, are you a physician so confident in cannabis-based products that you decided to start a company and introduce a whole product line? Has someone in your family greatly benefited from a product like yours? Are you giving a percentage of your profits to charity? A small blurb on a label that personalizes you to your customers will go a long way in attracting them.
Your brand doesn’t necessarily have to be a full story. Maybe your story isn’t as unique as elements of your product itself. For example, you may have an all-natural version of a product where most of your competition has synthetic ingredients in theirs. Sure, “all-natural” will not stand out on the shelf of a health-food store, but it is a good brand point sitting in a pharmaceutical aisle.
The idea here is to think about what sets your products apart from the competition and build your label to highlight that difference.
Recognizable Yet Different
If you pay attention when you walk into the grocery store, you’ll notice a similarity in the labeling of products. For example, cereal boxes are brightly colored, and most pasta sauces have a rustic look. You want to take a close look at your competition and get an idea of the common elements like colors and styles that your competition uses and mimic that. However, your job is to take it one step further and create something different and eye-catching while still looking familiar to the consumer.
Now, this is not to say that there haven’t been highly successful break-aways from this tradition. Yellow Tail Wine is a perfect example of this. In a market based on snobby expectations and rustic labels, they set themselves apart by not only producing wines for the “common folk,” but they created brightly colored labels that stood out among the rest of the wines with dark labels or pictures of vineyards.
Understand Your Audience
Have a clear idea of who you are targeting as an audience. If you have to do some research through marketing reports, there are plenty out there, like our reports on Ten Ways to Increase CBD Store Sales, Shopping Patterns for Each Generation, or our Top 2022 Consumer Trends for the Cannabis Industry. Once you have your target market in mind, create a label that will appeal to them. What appeals to a teenage girl will likely not hold the same attraction for a grown woman. It would be easy to turn off your target market by creating a label they would view as gaudy or distasteful.
The Flow of Your Label
We read from left to right in English-speaking countries, top to bottom. Your label should follow that same flow, and you will want to include certain items within that flow.
- Product Name and Trademark (if Trademarked)
- Branding Claims (ex. All-Natural) and Branding Story
- Tag Lines (ex. Just Like Mamma Used to Make)
- Product Description (ex. Original Recipe Sicilian Marinara)
- Directions or Dosage (if appropriate)
- Volume and Weight
- Company Contact Information
The best way to get an idea of flow is to go to the store and look at labels that catch your eye, then pay close attention to how the label flows. You may even get a fresh idea that you haven’t thought of before.
Current Trends
While you are designing that perfect label, you should be aware that there are some current trends in labeling that you may want to consider incorporating into your design.
- Bold Gradients — Graduating colors from one to another gives an eye-catching, three-dimensional depth to a label.
- Minimalism — Like with the current web page design trend, less is more. Bold, minimalistic labels that strip away the noisy verbiage and expose the bare elements in a simplistic label are becoming more and more prominent.
- Black and White — Elegant or simplistic labels designed in black and white may help your brand stand out, especially if your competition uses brightly colored labels.
- Bold Pastels — Bold and powerful pastels are not only eye-catching, but they also give the ambiance of luxury to the product.
- Vintage Style — The current love of anything vintage translates to labeling as well. Vintage-styled labels on modern products are sure to get your customers’ attention.
Label Material and Packaging
The final elements you will need to consider while designing your label are the label material or finish and the packaging. You will want to work with the producer of your packaging to help you choose between labels with a gloss, matte, cotton, or pampa finish (among others), as well as the packaging design. Currently, plastic-free packaging is a big trend but may be cost-prohibitive. Often, the size and shape of the package can help your product stand out as much as the label.
We Can Help!
We at The Hemp Doctor are more than just wholesalers of premium quality hemp-derived products. If you’d rather work with professionals for your label design instead of taking on the task yourself, then we can help. We at The Hemp Doctor can design your label for you! Our staff designers would be happy to work with you to create the perfect label for your product. So reach out to us to get started today!
