For Artisanal Crafters: Labels are Hard
As if there weren’t enough to think about, labels happen to specialty food crafters. And labels happen sooner than you may think. Labels need logos. Labels must comply with federal labelling standards. Labels ought to communicate the nature and quality of your products/s to your consumers in the flash of an eye.
Most labels are crowded, elaborate, tiny-fonted and not the optimal color. Most logos on labels in specialty food are busy with minute details which don’t ‘read’ at a distance of 3’6” (just over a meter)--about the average viewing distance for someone in a food retail environment. So what is a specialty foods producer to do? With logos and labels, less is almost always more.
The less crowded the reading surface, the more likely your target market is to read those words. This often means putting every possible information point on the back or sides of your product and not on the front or the top–depending on optimal viewing perspective. Acquaint yourself with the legal minimums required for your label, hew to them, and relegate every other word and number to another surface of your package.
A word about color: yellow is always a bad idea when it comes to label design. If you must use yellow, put it in the background. Words you want people to read should never be in yellow. Yellow is the color eyes lose first with age. Those words are dissolving in front of your target audience. They don’t know what your package says. They may not know there are words on your label at all. This is easily avoided: stop using yellow. Think about corporate logos and packaging. The words are never, never yellow.
With these few rules firmly at the front of your mind, find a designer to work with (and not your artsy nephew in high school), the investment will be repaid when your customers have an easy time finding and reading the labels you have provided for your unique, award-winning, hand-crafted goodies.