Get Your Labels Ready For Summer Conditions

Consider the summer conditions your customers will expose your products to. Sun, water, and winds. Winds won’t impact your label unless you need an adhesive upgrade, but consider how customer needs change as the seasons also change.

First, consider why customers will expose your products to summer conditions.

For food products, customers will bring them outside to enjoy in their backyards, at picnics, or at the beach. For beauty items, shoppers will be bringing them on vacation in a hotel room, on their campsite, or even leave the items in their car. Other products are likely to be left outside for extended periods of time as well. All industries should consider the impact of customer engagement.

Use Proper Inks

No ink should fade in the sun. The Resource Guide To All Things Inks & Coatings to keep your graphics looking sharp and timeless. It’s a simple consideration that goes a long way.

The WetStick™ Label

If your product will sit by a pool or on the beach, make sure it withstands moisture. The WetStick™ label uses advanced adhesive chemistry so no matter what, your label will last. It’s an invisible upgrade, but one that dramatically improves the customer experience.

Add Some Reflective Shine

Once outside, your labels should shine in the light. Enhance your label’s features with foiling, and use MiraFoil specifically for intricate details. It creates a haptic experience which creates subconscious, positive associations, even nostalgic associations. For example, If your label features water elements, add foil to mimic the reflecting aspect of water. It may just mentally bring your customer back to the pool.

Learn more about the labeling solutions Great Lakes Label offers. We offer a variety of inks and coatings that create a label that excites customers. Download our e-book, The Resource Guide To All Things Inks & Coatings.

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5 days ago by Jackie Jorgenson

Does Good Label Design Build Trust?

Trust is everything for shoppers. We’ve all seen knock-off brands replications, and we’ve never anticipated them to be as good as the original. No, you get what you pay for. So, how do you build a label design to look trustworthy? Keep it professional.

Trust Builds When There’s Authenticity

A major reason why those knock-off brands don’t shout “THIS IS A QUALITY PRODUCT” is because of the inauthentic approach to marketing the brand. If their business model has the appearance of a scam, customers remain on guard. Coincidences happen, but when developing a new design, consider what makes your business and this particular product unique from any other. Instead of focussing on what your competition is doing, focus on what your product is doing to enhance customers’ lives. Then, communicate that. This is the main reason why color management is so important.

Keep Bran Values Clear

So, what sets you apart? Is your product all natural, cruelty-free, or high-quality? How can your label then re-enforce that value? If your product is sustainably made, use sustainable label stock. If your product is handcrafted, create a label that represents the care that went into making each and every item on-shelf.

Accentuate With Innovative Techniques

No matter what you want to convey, go the extra mile by adding innovative labeling techniques. Logos that shine in the light with foil, or graphic details that pop due to embossing stand out in a way unprofessional labels don’t. It communicates to customers that you take your brand seriously. More importantly, that you take their patronage seriously. Again, it focusses on the unique qualities you have to offer and creates a stand-alone look.

Learn more about how we can bring your wildest label design concepts and durability requirements to life. While techniques are important and exciting, there’s so much more to your label. Download our Label Project Guide e-book.

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1 week ago by Jackie Jorgenson

Capture Short Attention Spans With Strong Label Design

Short attention spans and expansive competition means a grocery aisle is a stimulating place for shoppers. While people’s eyes wander, your product has a matter of seconds to capture their attention and make a good first impression. Design a label that communicates it’s message effectively, even in one glance.

First, Don’t Play it Broad

Lean into the specificity of your brand. By trying to appeal to everyone, you actually appeal to hardly anyone. Hone in on the message you want to convey and emphasize it. Help your ideal customer find you on their own. Anyone with food restrictions knows that it’s exciting to quickly find what you’re looking when there’s a potential of sorting through a sea of products.

Short Attention Spans Favor Shine

Our eyes are naturally drawn to things that glisten in the light. If there is a particular message, a recognizable aspect of your label, or even your distinct logo, add foiling to those details. Or, try metallic stock so the entire label shines in the light.

Give Them Lots to Explore

Once you draw their gaze, offer value. Make them want to pick up the item by using tactile labeling techniques, or provide content they’re able to access via labeling technology. Either way, once a shopper picks up the item, the haptic experience creates unconscious associations which persuade them to buy the product. So, make sure you’re creating a positive experience. If your product features an image of a beach, make sure it’s so realistic they can taste sand. If you’re releasing a new makeup line, offer them a different tutorial for each product. Whatever you do, surprise them.

Learn about how innovative labeling techniques can bring your spooky design to life! Download our e-book, The Complete Guide to Innovative Labeling Techniques.

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2 weeks ago by Jackie Jorgenson

Revive Your Brand With Low-Cost Label Design Changes

Why revive your brand if it’s not yet dead? Well, according to this Food Processing article, you may actually be killing it without realizing it. Don’t worry, while the article offers ways to reverse the damage, we also have some solutions of our own. Better still, these options are simple, low-cost options the whole team will stand behind. Empower your brand with creative solutions and reconnect with your customers on an authentic level.

How do labels revive a brand?

Part of the issue is that customers have an overwhelming amount of choice in the grocery store aisle. When budgets are cut and attention is drawn away from customer needs, it becomes even harder to understand what they want. Luckily, there are some low-cost changes for labels that reconnect you with the customer. The label is the first thing customers see from your brand. Make sure it leaves a lasting impact and clearly communicates what your brand has to offer.

Calls To Action Bring Data For Rerouting

A call to action (also known as a CTA) is a prompt designed to influence customers to engage further with your brand. So, this is a subscribe button at the end of a video, a social media button at the end of an article, or even a “click the link in the bio” line in an Instagram post description. When research budgets are cut, consider how an evergreen call to action brings invaluable data for a fraction of the cost. Also, consider how small of a space it requires. A simple link, hashtag, or QR code does the trick.

Feedback Through Linked Surveys

A short, basic link typed out, a QR code or even an NFC (Near Field Communication) technology are all great ways to link an evergreen customer feedback survey. All on its own, the survey constantly brings invaluable information. While the link or code won’t change, the questions are able to continuously switch depending on the needs of the brand. So, the label design isn’t changed every time the survey does. This too eliminates cost, in printing.

Collect Data Using Social Media

Social media icons and hashtags alike connect users to the brands they love. So, add them to your labels (especially usernames or “handles”) so customers know where to go to provide feedback. Even a picture of someone using the product is feedback. It demonstrates they care about the brand and the way in which they enjoy it. Again, brand profiles and branded hashtags are evergreen content that doesn’t take up much space on a label. Use it to your advantage.

To collect data, review what people are saying about your brand at a consistent rate and respond. Don’t only review your notifications, but search your company name without the @ to find underground feedback. This free, accessible solution doesn’t even cost much time to engage with.

With No Ad Budget, Make Brand Values Crystal Clear

Part of the struggle is understanding what customers are looking for from your brand. While that’s understandable, first ensure your brand is clearly communicating its values. This doesn’t just mean following regulations and showcasing the product in an appealing way. Demonstrate your brand has a sense of humor, or focusses on environmentally friendly production, or even offers luxury products in a well-rounded way. When customers receive mixed messages from a brand, they’ll continue looking elsewhere. When a brand communicates a strong cohesive brand message that matches their interest, they’ll stop for a closer look. Consider the colors, the product photography, the copy, and graphics you choose. They all impact how customers are viewing the messages you believe to be most important.

Emphasize Details With Innovative Labeling Techniques

Take the design you already have and add foiling, tactile coatings, or other innovative techniques to enhance it. Engaging the senses by creating haptic labels creates nostalgic and subconscious positive connections to your brand. Plus, when techniques like foiling, Cast & Cure, or Motion Coat shine in the light, it draws customer attention away from your competition and onto your product. Without gathering feedback, or enduring a redesign process, the label takes on new life. These details also enhance and draw attention to key components of the brand’s values. Want to make sure customers know your eyeshadow is cruelty-free? Foil and emboss the message for dramatic effect.

Upgrade Stocks To Focus on Sustainability

Again, communicate a focus on sustainability by using sustainable label stocks. The logos are small and easy to add to any label also. For handcrafted and luxury products, this also emphasizes the high-quality nature of the product. It demonstrates attention is paid to every single part of the production process.

Add Value Beyond The Point of Sale

Use labeling technology to link customers to helpful and engaging videos, blogs, and web pages. This builds a relationship beyond the grocery store aisle and makes it easier for customers to provide feedback (by means of the page you link them to bringing them to a contact page or any feedback box). It’s a call to action that designed to offer the customer more, instead of a brand asking for something from the customer. It reminds them that your brand is focussed on bringing them the best product in your industry and that you care about their experience.

Learn how to use marketing strategies to create labels that will delight customers! Download our e-book, The Marketing Guide here.

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2 weeks ago by Jackie Jorgenson

Get Inspired: Spatially Satisfying

Spatially satisfying labels take advantage of the available space to do something pleasant to look at. These labels don’t get lost in minimalism and they also don’t pack graphics and text in together. They even use unique shapes to enhance the shapes within the shape.

Ybá’s Spatially Satisfying Drink Label Designed By Chá Gelado

There’s so much fantastic use of shape and space with this label. The repetition of the slanted lines compliments the herringbone style design and the lower left whitespace. Even the slanted nature of the fruit graphics create a cohesive balance. Plus, the lines draw the viewers’ eyes all over the label, taking in each detail.

Local Brewing Co. Beer Label Designed By Mark John Mangayayam

This beer label beautifully breaks the mold by finding the balance between bold and soft features. The title bursting out of the box is a fantastic example to focus attention on. The lines are soft and fluid while the shadow is angular and deep. This design uses the standard label shape and adds dimension solely with unique graphics.

Sommer House Granola Label Designed by Project M+

Unlike the previous two designs, this label uses more traditional lines but creates something beautiful and balanced from them. Even the foiled title draws the eyes down from the crisp, white graphic leaves on top. The flow of the lines in the leaves gets balanced by the angular serif fonts. This label is so timeless that it fits into any setting. It also makes for easy replication and adaptation for other products in the line.

Learn how to use marketing strategies to create labels that will delight customers! Download our e-book, The Marketing Guide here.

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3 weeks ago by Jackie Jorgenson

Unconventional Ideas For Label Engagement

So, you want to enhance what you offer for label engagement. Do something unique and unpredictable. Entice customers into picking up your product in the grocery store aisle by doing something your competition isn’t. Provide them with a value they can’t get anywhere else.

10. Link To Music Recommendations

Like a secret menu or a speakeasy bar, link to an unmentioned musical recommendation using NFC (Near Field Communication) technology. No matter what your product is, it’s likely that music can be enjoyed while your customer uses the product. So, partner with musicians local to the area your product is shipping to. Or, generally, create a promotion for recognizing underground artists in the most underground way.

9. Show a New Way To Re-Use The Packaging On Each Label

Create a small graphic that promotes sustainability by highlighting a new way to repurpose the product. Or, re-enforce brand humor by making the solution completely ridiculous each time. Still, this particularly makes sense when using sustainable labeling stocks. Instead of walking the walk, first, talk the talk.

8. Use Techniques to Create a Magic Eye Style Design

Or any visual trick, really. Start with a smart concept that requires a second look. Then, enhance it with foiling, a tactile coating, Motion Coat, and even Cast & Cure. This is a sure-fire way to get people picking up your product to take a closer look. It even creates a nostalgic positive association that then, in turn, is associated with your brand. With texture, the haptic aspect of the design also creates positive, subconscious associations.

7. Link To Something Random, Yet Related to The Brand

Some brands lean into random, irreverent humor to their advantage. If you’re a craft beer brand, linking to information on how beer is made, beer memes, viral videos featuring beer, or pictures of hops are all worth surprising your customers with. Better still, instead of getting permission to use random user-generated content, create your own. Faux memes, faux viral videos, behind the scenes pictures, cartoon panel style jokes, etc. Offer something completely personal and unique that customers won’t see anywhere else. Better still, your product will be in it every single time.

6. Include Funny & Peculiar Reviews

Did you get a strange or goofy review? Share it! When you include silly product reviews you reveal that you’re a laidback brand with a sense of humor. Plus, it shows customers that you’re connected to the community and, for better or worse, their feedback will be heard. In fact, it may provide encouragement for customers to leave more reviews.

5. Interesting, Outlandish Textures Promote Label Engagement

Increase label engagement on a tactile level by including unconventional textures. Glitter, Grit Coat, Motion Coat, and even Tactile Screen offer unique textures customers will want to pick up and touch. So, add sand castles, glitter dresses, and shining plant details that benefit from such techniques.

4. The Opposite of a Vintage Resurgance

Be a trendsetter. Instead of doing a vintage resurgence and re-using past designs, create packaging you anticipate for the future. Get outrageous. The more humor, the better. Will materials be sustainable? Will the shape of the packaging change? Does the label itself also fold into a bow? Of course, abide by regulations, but instead of looking back, take a step forward.

3. Profile The End Users

Sometimes owners write their bio for the product’s label. Or, sometimes the company’s team members show up to provide a more personal touch. While these are great ideas, why not take it a step further? What’s more personal than highlighting the stories your customers have to tell? Consider how these stories are displayed. Should they be written out on the label, or linked using a QR code for blog content on your website? It’s even simple enough to get these stories. Either request them through the use of a hashtag, an email or a direct social media message. Community content is right there at your fingertips, so go get it!

2. Origami Booklet-Style Labels

The booklet-style label peels for a reason. While it offers extended content space, it also offers the ability to be repurposed into something beautiful. Include a simple guide for turning the cover into an origami animal. This is especially perfect for kids’ products. Once they’re done playing with toy dough, they can then turn the label into a boat for their dough fisherman. Instead of giving customers easy content, gamify the process and let them get creative with it. The hands-on approach is fun and laid back. So, don’t take things so seriously. Allow some space for play.

1. A Global Chain of Giving

Can you add a link to your label that provides customers the opportunity to buy the product again, but this time, for someone they care about? Maybe it’s a coffee for a colleague, lipstick for a friend, or golf balls for a family member. Give people the opportunity to pass on some generosity. A simpler method is to create a chain of compliments using a hashtag, or by linking to a post on social media people can peruse at their leisure. Even strangers will complement other strangers when prompted. All they need is the idea to join in by complimenting someone else in the comments after checking out their profile. Use your label engagement for good.

Learn more about the labeling solutions Great Lakes Label offers. We offer a variety of inks and coatings that create a label that excites customers. Download our e-book, The Resource Guide To All Things Inks & Coatings.

Connect with us on social media!

3 weeks ago by Jackie Jorgenson

Create A Consistent Brand Voice on Labels

A brand voice consists of the tone, language, and messages used online and off. This is one part of the larger picture for your brand. So, set aside color schemes, innovative labeling techniques, and product photography for now. We’re solely focused on communication.

An Inconsistent Brand Voice Negatively Impacts Business

Imagine a brand uses casual and colloquial language on social media, a formal and minimalistic language on the label, then lengthy and overly-descriptive language on their website. It would be confusing. As though a completely different person wrote for each source. Or, as though the business is fluid and unfocused. It works against the brand, implying a lack of direction for their values and sense of identity.

Quick, Simple Ways To Ensure Consistency

Create a brand rulebook or guideline. Make it clear and distinct. Maybe you’re a down-to-earth craft beer company using wordplay, colloquialisms and is fast and loose with adverbs. Or, maybe you’re a pharmaceutical brand and to ensure customer confidence, only professional and to-the-point language is used. You can see how the two examples shouldn’t mix. Ultimately these rules impact and work together with imagery, reinforcing the brand with visual components.

Keywords Create Focus

Don’t know where to start? Consider the keywords that reflect your brand and focus your writing on them. On social media, these keywords work double duty as hashtags If you’re a yarn and craft brand, your keywords will likely be words like, “yarn,” “craft,” “knitting,” and “crochet.” So, a casual, gentle, and personal tone naturally emerge. Then, ensure those hashtags consistently show up on your labels, website pages, and social media posts. It’s a subtle, simple and impactful way to create consistency.

Learn more about what Great Lakes Label offers and how to incorporate various techniques into your label design. Download our e-book, Complete Labeling Solutions.

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4 weeks ago by Jackie Jorgenson

Customer Spotlight: Perrin Brewing

Perrin Brewing contributes to Grand Rapids being known as “Beer City USA” despite its location just north of the city. This popular brewery is known for its fantastic atmosphere, delicious food, and most importantly, tasty beer. Here’s what sets them apart from the (six) pack.

Saturday afternoon sour sippin’ – Tangerine Dream Kettle Sour is back in the taproom!

149 Likes, 4 Comments – Perrin Brewing Company (@perrinbrewing) on Instagram: “Saturday afternoon sour sippin’ – Tangerine Dream Kettle Sour is back in the taproom!”

Creative Concoctions

Perrin creates bold, must-taste flavors and then connects with customers through social media by using unique product photography. They often offer a behind the scenes peeks with a sense of humor. Their down-to-earth, creative, and quality-oriented nature reflect in all areas of their brand. Yes, even in Perrin Brewing’s labels.

Perrin Brewing’s Labels Lead With Innovative Design

Lil’ Griz uses a Soft Touch coating to create a cashmere-soft touch and a matte look. On Loose Lips, the label features foiling over the ship’s flag and the name of the drink. It also uses embossing and a tactile coating to make the sails pop off the stock. It creates a realistic look that literally pops off the bottle.

Learn more about how we can bring your wildest label design concepts and durability requirements to life. While techniques are important and exciting, there’s so much more to your label. Download our Label Project Guide e-book.

Connect with us on social media!

1 month ago by Jackie Jorgenson

How Likely Are Luxury Industrial Labels?

Luxury industrial labels sound like a contradiction. How can a rough and tumble label benefit from the creative side of luxury design? Does luxury have any place in this industry and will luxury trends permeate all areas of business?

Luxury Industrial Labels Benefit From The Practical Uses of Innovative Labeling Techniques

If your label adheres to the back side of a fridge, how easy is it for customers to read that content? When looking for the make and model, shining a flashlight around the back is far easier than pulling out the whole appliance. Neon inks and foiling techniques both catch the light and make it easier for customers to access that information once the product is installed.

Tactile coatings also make braille possible and create an inclusive shopping experience. Again, this extends past the point of purchase. So, while it doesn’t offer luxury, a tactile coating provides inclusivity. Something many brands don’t offer.

The Creative Side of Luxury Design

Most customer-facing industrial labels don’t use techniques. Often, simplicity and minimalism is king. So, why not stand out from the crowd? If your product goes above and beyond the competition, go above and beyond with design. This is even particularly important for small businesses. By making a bold statement with the quality of the label, it communicates the quality of the product itself.

A booklet-style label opens up to provide customers with more information. So, while it engages the senses with a tactile experience, it also provides more information on the product. This offers a chance to provide tutorials, or related content right there on the packaging.

Learn more about the labeling solutions Great Lakes Label offers. We offer a variety of inks and coatings that create a label that excites customers. Download our e-book, The Resource Guide To All Things Inks & Coatings.

Connect with us on social media!

1 month ago by Jackie Jorgenson

Anti-Packaging Emerges in Beauty

Last year, consumers developed an interest in produce without the packaging. Since then, anti-packaging emerges in beauty as well. A focus on sustainability is increasing and it’s not going away. So, what do you do with the product (and product lines) that require containers and labels? How do stay competitive with non-packaged goods if that’s where the demand is?

First, if anti-packaging emerges as an industry standard, what products will it impact?

Lush is the established industry leader in creating innovative raw goods, including shampoo bars, conditioner bars, and most recently, bottle-less body wash. This Brand Packaging article makes the claim that millennials are to blame for the rise of liquid body wash since bars of soap are seen as carriers of germs. Regardless of that claim, millennials are also known for value-based shopping and will lead the anti-packaging movement. As many are devoted Lush customers, the idea has already sparked and a change is sure to spread throughout the beauty industry.

While this trend is currently seen in bath and body, alternatives are sure to emerge elsewhere. Perhaps cosmetics will move to raw offerings, or perhaps packaging will shift to eliminate unnecessary waste. Does this mean that all products will display as raw goods? Absolutely not. However, now is the time to consider the environmental impact of your product. How can you become an industry leader on the subject?

Sustainable Labels

First, switch over to sustainable labeling options. Use FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) approved stock, and Clean Flake stock that works with the recycling process, not against it. Also, consider the use of stock made from recycled materials. These are minor changes that make a big impact and are especially good starting points.

Multi-Purpose Packaging Design

Create packaging with a purpose. Consider how the customer’s needs align with your brand’s and create a second life for the packaging that serves the customer. By considering customer’s needs, and going the extra mile, the product will naturally outshine your competition, and reduce waste.

Reduce Wasteful Packaging

Can a label convey the information needed for your product all on its own? Imagine a water-solvable label containing all pertinent information washing away the first time a bar of soap is used. Imagine how it also offers a place for the customer to hold the product without getting any on their hands. Consider what materials work double duty. It might just save you money, then earn you some more.

Learn more about what Great Lakes Label offers and how to incorporate various techniques into your label design. Download our e-book, Complete Labeling Solutions.

Connect with us on social media!

Blog

First, consider why customers will expose your products to summer conditions.

Use Proper Inks

The WetStick™ Label

Add Some Reflective Shine

Trust Builds When There’s Authenticity

Keep Bran Values Clear

Accentuate With Innovative Techniques

First, Don’t Play it Broad

Short Attention Spans Favor Shine

Give Them Lots to Explore

How do labels revive a brand?

Calls To Action Bring Data For Rerouting

Feedback Through Linked Surveys

Collect Data Using Social Media

With No Ad Budget, Make Brand Values Crystal Clear

Emphasize Details With Innovative Labeling Techniques

Upgrade Stocks To Focus on Sustainability

Add Value Beyond The Point of Sale

Ybá’s Spatially Satisfying Drink Label Designed By Chá Gelado

Local Brewing Co. Beer Label Designed By Mark John Mangayayam

Sommer House Granola Label Designed by Project M+

10. Link To Music Recommendations

9. Show a New Way To Re-Use The Packaging On Each Label

8. Use Techniques to Create a Magic Eye Style Design

7. Link To Something Random, Yet Related to The Brand

6. Include Funny & Peculiar Reviews

5. Interesting, Outlandish Textures Promote Label Engagement

4. The Opposite of a Vintage Resurgance

3. Profile The End Users

2. Origami Booklet-Style Labels

1. A Global Chain of Giving

An Inconsistent Brand Voice Negatively Impacts Business

Quick, Simple Ways To Ensure Consistency

Keywords Create Focus

Creative Concoctions

Perrin Brewing’s Labels Lead With Innovative Design

Luxury Industrial Labels Benefit From The Practical Uses of Innovative Labeling Techniques

The Creative Side of Luxury Design

First, if anti-packaging emerges as an industry standard, what products will it impact?

Sustainable Labels

Multi-Purpose Packaging Design

Reduce Wasteful Packaging

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