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4 Ways Labels Improve Consumer Perception of Product Quality

It’s no surprise that the typical consumer is looking to high quality products. The problem is that you don’t have a lot of time to make an impression. Customers take an average of 13 seconds to make a purchase decision, so it’s essential to make sure your goods stand out compared to competing products.

Fortunately, a good product label makes a direct impact on how potential customers view your products. Here are four ways that your labels can improve the perceived quality of your products.

Mind the Materials

Think of your label material as your product’s coat – an attractive topcoat is going to exude more class and luxury than a basic windbreaker. Your choice of label material makes a direct impact in how consumers perceive your product. If you’re aiming to convey the quality of your product, you’ll want to match your product with the right material.

Of course, the right type of “quality” material depends greatly on your product. Some product need to look expensive to present themselves as quality goods, which is why textured and matte-coated paper stocks are excellent choices for wine labels and other products that need to radiate elegance. Meanwhile, a shrink sleeve can create a very professional, 360-degree look that appears very official and clean.

Simply put, your material needs to both look good and match the vibe of your product. By combining those factors, your labels will be set up for a great introduction for customers seeking quality products.

A slection of Me Care products with quality labels.

Color Them Impressed

The right color can help sway consumers to your side. More than 90% of buying decisions are impacted by visual factors. What’s more is that different color choices impact how people perceive your products. By utilizing certain colors in your label design, you can present your product in the right light.

Of course, there are always exceptions based on your particular product and your intended audience. Different genders have varying color preferences, so purple packaging tends to be more effective for women, while men gravitate toward striking black labels. You’ll want to tailor your color choices to your brand, market, and audience, but the right combinations can help you communicate quality before people ever touch your product.

Elevate Your Packaging Through Decoration

A little decoration goes a long way toward people’s perception of product quality. Remember that coat analogy earlier? Decorations are the little touches that enhance your look – tailoring, embroidering, etc. Decorative additions can completely overhaul how people view your product, which is why the following capabilities can help showcase product quality.

Each of these processes allow you to add new, intriguing elements to the look and feel of your label. An embossed pattern or soft touch varnish give customers a different tactile experience. Stamping metallic, holographic, and other foils add a new dimension that takes your packaging to a new level. Adding these extra details takes your packaging beyond that of a simple, boring label. That extra attention to detail isn’t lost on customers.

Eliminate Label Damage and Application Issues

Even the best labels can be derailed by a simple defect. It’s hard to convey quality you’re your label is damaged or has visible application issues. It’s like that proverbial coat we keep mentioning – a visible tear is going to overshadow even the snazziest jacket.

There are a few measures that companies can take to prevent label damage and defects. Print protection plays a pivotal part in proactively protecting product labels. No matter what type of product you sell, any form of friction could damage your design. Add in potential threats like water, oil, and other substances make print protection essential for defending your product labels.

As for application issues like air bubbles, wrinkles, and more, it’s important to work with your label printing and applicating partners to identify potential issues ahead of time. There are plenty of potential reasons for label application defects, so you’ll want to address the following factors.

The container – Your container’s dimensions and surface can lead to issues. For example, you may need to properly taper your label or use a specific adhesive for different types of containers.
The applicating environment – Factors like temperature, moisture, and potential contamination can all dictate which materials and adhesives will best help you avoid application issues.
Liner issues – Different applicators are built for paper or clear liners, so you’ll need to identify which is best suited for your process.
Improper storage – It’s best to store labels in a temperature controlled environment based on your specific label. This is especially true for shrink sleeves, as they are more susceptible to potential damage prior to application.

A trio of stunning bottle labels that convery the perception of product quality.

Showcase the Quality of Your Products with Stunning Labels

The right label makes a direct impact on driving consumer behavior, but it takes a good printing partner to turn your designs into a reality. Blue Label combines state-of-the-art digital printing technology with unmatched customer service to enhance your labels and showcase the quality customers want to see in their products.

Want to elevate your product packaging? Contact us today to get the stunning labels and unmatched customer service your products deserve.

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5 Product Label Design Tips to Elevate Your Packaging

Coming up with the perfect label design is a challenge in itself. When it comes to designing a product label, there are things to consider that, perhaps, not just any designer can do. Let’s break down a five notable design tips that can help you take your packaging to the next level.

Product Label Design Should Be Honest

A colorful product label design for Hotel Tango vodka.

Any designer might default to trying to depict a product in its most desirable and flawless state, but an experienced product label designer knows that it’s essential to honestly represent a product. Your design is supposed to tell your product’s story, not fabricate a misleading fable.

The imagery and messaging on your label should be, to the best of your ability, an accurate representation of what consumers will find inside of the packaging. This need for honesty is especially true when design food labels or any other products people will consume or use for their body. You know your product best, so make sure your design properly represents what you sell and how it should make customers feel.

If you still think this a little deception is fine, just consider what can happen. Even if your label gets someone to buy your product once, that individual will quickly snuff out that your packaging design wasn’t quite so honest about its contents. That one-and-done customer won’t be giving you any more money. What’s worse is that a slighted consumer may tell others that your product is misleading.

That scenario represents quite an unfortunate spiral thanks to a misleading packaging label design. That’s why we suggest being as transparent with your packaging design – and we’re talking about more than just clear labels. You make a good product, so make sure your packaging properly represents your work.

Product Label Design Must Take Legalities into Account

It’s okay to push boundaries with your design, but your label must follow any applicable federal or state regulations. Several products are regulated by various government entities, so there’s a good chance some organization will have a say in what you include in your design.

For example, the Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act requires that alcoholic beverages carry a government warning, among other things, telling pregnant women of the effects of drinking, and regular consumers of the health risks. The penalties for violating this act can be a fine in the tens of thousands of dollars. As such, you’ll want you brush up on your Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) regulations to make sure your design is up to date with legal standards.

Beer is far from the only product that needs to incorporate legal guidelines into its packaging label design. Wine labels, spirit labels, food labels, health and beauty labels, and so many more all carry some sort of legal requirement to communicate ingredients, warnings, or risks with consumers.

Your Product’s Design Has to Fly Off Shelves

There’s always competition. Regardless of which product is being designed for, it must exist on a shelf, in an online store, or somewhere else with all of its rivals. That’s no small task while still staying true to the product, the brand, and labeling regulations. Still there are ways that your design can keep a unique quality that differentiates it from its shelf-neighbors.

Use different font types to evoke specific emotions and quickly portray your product and brand’s personality.
90 percent of information transmitted to the brain is visual, so incorporate imagery to your product label design can help it get noticed.
Utilize color psychology and contrasts to develop a striking color palette that evokes certain moods and feelings and competitively positions your product in a visual market.
Enhance your design in cool, creative ways with embossing, hot foil stamping, and other label decorations that turn your product into a visual spectacle.
Build in white space to embrace minimalism or space out certain aspects of your design to make them more legible.

Those are just some of the ways that you can amp up your label design, and there are so many opportunities to outshine your competitors. Need some inspiration? Check out some of our favorite examples of outstanding labels here.

Product Packaging Should be Extensible

A good product label design shouldn’t focus on the present alone. It’s important to keep your label design open to variation for future product extensions as well. No matter your industry, your design should be flexible enough to accommodate expansion into several subsets if that’s a possibility in the future.

One way to prepare for multiple SKUs is to create a templated design. This approach will help you maintain an instantly recognizable identity while giving you to adapt specific details for individual products. You’ll also need to account for one of the least flashy elements of a label – the barcode. Barcodes and UPCs are important for any product, but you’ll need to keep track of each UPC to avoid duplication of numbers for different SKUs.

Product Label Design Must Speak to Digital Printing Machinery

Digital label printing equipment for printing product label designs.

A great custom label design is just the first step toward stellar packaging. Somebody needs to take that design and turn it into a real, eye-catching product label. That’s where the right label printing company comes into play.

At Blue Label, we use state-of-the-art digital printing technology to make the most out of your design. We can combine the quality, scalability, and cost-savings of digital printing with flexographic finishing capabilities to help you enhance your product label design so that you can attract attention. Our experts work directly with you to identify new opportunities and address potential issues throughout the process so that you invest in the best, most cost-effective labels for your company.

Ready for a design and printing process that can’t be beat? No matter the size or budget of your project, we can make the process work for you. Browse our directory of Blue Label Approved Label Designers to find the perfect professional designer for you. Already have a design ready? Contact us when it’s time to work on your next label project.

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How to Use Color Effectively in Beer Label Design: 5 Key Factors

When you only have a few seconds to catch a consumer’s eye, it’s imperative that your beer label is on point. Creative, compelling color choices can make your beers stand out among the competition. However, those same colors can pose problems if you’re not careful. Here are five ways that you can use colors to get the most out of your beer labels.

Create the Right Impression

Your color choices play a vital role in beer label design. The colors you use not only allow you to create a recognizable brand for all your different brews, but also influence consumers’ emotions through positive association.

You’ll want to identify what type of feeling you want to convey with each product label. For example, you may utilize soothing blues for a smooth lager that’s perfect for a nice, relaxing time on the porch. Meanwhile a dark grey or black can create an air of elegance and class for a high-end imperial stout. Your label is an opportunity to show your beer’s character, and a good color scheme will do just that.

A trio of cans with colorful beer labels.

Don’t Drown Out Your Brand

Whether you want to establish your products as playful, classy, or something else, it’s important to make sure that your color scheme works with your brand. Exciting color combinations are fun, but consumers should be able to identify your brand with each container. Because of this, you’ll want to practice some caution when designing labels for each product.

A big part of beer branding is your logo. You’ll need to decide whether you want your logo to stay the same for every product or modify it to match different color choices. If you choose the former, it’s good practice to make sure your beer can branding and logo won’t clash with your preferred product pigments. If it’s the latter, you’ll just want to ensure that people can still instantly recognize your brand, even if your logo changes colors or versions. Remember, you want your product to stand out, but you don’t want to hide who you are.

Mix and Match Colors Appropriately

Identifying the right colors is a delicate balancing act. Picking and choosing an array of colors that make sense for your various beers without having them clash, create legibility concerns, or cause other brand issues are just a few of the balls you juggle..

There are a couple of different routes you can go with color selection. One method is to focus on contrasts to help emphasize various label elements. This can help make your label visually “pop” to consumers, especially if you use it to highlight a certain aspect of your label. A color wheel can help you identify opposite colors that still work with each other. A second option is to stick with analogous colors that easily flow together. These colors line up next to each other in the color wheel and create a more relaxed feel for your label.

Regardless of which route you choose – or if you opt for a hybrid of the two – it’s important to make sure that people can read your labels. Certain colors may look great together, but dark-on-dark or light-on-light combinations can cause legibility concerns. Try and use some form of contrasting colors for backgrounds and text to make sure the words on your label don’t go to waste.

Beer can label designs using contrasting colors.

Consider the Container

Your beer label plays a critical role in product packaging, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle. Your container can have a major impact in the overall look of your product. For example, one label design may work wonderfully on a clear glass bottle, but could clash with a brown one.

Certain colors schemes may work better for some containers than others, so make sure you consider how your design plays with your cans or bottles. Depending on your container, you may simply opt for a shrink sleeve for complete coverage or a clear label that uses splashes of colors to accentuate your packaging. When done well, your container can even complement your label colors, making your beers look more appealing than before.

Maximize Your Materials

Ink isn’t the only way to create colorful combinations. There are a variety of paper and film label materials that can add a new dimension to your desired color scheme. A black vellum label would be a stunning way to create an elegant background for a high-end beer. Clear labels can help you emphasize your container (or even what’s inside your container). Meanwhile, a holographic film can create a fun contrast to add some glitz and glam to a beer can.

A beer bottle label with a colorful design.

Color Your Customers Impressed with Stunning Beer Labels

In such a competitive market, pristine packaging can put your products on a pedestal. Stunning beer labels start with a stellar design, but it takes the right printing company to turn your vision into a reality.

When you need quality, cost-effective beer labels, Blue Label Packaging can help. Our team has the expertise and state-of-the-art equipment to help you enhance your designs. Contact us today to talk about your beer labels.

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From Screen to Product Packaging: How to Make Sure a Label Design will Work in Print

A great label design may look great on a screen, but it won’t mean much if it doesn’t look good in print. Fortunately, there are some steps that you can take to make sure that your design translates to print. Here are some important product packaging design considerations to keep in mind when creating a design for a product label.
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Designing Beer Labels: Colors and Special Printing Capabilities

The right splash of color or an eye-catching feature can be the key to a successful beer label. Of course, the challenge for a designer is to try and figure out which colors or features make the most sense for the product. Whether you’re trying to decide on the right colors or a special printing capability, here’s what you need to consider.
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3 Color Psychology Design Insights to Consider For Your Label

Many people believe that color psychology is a key factor to consider when designing your product’s label. The thought of color experts is that colors have the ability to send messages by influencing consumer’s emotions through a stunning label. When color psychology is applied correctly, businesses competitively position themselves in the visual market, which shows the importance of color in packaging.

Color selection, then, is a vital part in the design process of a custom label. Here are 3 color psychology insights that attract customers for your product’s label design.

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