Product Labels For Unusually Shaped Containers

_{Ian Renton  | 21/08/2017 | Label Printing - Miscellaneous,Product Labels}

Today, containers come in many shapes and sizes so we have had to become experts in printing product labels for unusually shaped containers.

Last week, I spoke to a young lady who had purchased different sized containers for her cosmetic products. These were cylindrical metal containers but they were not high like a can of tennis balls or a can of Pringles. Instead, these containers were quite flat like an old style container of shoe polish or a small biscuit or lolly container.

This startup cosmetic business was offering products such as ointments, lip balm and essential oils in various sized containers. Volumes ranged from 15 millilitres to 150 millilitres. [caption id="attachment_1538" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Small, slim containers such as the above often require two labels to provide the required information (such as ingredients and instructions for use) without compromising the design.[/caption]

The challenge for our graphic design team is to get the required information onto the containers and still keep the label printing costs at a reasonable price. For the smaller containers, our client was happy to have two labels, one on the top of the container and one on the base. Generally, we do not recommend such a scenario as we can keep the price down by printing one larger label instead of two labels. In this case, the extra cost could not be avoided as there was no room to apply labels to the sides of the container. In a situation like this where we are printing product labels for unusually shaped containers, label printing costs tend to be a little higher. It was more cost effective to design labels for the larger volume of cosmetics because there was room to print one label as a wraparound instead of two labels on the lid and base.

Sometimes, simple containers can turn out to be not so simple after all when it comes to printing the product labels for them. Last year, we designed and printed yoghurt labels for a new client and discovered that the cylindrical container was not actually a cylinder because the top was slighter wider than the base. This means the labels were not quite rectangular but our designers adjusted the artwork slightly to make them appear rectangular in shape.

Unusually Shaped Product Labels

Reasons are a bit different when it comes to unusually shaped labels for products. Business owners and clever marketers deliberately use custom shaped product labels to sell more of their products. Consumers are swamped with choice today and any time you can think of a way to make your products stand out from the crowd then you should use it.

What's more, improvements in digital technology means that your labels can be digitally die-cut and this means you will not be paying for an expensive die for your custom shape. Shape is often used effectively for jam labels and wine labels. Jam labels often cover the lid and slide down both sides as if two rectangles are joined in the middle by a circle. Wine labels often feature an arch shape as this shape goes well with a relatively tall wine bottle.

Shape is one factor in making your labels stand out. You should also use colour, especially contrasting colours, pictures and images and also clever use of text in terms of words and fonts to create the very best labels for your products.