Don’t Lose Track of Your Text
Our headline might seem like a joke (it is) but if you aren’t careful, you can lose track of your text. When we talk about tracking, we aren’t talking about where your text is located. Tracking refers to the amount of space between each letter and word. Spacing your letters and blocks of words correctly can make or break a label design.
If you aren’t familiar with tracking, then you have probably been relying on the default tracking setting for a typeface. Typefaces place the letters closer together or further apart by design. Tracking can be used to move letters further apart or closer together (negative tracking) to eliminate a word from being hyphenated, or rescue a hanging widow at the end of a paragraph.
Most tracking actions are virtually unnoticeable. That is a good thing. If you increase or decrease the amount of space between letters or words too much, the design can become hard to read or confusing. Tracking was created to fix minor spacing issues in paragraphs of texts. Unless there is an extreme circumstance, that is the only way the tool should be used.
If you opt to you use a typeface but need to increase the tracking tenfold, then you should pick another typeface. Altering a typeface’s original design too much will look as though something is slightly off. It will be one of those things that no one can really pinpoint, but they know doesn’t feel right. There are thousands of fonts available. If the one you love doesn’t work for your design, find another love…there are plenty of fish in the sea.
Before & After: GranArt Labels
We love to write about before and after success stories. They can easily illustrate how changes and updates to a product’s label can transform a brand. GranArt was originally introduced to the market as L’Albero del Pane. The packaging labels were a mainstream, and somewhat expected, design for a traditional Italian specialty food product.
Through various changes, including the product name to GranArt, meaning “the grain”, the products took on a whole new identity. The designer noted, “The ‘stencil’ graphics communicate a sense of ‘handmade’, authenticity, wholesome quality. An exclusive key visual on all the labels: a stylized brown tree that represents The Bread Tree with a childlike style.”
The new labels have a warmer and more cohesive feel. They went from looking like typical Italian crostini packaging to a truly unique and upscale product. The small details of the design, like the sketches of other product offerings floating above the signature tree are critical to the overall excellence of the design.
The best part? In just six months, the company has seen an almost 20% increase in sales, and has been picked up my a few major retailers. Woo hoo!
InTouch Labels is Closed Monday for Patriot’s Day
In celebration of Patriot’s Day, a Massachusetts state holiday, our offices will be closed Monday, April 16, 2012. You might be thinking, what is Patriot’s Day? Well, it is a holiday to commemorate the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first battles in the American Revolutionary War.
While that is the official reason for the holiday, the unofficial, but probably real reason in modern times, is the running of the Boston Marathon. The marathon forces many road closures in Boston, and the surrounding suburbs, making it impossible to get anywhere in the area, including our offices.
Tomorrow could have record breaking temperatures. We wish all the runners good luck. Please be careful and take it easy – I’m saying that to myself since I’m one of the runners!
We will be back up and running (well, mostly walking/crawling) Tuesday at 8 am!
Krafty Solution
Kraft paper has become a popular paper choice over the last few years. It has a rustic, hand-crafted feel that works well with many small batch or hand-made products. While kraft paper has many great qualities, it can prove difficult when trying to print light or bright ink colors. Since kraft paper is dark, and ink can be somewhat translucent, lighter colors will sink into dark stock, and turn a little muddy. Not cool.
So, what do you do when you want the kraft look, but also want a label with colors that shout, “look at me!!”? You fake it. One of the qualities that make kraft paper unique is the texture. Lucky for us, that texture isn’t limited to kraft. You can also find nice textures in white estate or linen paper. You can even see some texture in a simple white matte paper.
Using the textured stock, and the power of a design program, you can easily create a kraft paper look and feel, while still having bright and bold colors. Simply take an image of a kraft paper background and place it behind all your artwork, so the art now looks like it is printed on the kraft paper.
If done correctly, the end result will be a faux kraft paper label that will look like the real thing…only better. Bright colors will still look vibrant and your label will still have the krafty feel you want. Yay!
Welcome Jack Rudy Cocktail Co.
We recently had the pleasure of working with Jack Rudy Cocktail Company. Based in Charleston, SC, Jack Rudy Cocktail Co are purveyors of fine tonic syrups. Their small batch tonics are hand crafted with fresh ingredients like lemongrass and orange peel.
While we haven’t had the opportunity of trying the tonic yet, we did enjoy printing their labels. The labels have an awesomely old school chemist feel. The team at Gee Creative, also based in Charleston, really nailed the design. It fits the brand and makes sense for the product.
Printed on an estate #9 paper gives the label warmth, while also lending well to the old fashioned look. An added bonus with estate paper is that it has an ice bucket adhesive, so the tonic could easily be stored in a cooler at the beach without fear of the label falling apart in the icy water.
We are excited to welcome Jack Rudy Cocktail Company to the InTouch family, and hope to print many more labels for them in the future. We also hope to drink many gin and Jack Rudy tonics…but not while printing their labels, they could get dangerous.