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.

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!

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!

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!

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.

Inc. magazine recently featured Dr. Bonner’s and the first paragraph in their three page story is about the label.  See, labels do have a big impact!  They note, “There are quotes from Mao, Jesus, Hillel, Einstein, and George Washington, among others.  There’s something called the Moral ABC, which appears to be a philosophy for uniting all humans on Spaceship Earth.  There’s a lot of religious ranting, a liberal dose of exclamation points, and instructions for cleansing your mind-body-soul-spirit instantly.”

What makes Dr. Bonner’s label work is they built a brand along with the label.  They have a wacky brand, which goes along with their wacky labels.  Their label isn’t meant to be trendy.  It hasn’t changed and won’t change simply because minimalism is in or “clean” is popular.  Their soap product isn’t just about cleaning yourself, it is also about cleaning the world.  Expressing their opinions, religious, personal, political, and beyond, is an important aspect to their product, therefore an important aspect to their label.

The point of this post is to show that any design can work, as long as it makes sense.  Dr. Bonner’s label may seem crazy, but with $44 million in sales, they have clearly done something right.

White ink is only used on stocks that aren’t white (seems obvious but worth noting).  When a white stock is used, any area within the artwork that looks like white ink, is actually just the stock color, not the elusive “white ink”.

If you are using a clear stock, the white ink is not an illusion, it is actually white.  That being said, not all white inks are created equal.  If a printer lays down a standard white ink, it will end up translucent and milky looking.  When placed against something dark, the image may be hard to see.  Not exactly a great look.

In order for the white to shine, it has to be a high-density, UV ink.  While these inks do cost more, the end result is always worth it.  The opaque ink can create a silk-screened effect on the label.  For most applications, this works very well.

In extreme cases, sometimes the UV ink isn’t enough.  In addition to the UV ink, we can place a back-up behind all the printed areas.  This is the case for Izze Soda.  This creates a completely opaque barrier between the stock and the inks.

You have a lot of options when using white ink.  Understand the type of ink being used and the application will ensure you end up with a white that won’t have you seeing red.

From the look of it, there is one label that is wrapped around the jar with perforation at the top and bottom.  What is cool about this label is the adhesive is only on the mid-section of the label.  This allows for easy removal of the top and bottom sections.  Once removed, the sections reveal additional info.  Nice touch.

The main text is foil hot stamped, which was a good choice because it really matches the color of the honey.  The pop of gold gives a touch of elegance to the simple white label.

Overall, this is a unique label design that you won’t see in every aisle.  The only questionable aspect to this product is the outer packaging.  The honey is housed in a box better suited for perfume.  Since the product is already hidden by the label, the extra box seems unnecessary.  With such an “out of the box” design, don’t put the product in a box!

Ok, so now you are thinking, “Thanks for the breaking news, but what does this have to do with custom labels?”  Well, in the print world, custom labels are very much alive.  You can’t create a virtual product, with a virtual label. Even if you sell on-line, your customer will still receive a real product. There is no web version of a pickle jar.

No matter how many versions of the iPad come out, your product will still need a label on it.  As the world of custom labels grows (it is one of the fastest growing segments in the print industry), it will be even more important to bring your product’s label to the next level.  Use a designer, understand your print options and most importantly, test how your product looks against your competition.

The Britannica may now be the perfect doorstop, but custom labels are sticking around (ah, I couldn’t resist!)

This sounds like a great idea.  At this point, this is just an idea.  Amron has created some prototypes and patented the concept, but it isn’t currently in use.  While this does sound cool in theory, I’m not sure it would work in the real world of produce packaging.

First, produce gets wet.  If machines are used for labeling, the produce is sometimes washed and then immediately labeled.  What would happen if these are applied to wet produce?  Would they start to dissolve?  It is also common for produce to move from very cold refrigerators (even freezers) to warmer grocery stores, causing condensation.  Would that cause the label to dissolve and cover all the produce with a soapy residue?

Fruitwash labels are a cool idea that may never come to fruition (too easy).  They will probably be tricky to apply and cost prohibitive.  If consumers wouldn’t mind paying more for their produce in order to have these labels, it may work.