Label Planet
Why it's a good idea to sketch your desgin before going near a label template.
While many people simply dive into the process of designing and printing their own labels, you might well find that you can save yourself a lot of time and bother by taking a few minutes to sketch out your design before going anywhere near any label templates – or even any labels.
The Benefits Of Sketching Your Design Before You Choose Your Labels & Your Label Templates
- Helps you to choose the most effective and efficient label size
Knowing exactly how much space you need to achieve your design can help you to select a label shape and size that is perfect for your application. If your design needs to include a significant amount of (important) text, sketching out your design (or even simply typing out your text) gives you a good idea of how much room you need to avoid your labels becoming cluttered and difficult to read. This is especially important for labels that are supposed to provide important information, directions, or instructions (such as ingredient lists or instructions for use).
Additional tip: if you’re struggling to include EVERYTHING on ONE label, sketching your label design gives you a chance to see if using two (or more) labels would be a more effective solution for your application.
You will end up being able to buy labels and source label templates KNOWING that they will work perfectly for your purposes. Simply taking a guess at a label size and shape that MIGHT work could mean that you end up having to compromise your design to get it to fit onto your labels. You might even find that the labels you’ve bought simply don’t work at all – leaving you with the time and costs of finding suitable replacements.
- Helps you to create a design that is practical and pretty
Sketching out your design gives you a chance to play around with all of the elements that you want to include and to find an arrangement that makes your labels as practical and pretty as possible. A quick sketch is a quick way to find out if all of your elements will combine to create a clean, professional design that looks good while also delivering on more practical expectations (for example, product labels that promote your brand and provide important product information). If you find that your sketch is looking a bit messy and cluttered, you can edit your design quickly and easily (and repeatedly) without having to spend time revising a template.
Of course, if you’re familiar with digital design, you might feel more comfortable arranging and re-arranging a design in a label template, which is fine. If you’re less experienced or confident with digital design, however, a quick scribble with pencil and paper can be a simpler and quicker way to experiment with and perfect your design.
- Helps you to create a design that is simpler to design & print
Creating a sketch of your design can give you a good idea of how to go about recreating that design in a label template – which will reduce the amount of time you spend setting up your label template. It can also help to identify any elements in your design that might make your labels a little bit more difficult and time-consuming to print properly.
For example, design elements that make use of the shaping of your labels (especially around the edges of your labels) are often more difficult to print properly – because you have to ensure that the alignment is just so or your labels won’t look right. A common example is borders; these elements follow the edges of your labels, which has the effect of emphasising any slight misalignment on your printed labels.
Sketching your design first can give you a good idea of how tricky it will be to get the perfect print on your labels; if it looks like your design will be too difficult to print perfectly yourself – or if you simply want to opt for a design that’s simply more straightforward – you can adjust your design before you get to the printing process.
In short, taking the time to sketch out your design can save you time, money, resources AND avoid a whole lot of stress and upset.