So often as designers, we think to ourselves, “If only I had the latest version of the Creative Suite, or if only I had a newer, bigger monitor, drawing tablet, mouse, hard drive, you name it.”

Turns out, a good workman can use just about any tools!

Even something as *boring* as Microsoft Excel!

One of my favourite types of work, is label design.

Particularly when that label design is for a new brand that is launching, for a small business owner, or new entrepreneur.  The reason why I love it is because it is all so fresh and new, and naturally the client is also super excited to be launching their own brand which means that interaction is positive, and peppered with bursts of inspiration. In fact it’s far easier to design for this type of project (in my experience) rather than producing a new product design for a brand that is global, and entrenched in 50 years of existing design guidelines.

Here are a couple of things to remember for when working on Label Designs

• Get the exact specs and measurements of the label design as required by the client, remember that this is for label design, not packaging design – there IS a difference
• Obtain any preferred colour requirements from your client, or have fun suggesting new ideas if your client is open to that
• View the product on which the label is to be placed and confirm exact orientation details from the client before heading off to design
• Discuss the type of material on which the label is to be printed, i.e. paper or vinyl and obtain any printers guidelines with regards to use of colour as well
• Design and have fun!
• Remember to ask for any additional details that need to be included on the label, i.e. client contact details, any legal requirements such as barcoding, ingredients etc – failure to do this, can severely hamper design time if you don’t consider it from the start!

About the Label Design itself

• It should reflect the look and feel as required by the client, and in line with their brand guidelines which you would have established during early discussions, or in the process of designing preliminary logo’s etc.
• The product should reflect it’s own quality, that is if it is a premium product, the design should tend towards rich colours, and possibly some embossing or foiling etc, naturally the opposite is necessary of a brand which is considered a budget brand.
• It should be easily recognizable, and aesthetically pleasing, and if there is a range of the similar products from the same brand, then it should be easy to tell that they are part of the same range, albeit variations on the same product
• It should not be too similar to a competing brand
• It should contain all necessary information as required by law
• One of the best ways of mocking up a design to see if it will *work* or not, without having to print (let’s be paper efficient here, and planet friendly) is to simply have a photograph of the products in question, and doing a little Photoshop magic with it and superimpose the image onto the photograph of the product in question, to give you an idea of what the final product will look like. You would be amazed how often this can make a big difference in your ‘minds eye’.

Happy Designing fellow creatives! Thanks for reading and please share if you have found this post helpful and interesting.

Music is a powerful motivator!

It can inspire us to move in a certain way, give us confidence, make us melancholy, bring up old memories in the most vivid way.

It is this power to influence us, that makes music a powerful creative force in design practice. Have you ever used music to inspire you on a particular design?

I have been working on a logo design and new corporate ID for a company that specializes in high end treats for the gourmet foods market, and the whole thing has me thinking about Marie Antoinette. Now, forget for a moment that the woman lost her head, or said, “Let them eat cake!” but rather think about the era and finesse during that time of opulence.

Her life coincided almost exactly with that of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and they were both in fact, Austrian. 

Mozart is of course an undisputed genius, and his music has been proven to aid concentration in that it vibrates at a level which causes something called Beta waves in the brain, even now as I sit typing with The Magic Flute: Act I playing on iTunes I feel absolutely focused and able to compose my thoughts in a logical and straightforward manner.

But this does not mean that his music is serious by any means, it is the perfect accompaniment to designing a business logo centured around bon bons, meringues and other delectably over the top yummities.

His music conjures up visions of silk and satin, pastel palettes, damask, velvet brocade, silver hair brushes and candlesticks, powdered wigs, court dancing and gentility and frivolity and excess all going on in an opulent environment, never mind that there was a revolution brewing outside, they lived in their own richly decorated reality.

This is the same feeling that my clients products would like you to experience, when all the world is spinning around you, take the time to indulge a little or a lot!

So do not be afraid to look to the masters of old, for inspiration.

So many of them were well before their time, and you needn’t stick to your own brand of culture (i.e. artists) for inspiration, but look for composers, sculptors, architects and others.

Innovation is often found in the past.

What music do you design to? Do you tailor your playlists around the current work you’re doing? Or do you use a more generic type of music to work to?

Many places in the world will be celebrating Mothers Day on this Sunday 9th of May.

So I am proud to release this custom designed digitally downloadable Mothers Day Card.

Please note that two files are included in the download, one, is a hi-resolution .jpg, allowing you to either print from home or at a local printer, or email this card to your Mother, or Mother in law in time for Mother Day on Sunday! (Instead of a mad rush around the shops).

The other is a fully layered editable .psd file, for the graphically inclined amongst you who may want to customize the file. If you’d like to have the file customized, but possess neither the skill or the inclination to do it yourself, simply email me, and I can do it for you for a small additional charge.

Enjoy!

Price $1.99

Please note:

To edit this file you will need a working knowledge of Adobe Photoshop, as well as a working version of the software.

This file has not been tested in versions of Photoshop earlier than CS2. Fonts are not included due to copyright restrictions.