Lightning Labels Blog

Considering the Product Container

When deciding how to make your product stand out on the retail shelf, the label is obviously very important, but your choice of container will also have a big impact on the visibility of your product. There are literally thousands of containers to choose from - where do you start?

I would always start by looking at your competitors. You don't necessarily need to have a very different container. In fact if their packaging is very plain you could choose a similar container and use the product label as a way to really stand out. Alternatively, you could choose an innovative container shape that will become part of your brand. This is the route that Method has done with their product containers with significant success. Or you could use an unusual container with an eye-catching label to really stand out from the crowd.

At the same time you are choosing your container you should also consider the kind of label you want. What size of label is best? Do you want a front and back label, a wraparound label, clear or white? These are the questions you need to ask. Another important factor is the shape of the container. If you have a really curved container you may be limited to the size of the label. Your label needs to be applied to a flat surface in order to avoid wrinkling. You also need to be aware of where your container starts to taper in as it rounds at the bottom - you will need to keep your label above the taper line.

Most packaging companies will be happy to send you sample containers so feel free to experiment first. You could narrow it down to two or three containers and then request a hard copy proof with your label order and stick one of the label proofs on each container to see what looks best. If you need some inspiration and are looking for something new and innovative I would check out Web Packaging, they have a wealth of innovative containers on their site, and they even have an RSS feed so you can get daily updates of new containers that become available.

In case you are wondering the photo above is from Stull Technologies - an example of one innovative packaging company. Lightning Labels has no affiliation with any packaging company - we focus all our attention on printing your custom product labels.

What Color is That?

Adam Dewitz, the managing editor over at the PrintCEO blog had an interesting post earlier this week. He reported on research done by Dolores Labs where they showed thousands of random color samples to people and asked them to describe the color they saw. They then mapped these colors on to a color wheel that you see above. 

This research is most interesting when viewed through the little application they created. Here you can really get an insight into the different ways people describe color. For example, type in a color such as "turquoise" and look at all the different colors you get back. There is a large variety of colors that different people describe as turquoise.

Now anyone in the printing business knows that people describe color in different ways. Your red might be someone else's maroon, but the research done here really hammered home to me the very different ways people will describe color. It is a good reminder for us all, both print buyers and printers. We can't assume when someone says turquoise that we all are on the same page.

The great thing about digital printing is that we can produce a press proof, so our customers will see exactly what colors are going to print. This way we can deal with these different expectations before the job is run.

Label Applicators - a Huge Time Saver

When you first call Lightning Labels to place a custom label order one of the questions you will be asked is whether your labels will be applied by hand or machine. The reason we ask this question is because an automatic label applicator will require the labels to come off the roll in a certain direction - known as unwind direction.

Now, we know that many of you apply your labels by hand but as your business grows you will find that applying the labels to your products takes more and more time. You can be much more productive with a label applicator. There are a large variety of machines, from simple label dispensers that cost just a couple of hundred dollars to fully automated systems that cost tens of thousands of dollars. You can buy applicators for applying labels to bottles, jars, lip balm canisters, lids - just about any product container or surface you can imagine.

Following is a short list of companies that offer label applicators. But first I should note that Lightning Labels does not have a relationship with any of these companies and does not endorse or recommend them. This list is just provided as a starting point for those considering purchasing a label applicator. Here is the list:

• Dispensa-matic - simple and inexpensive label dispensers. Also has some low end applicators for bottles.
• CTM Labeling Systems - a range of semi-automatic applicators to high speed, high accuracy custom labeling solutions. All machines are made in the USA.
• Busch Machinery - a large selection of automatic label applicators for a variety of container shapes. They have an excellent buyers guide where you can learn all about label applicators.

As your business grows you will find adding a label applicator will help make the task of product labeling more efficient and productive.

The Personalized Sharpie

More and more consumer products are coming out with personalized packaging, the latest I just recently stumbled across is the venerable Sharpie marker. The Sharpie people have created a very simple, easy to use web site that strikes the perfect balance between flexibility and simplicity. You can add two lines of text in a choice of 10 different fonts, and you can even add some simple clip art. You have the choice of eight different colors for your Sharpie but your personalization will be printed in black.

There is some fancy animation where you can view your personalized Sharpie but overall this is a pretty simple web site. My guess is that you could create something similar for just a few thousand dollars. And it is a great way to connect with your customers and to leverage your brand.

Any enterprising consumer products company could do the same thing. If your product has a label you could leverage the power of digital label printing and add personalization to your labels. You could do something similar to what Sharpie has done and just gather all the personalization in a spreadsheet that you can them send on to your digital printer.

Personalization is becoming more popular but there are still very few companies offering it as an option for their customers. The technology is all in place to be able to do this easily and inexpensively. Here at Lightning Labels we will be happy to help with anyone considering a personalization project for their product labels.

HP Makes Major Product Announcements Today

Earlier today, Steve Smith and I watched the webcast from Israel as HP announced some new digital printing presses they will be releasing soon. Of most interest to us was their new digital label printing press which will be called the HP Indigo WS6000. It will run at around 100 feet a minute, twice the speed of the current WS4500 which will mean larger jobs will now be able to be printed digitally.

Worldwide the label market is growing at 4% a year, but according to HP digital label printing is growing at around 45% per year. When this new press becomes available that number will only increase as now it is estimated that 80% of all label print jobs will be most profitably run on their digital label press.

Here at Lightning Labels we are excited to be working with a company like HP that continues to innovate and invest in research and development. I expect the WS6000 to quickly become the best selling digital label press, but I will go further here. I actually expect that it will become the best selling label press (of any kind) ever. Traditional label printers will simply not be able to ignore digital any longer. It is an exciting time right now in the world of digital label printing.