Lightning Labels Blog

Stickerman Creates Art from Produce Labels

Barry Snyder is the Stickerman. He takes used produce stickers, the kind that you see on apples, oranges, pears and the like, and creates works of art from them. He has become a bit of a local celebrity appearing in the Denver Post, on the local TV news, and on the Food Network.

He has a unique hobby that is not only very creative but also eco-friendly. He receives thousands of used produce labels from people all over the world who support him in his work. He has a beautiful portfolio of artwork with each piece having been painstakingly created in his home studio.

If you want to help the Stickerman he gladly accepts donations of produce labels. You can send them to: Stickerman, P.O. Box 301 Erie, CO 80516.

New iPhone App Scans Barcodes, Gives New Meaning to 'Comparison Shopping'

Earlier this month, Occipital, LLC, released the first accurate barcode scanning application for the iPhone. Named RedLaser, the application allows serious shoppers to compare in-store prices with online ones in under a minute, and is available as a $1.99 USD download at the Apple iPhone App Store.

Here’s how it works: while browsing the aisles of your favorite store, you spot the digital camera you know your son has had his eye on for quite some time. His birthday is coming up, and it’s on sale. It seems like a great deal, but to be sure you pull out your iPhone and use it to take a picture of the barcode on the camera. Viola! Your iPhone instantly displays a list of online product prices from Google product search and Amazon. RedLaser tells you Amazon is offering the camera for 10% less than the store you are standing in is — and Amazon’s also offering free shipping. You then email yourself the information for the camera as a reminder to purchase the product online when you return home.

As of now, RedLaser only scans UPC and EAN barcodes, and is sometimes unable to scan tiny ones. The makers of the product, however, say they are working on improving the functionality of the application, and upgrade its "brains" as often as once a day.

2009 Wacky Warning Labels Contest

Long time readers of this blog will recognize the Wacky Warning Labels contest - we have reported on the winners of this contest every year since 2006. For the uninitiated, this is a contest sponsored by the Foundation for Fair Civil Justice, a group that focuses on legal reform and exposing frivolous lawsuits. The Wacky Warning Labels contest is run every year and the winners are the most ridiculous warning labels on products sold in this country.

The contest winners for 2009 were announced last week. The grand prize winner, that you can see in action in the video above is the "off-road commode" which is a portable toilet seat that attaches to a vehicle's trailer hitch. The warning label on this product: "not for use on moving vehicles."

The other winners include:

• A wart removal product instruction guide that warns, “Do not use if you cannot see clearly to read the information in the information booklet.”

•  A label on the underside of a cereal bowl warns, “Always use this product with adult supervision.”

•  A small, 1” x 4” LCD panel warns, “Do not eat the LCD panel.”

•  A bag of livestock castration rings warns, “For animal use only.”

Invisible Labels Now Available

We are pleased to announce a major breakthrough in digital label printing technology today. Lightning Labels in conjunction with several of our vendors announce a brand new product: invisible labels. Not only will these labels be printed with invisible ink, the material itself will be invisible also.

Perfect for customers seeking the "no label look", when applied to a container these labels are completely invisible. Thanks to several years of research and development from some of the leading names in the label industry these labels are now a reality. Recent advances in nanotechnology has made it possible to embed millions of tiny mirrors into label material to render it invisible.

We are predicting these invisible labels will be a huge success in industries such as pharmaceutical, wine, beer, bottled water, bath and body, and promotional products. 

Wierd and Wacky Wine Labels

Earlier this month over at Trend Hunter they featured 10 different wines with some of the wackiest names you have ever heard. These all appear to be legitimate wines available for sale from wineries around the world. Here is the list:
1. Cat's Pee on a Gooseberry Bush
2. Vampire
3. Goats do Roam in Villages
4. Ten Minutes by Tractor
5. Rocket Science
6. Seven Deadly Sins
7. Fat Bastard
8. Marilyn Merlot
9. Mad Housewife
10. Cleavage Creek

Wine is often on the cutting edge when it comes to label design and this list goes to show they can also be very innovative when it comes to product names. Some wineries aren't afraid to laugh at themselves if it will help them stand out on the retail shelf.

No word on how good these wines are, although I have had a Fat Bastard Shiraz before and it was excellent. Most of these wines do feature interesting labels that tie together well with the wacky names.

Stop Sign Designed by Committee

Seth Godin points out this really entertaining video. It is a parody of what can happen if too many people get involved in design decisions. Because we deal with mostly small companies here at Lightning Labels we don't deal with this problem very often, but if you find yourself in the middle of a "design by committee" custom label project have everyone watch this video. It is a good reminder that if you want to make an impact often simple is better.

Thermochromic Ink and Beer Labels

I was having a cold Coors Light the other day and I noticed that their labels now have a portion that is cold activated, using what is technically known as thermochomic inks. Now, we obviously don't print Coors Light labels here, nor can we print thermochromic ink, but it is an interesting development in label printing technology.

If you want to learn more about the Coors Light labels check out this article from Packaging World. Basically it works like this. The blue ink on the label here (the mountains and the text above them) is actually white thermochromic ink that turns blue when the temperature reaches around 44 degrees. I actually tested this out and put my finger on the mountains and sure enough the ink went back to white again as the warmth of my finger changed the color of the ink. When I removed my finger the ink changed again as the cold temperature of beer returned the mountains to blue.

It is good to see a large company like Coors pushing the envelope a little when it comes to their product labels. In any competitive market such as beer it is important to try different ideas in order to stand out from the crowd.

2008 Wacky Warning Labels Contest

It's a new year and that means another Wacky Warning Label contest has been awarded. The eleventh annual Wacky Warning Label Contest conduct by M-LAW has recently announced the winners for 2008. This year's winner is a warning label that appears on a tractor: "DANGER: Avoid Death".

Here are the list of the other winning entries that I think are equally funny:

- On an iron-on t-shirt transfer: "Do not iron while wearing shirt."
- On the pouch on a baby stroller: "Do not put child in bag."
- On a letter opener: "Caution: Safety goggle recommended."
- On a product called the Vanishing Fabric Marker: "The Vanishing Fabric Marker should not be used as a writing instrument for signing checks or any legal documents."

This Sunday is Festivus!

This Sunday, December 23rd, is the official holiday of Festivus. You haven't heard of it? Well it is a fairly new Holiday and probably the only Holiday ever to have been created from a sitcom. An episode of Seinfeld in 1997 introduced the world to the Festivus holiday.

Well since Seinfeld ended its run almost 10 years ago there are some people who have embraced the Festivus holiday as a non-religious alternative celebration. There is even Festivus wine that you can buy just for the Holiday (the label is featured above). I should provide full disclosure here - Lightning Labels prints these Festivus wine labels for one of our customers.

So this Sunday celebrate Festivus: "the Holiday for the rest of us."

The 2007 Wacky Warning Labels Contest

The tenth annual Wacky Warning Label Contest has recently announced their winners. This a contest that is held every year by the Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch to highlight the ridiculous lengths that product manufacturers go to protect themselves from frivolous lawsuits.

The winning entry this year was the warning label above which was adhered to a washing machine at a laundromat. The label reads: "DO NOT put any person in this washer."

There were several runner-up entries. Here they are for your enjoyment:

• In the manual for a personal watercraft describing the removal of the fuel tank cap: "Never use a lit match or open flame to check fuel level."
• On the back of a Super Lotto ticket: "Do not iron."
• On a cell phone: "Don't try to dry your cell phone in a microwave oven."
• On a local Yellow Pages phone book: "Please do not use this directory while operating a moving vehicle."