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.
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.
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, 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 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:
I came across this amusing article recently from our friends across the pond. Just in time for Valentine's Day, a Welsh dating site has teamed up with a milk producer to put "dating stickers" on milk bottles. All five people (three men and two women) featured on the stickers are farmers in rural Wales who are also part of an online dating service.
Apparently the stickers were applied by hand on the milk production line, although there is no word on the size of the print run. Now, this is a novel way to look for a date, but I am hoping this catches on here. This could become a new niche for Lightning Labels. And you don't have to stop at milk, I could see orange juice, bottled water, soda bottles, the sky is limit. Seriously though, this was a novel idea that produced some good publicity for the farmers, the dating web site, and the milk co-op.
In keeping with today's theme we bring you a haunting Halloween label we did recently. Sweets by Denise is a small business that makes delicious homemade truffles, candies, lollipops and other decadent treats. It was founded by Denise Robbins, who after 15 years in the technology industry decided she wanted to pursue her dream and start her own business.
As you can imagine Halloween is busy time at Sweets by Denise. These Halloween labels went on the wrappers of several different scary treats this Halloween. Her most popular treat was the Mummy Bear which is a chocolate bear lollipop "wrapped" in white chocolate bandages.
Like many small businesses Sweets by Denise cannot afford to order large quantities of labels. Denise takes advantage of the digital label printing capabilities at Lightning Labels by gang running several different versions of the same sized label to reduce her unit price. This last job we did for her had custom labels for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and several other designs in the same run.
The ninth annual Wacky Warning Label contest conducted by the Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch (M-LAW) has recently been awarded. The contest celebrates the wierd and wacky warning labels that appear on some products these days.
Here are this year's winners:
1st Place - A heat gun and paint remover that produces temperatures of 1,000 degrees and warns users, "Do not use this tool as a hair dryer" (see the pictures below).
2nd Place - A kitchen knife that warns: "Never try to catch a falling knife."
3rd Place - A cocktail napkin that has a map of the waterways around Hilton Head, South Carolina printed on it along with this: "Caution: Not to be used for navigation."
Honorable mentions this year also go to these two warning labels:
A bottle of dried bobcat urine made to keep rodents and other pests away from garden plants. It says: "Not for human consumption."
On a baking pan: "Ovenware will get hot when used in oven."
This contest was started by M-LAW in response to the many frivilous lawsuits that are brought by individuals these days. In response companies have had to assume that people using their products have very little intelligence or common sense, and so they need to warn consumers against every conceivable possibility. The good news is that it does make for some amusing labels. Here is a list of the best labels of the previous contests.
