Honey Label Design

[Lesgold]

Hi Folks

I have been using a generic label for my honey for quite a while and I thought it was about time to design my own. The label that I?m using is quite boring and is used by many hobby beekeepers to satisfy food labelling requirements. I know of a local beekeeper who gets his labels professionally printed. They are glossy, well designed and really do look quite good. I do however, have a couple of issues with this label. The first one is the price he pays for them. I consider them to be quite expensive for what they are. This expense either has to be worn by the beekeeper or passed onto the customer. (Or a combination of both) The other issue that I have is that this label is just another good looking label. It contains all the bells and whistles that are required and it does have an impressive appearance. In other words, it fits in well with what people expect to see on a supermarket shelf. I want something a little different and I was wondering if you could help me with the design. Here is a few of my requirements:

1) I want the label to appear as though it is homemade. Obviously all the food labelling requirements such as nutritional information, packaging dates or batch numbers, beekeepers name and address etc, etc will form the basis of the written material but I would like the label to be simple and uncomplicated. When people pick up a jar of my honey and look at the label I would like them to think that this guy is just a small, hobby beekeeper who produces a bit of surplus honey for sale.

2) I don?t want to use coloured inks at all in the design. Everything has to be printed in black.

3) I want the labels to be rectangular and be printed on a low sheen Kraft brown label. (The colour of a brown paper bag)

What I?m trying to say is that the label I want for my honey should be earthy and uninspiring. If you guys can help me get to that point, I would be grateful.

My first request is for a picture of a bee. I would like to take that picture and transform it into a black and white image to include on the label. Do any of you have a photo that I could use? I?m sure that there are some talented people out there who have taken some wonderful shots of bees being bees. If you do have a pic that you have taken that may be suitable for that part of the label,  could you post it here so that we can all have a look at it. My eldest daughter is a part time photographer and web page designer so I can get her involved as well.  She is very good at manipulating images, changing backgrounds etc. I?m sure that she would love to help out. I reckon she will be out in the garden with her camera as soon as I talk to her about this project.  I?m hoping that some of the members out there can help me.

Cheers

Les

[NigelP]

Not sure if these are any good, but PM me if you want the full sized images.

[Lesgold]

Amazing photos. Thanks so much Nigel. The first photo is the type of image that I was thinking of. It now comes down to how it will look when it is transformed into a black and white image. I use an app that can modify the style of the image. Not all photos will give the results that are required so I won?t know how it will turn out until I play with it. My daughter uses photoshop and has the skills to remove backgrounds etc. I?ll pop your image into the app and see how it comes out. Will post the results. Thanks again.

Cheers

Les

[Lesgold]

Here is a couple of Nigel?s photos converted to a black and white line or cartoon type of image. This is where I would like to head towards with a bit

[The15thMember]

Here is a couple of Nigel?s photos converted to a black and white line or cartoon type of image. This is where I would like to head towards with a bit

Nice!  I'm personally partial to the top one, with the bee on the willow.  I think that would make a wonderful label. 

[NigelP]

All I ask is 10% of all sales ........

[Lesgold]

Thank goodness for that. I was going to offer 20 percent. 😁😁😁

[max2]

Hi Les,

I assume you are going for Back on Brown for environmental reasons?

I actually like labels on Brown paper. I understand that most inks are now "organic" - e.g. vegetable based.

I'm sure that you will look into the costs of such a label carefully. You wil find that brown labels are not cheap.

Having just purchased a new batch of labels, we were blown away by the cost.

We also found out that our " Green printer"  does not own a printer anymore - it is all farmed out to a " Commercial printer".

With a name like " Gold" - I would play on this. We call honey " Liquid Gold'.
Indeed I have been playing with the idea of changing my name to "Gold" - before we met!
I would have a golden label with black background - people would never forget.

I agree about generic labels - lack fantasy and promotional value.

[Lesgold]

Hi Max

This is all just a bit of play time really. If it works out, I?ll be happy. If it doesn?t, that?s OK as well as it?s mostly time and not much of a financial investment at this stage. I have just ordered some brown, printable sticky labels on EBay. They will cost just over 3 cents each so the price was fine. I intend to use my home printer to start with. If it all works out, I may head towards a thermal label printer where there is no ink costs and the labels themselves are quite cheap.  The big advantage of designing your own labels is they are easy to modify for different weights, honey styles etc. The labels are really just a series of text boxes and images placed on a page and then printed. The initial label design and formatting takes some time but the rest is quite simple. I do like gold on black. It would be interesting to find out the printing costs.

[BeeMaster2]

Les,
What program are you using to print them?
I?m looking for a good one for windows 10/11 for Judy. She is used to an old Print Shop but the write ups are all terrible.
Jim Altmiller

[Lesgold]

Hi Jim

Not sure at this stage. I may use Word on the laptop or Pages on the iPad. If I use Word, I?ll just download some Avery templates and go from there. It will just come down to how much time is needed to format individual labels.

[NigelP]

I use design pro5 for printing labels. A bit of a faff initially to sort page margins but once done it's good for ever. It was a free programme, not sure if still available but I do have installer if anyone wants to try it.
I  print on a laser printer as it makes the label's waterproof.

[Oldbeavo]

We have always used Avery on a normal printer.
Allows for adding a batch code that is required by some health authorities.
We had an instance where we were competing with another wholesaler in a retail outlet, we eventually got the whole shelf. when we ask the owner why he didn't stock the other brand anymore, his reply was that our honey out sold the other because our label looked cottage/farm against the professional printed label.
Also the cost of Avery labels is very cheap especially when printed on a basic printer.

[Lesgold]

Good to know Oldbeavo. That was exactly my thinking. You just explained it much better. One of my daughters just gave me full access to her Canva app. I have been using the restricted free version but now there will be more options in relation to design. Looks like Xmas and baby sitting duties may restrict the plannng phase for a few days.

[max2]

We take used jars back ( and pay $1) and then sterilise them.
One thing I learned - use " Low tack" labels.

They are much, much easier to take off.

Enjoy the babysitting - my youngest " baby" ( grandson) is 26...time flies.

[Oldbeavo]

Also we use the same size label for 500g, 1kg, 1 1/2kg and 3kg.
Allows to buy labels in bulk, mostly from Office works.

[Lesgold]

That?s a good idea. I was thinking of using the same design for all labels and just modify a text box for weight and honey type.

[Oldbeavo]

Lesgold
Exactly right, our batch code is the extraction date, so by honey type and date we can track where honey came from.
Your display of honey will attract customers, not the label.

[Lesgold]

Same here Oldbeavo. I had a bit of time to spare when the grandkids were eating breakfast so there was time to play with an image. This is getting closer to what I?m chasing.



I was able to use a couple of apps to change the colour photo to black and white, remove the background and then almost make it like a cartoon drawing. A bit of rotation on the image and this will approximate what  I visualised.

[Lesgold]

With a little bit of down time on my hands, I was able to complete the rough label.



With a few minor improvements and the ability to modify the design as required, I?ll be able to print them off as they are needed. I was also able to get the layout organised on the pages app. on the iPad with a bit of playing. They print off quite well and look acceptable on honey jars. Most of the written material wraps around the side of the containers leaving the major headings and graphic prominent at the front.