Product Labels

Material by product type

Dry products at room temperature — dried fruit, tea, spices, stationery — are entirely served by a paper label. Cosmetics are harder: a cream jar meets steam in a bathroom and wet hands, so vinyl is more reliable. Handmade soap, which lives in a wet environment, requires vinyl without question. Honey, jam and preserve jars sit in between: refrigerated, condensation will damage paper; kept on a shelf, paper is fine.

• Dry, on a shelf — paper
• Bathroom, cosmetics — vinyl
• Soap, wet environments — vinyl, always
• Refrigerated jars — vinyl is safer

Planning the information block

The most common mistake on a product label is designing the pretty part first and squeezing mandatory information into whatever space is left — which drives text down to 4-5 pt and renders it practically unreadable. The correct approach is the reverse: first count how much mandatory text there is (ingredients, weight, shelf life, producer, batch number), allocate enough space for it at a minimum of 6 pt, and build the design around what remains. If the information will not fit, the answer is a back label.

• Count the mandatory text first
• Minimum legible type — 6 pt
• Does not fit — use a back label
• A barcode needs its own quiet zone

Curved surfaces and label width

On jars, bottles and tubes the label wraps a curved surface, and a simple rule applies: the narrower the cylinder, the narrower the label must be to avoid wrinkling. A wide label on a slim tube or thin bottle will inevitably lift at the edges. If the label must wrap the full circumference, precise measurement and a 2-3 mm overlap at the join are needed. A round label on a flat jar lid avoids the problem altogether.