The Best artwork for Your Label

Art work & Colour advice for your Labels

Here at GB Labels we want to get the best possible results for your product and make it stand out from the crowd. You should have already chosen the right label for your needs and now be ready for the next stage, the artwork. So we have put together a guide to the type of artwork we accept and how best to design and plan your artwork to get the label you imagined.

We accept many different types of artwork for your woven labels and there are a few pros and cons to each type, as well as a few restrictions on designs. This guide will provide you with things to consider when undertaking your planning, to avoid delays in getting your finished labels.

Colours

Colours are one of the most important parts of a design. In order to get the exact colour you want, there are things that you should keep in mind. This will avoid any delays in the sample process.

First thing is first, on all artwork for the majority of our woven and printed labels, there is a limit on the amount of colours you can have in your design. A maximum of 6 colours (excluding the base colour) can be used on any single design. This is due to the limits of the looms, so keep that in mind when designing your label.

All colours must be “solid” as it is almost impossible to weave in graded colours and the printing process we use just won’t allow it. This can help you not only get the exact design you want but also save you time. Finally, to ensure you get the colours you want, provide a colour reference.

The easiest ways to get your chosen colours is to provide us with a pantone reference from the Formula guide + (Either a solid coated or solid uncoated reference is fine) or we can also try a colour match from a fabric swatch. If you give us a pantone reference for printed products it would be an exact match but keep in mind that for woven products we use pre dyed yarn. Therefore we do a closest match. If a pantone reference or a swatch isn’t provided we would do a closest match “off screen” to the artwork.

Text

You may decide that you wish to have text on your label. If this applies to you then these tips will help you along with your artwork. When weaving a label it is being made out of thousands of threads of yarn and you can only put so many threads into a small space. Small text and detail can end up being distorted if it is too small. To visibly read woven text on a label it has to be at least a minimum of an 8pt font if it is scripted text it realistically needs to be a 10pt font to be readable.

For printed labels you can fit more detail into a smaller space so a minimum of a 4pt font will do. Therefore when designing your labels you need to consider the size of your label when including text in your artwork.

Artwork files

To ensure the quickest possible turn around of your labels we have put together a guide on the different type of files we can work with for your artwork. The first thing to explain is there are two types of file you can send, these are a RASTER or a VECTOR.

Most images you see on your computer screen are what’s known as a raster file. Pictures found on the web and photos you import from your digital camera are raster graphics. They are made up of a grid of pixels, commonly referred to as a bitmap. The larger the image, the more disk space the image file will take up.

For example, a 640 x 480 image requires information to be stored for 307,200 pixels, while a 3072 x 2048 image (from a 6.3 Megapixel digital camera) needs to store information for a whopping 6,291,456 pixels. Most raster files that you would recognise are .jpeg .gif .psd and .tiff

Raster files can be used for woven products but a lower resolution image may produce a lower quality of label, so the better your artwork is the better your label will be. Unfortunately for printed labels a raster file cannot be used, only vector files can be used for these products. If you cannot produce artwork that is vectored you can contact us and for a small design fee we can turn your image into a vector image.

Vector files are a much easier and faster way of turning your artwork into the label you envisage. A vector file is made up of lines, shapes and colours rather than coloured pixels, A vector program will use a mathematical formulae that creates an image. As a result it doesn’t matter how much you manipulate the image in terms of zooming in and out and resizing it the file will use that formulae to adjust itself to create a perfect image. This means you can re-size your logo from the size of a postage stamp to the size of the jumbo screen at Piccadilly Circus and there would be no distortion or loss of image quality.

A vector file enables you to edit a logo or image fairly easily such as simple colour changes or the addition of text; so by far and away a vector file is the preferred choice of any designer. Vector files are usually referred to as EPS files but most people would recognise them as an Adobe illustrator file .ai which could be sent to us also in a .pdf

Hopefully this guide gives you a bit more detail on how to help the design and manufacture process of your label proceed much quicker. This will result in fewer amendments and costs and will ensure you get the label you want in the time you need it. Be sure to think about your brand whilst you are choosing your text, colours and artwork for your labels.

If you think you may struggle with your artwork, we do provide a design service ourselves just contact us and we can provide you with our expertise and a quote. To find out our latest news, tips and advice follow us on twitter, Facebook , Google+ and Instagram .

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