Even in an industry as old and storied as wine, best practices can change. Writing for The East Hampton Press & The Southampton Press, Louisa Hargrave recently identified a shift in wine label methodology that shows new values have taken hold in recent years dictating how a winemaker should design the best label for their bottles.
According to Hargrave, previous generations of winemakers preferred to follow a format for their labels that exemplified their heritage and put it in a greater context. However, the newer trend is to embrace novelty and be as specific as possible when addressing the target demographic. Both of these goals are easier to accomplish when companies have adaptable printers at their disposal, and can choose a striking combination of colors, fonts and visual effects to stand out from competitors.
“This kind of derivative thinking is now outmoded, and even European wine labels no longer follow a standard format,” Hargrave writes of the older label attitudes. “On Long Island, there are now more than 50 wine brands, some made by grower-producers, others by companies that buy fruit and have wine made at existing wineries.”
In a LinkedIn article about the best wine label design tips, Charles D. of Designhill.com similarly calls for specificity and for labels to be made with care, as the front of the bottle is the key area where winemakers attract attention to their products. A company-specific tagline, between eight and ten words, is also useful for singling out the vintage and summarizing what makes it unique, he says.
OptiMedia Labs carries printers like the Afinia L801 for companies that want to make their labels more distinctive.
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