Using graphic design to improve beer labels

The market for smaller local and national beer brands has been flooded with products over the past few years. Ensuring your brew stands out among this wave of new releases is a serious challenge, one you should approach head-on with great graphic design and high-quality packaging. Shoppers walking the aisles of their local stores may be ready to make snap decisions on which kind of beer to purchase. Excelling visually makes your brand a more obvious choice.

Behind the scenes
For more details on what makes an appealing beer label, the South Bend Tribune recently spoke with graphic designer Ken Holewczynski about his work creating a series of craft beer packages. With designs specifically created to suit a particular brand’s character, Holewczynski also zeroes in in the flavor profile of each new brew to create a look that will reflect the contents. Furthermore, his efforts have grown more complex and detailed as the brand has expanded over the years.

Creating a unified visual design sensibility for your own brand, with each new product set apart by unique features, may prove a powerful way to stand out in the crowded craft beer field. Other brewers will commit resources to their labeling, and national brands are pulling out the stops to look quirky and interesting in competition with these local luminaries. Failure to step up and create a look that can compete with these rivals may lead to your products being overlooked.

Nutrition facts become important
Once you’re done designing the front of your label, it’s time to figure out what goes on the reverse. Detailed nutritional information may not be your first thought, but it’s a good choice. According to Brewbound, this is what consumers are increasingly looking for. The source recently called the rise of health-conscious beer consumers one of the seven most important news trends to hit the brewing sector in 2017. The source explained that when it polled consumers, it found 78 percent of monthly craft beer drinkers placed importance on reading nutritional labels.

Are you ready to print?
With good-looking and fully featured labels differentiating beer brands from one another, it’s vital to ensure you have the equipment to create a good look for your brand. This is where modern label printers prove their worth. If you can’t print your own beer labels, or are stuck with an outdated printer that can’t give you the quality you’re looking for, it’s time to upgrade to a powerful new choice – such as the Primera LX900 Color Label Printer. Learn about it on our U.S. site or Canadian page.