Label information real estate is precious, and although the name of the product generally gets the premium waterfront location, many designers fail to recognize that effective label design incorporates pertinent product and marketing information right next to the brand name. If your product is gluten free, low calorie, organic, or even contains one part of one natural ingredient, you should definitely find a place for it.

Believe it or not, the brand name doesn’t necessarily merit the largest typeface. What it does earn is the space that the eye falls upon first, which can be enhanced by the use of contrasting colors. When we typically read a label, our eye is drawn to the top right hand corner if the label is horizontal, and to the top if the label is vertical. Hence, the information at the center of the label is usually bold, so that the eye will be drawn from where it wants to fall and onto where the pertinent information is. Color, light and shade are your dearest friends when constructing a label with limited space, and we’ll go into the specifics later.