How do you determine which product to try when faced with a case full of craft brews? If you’re like most consumers, you probably race to the register with cans that catch your attention—the ones that stand out from the rest with graphic, eye-catching shrink sleeve label designs.
The can label is the first thing someone notices about your product. That’s why it’s critical to get it right. A good label design personifies your brand through color, copy, style, imagery, and typography. At Wildpack, we’re here to turn your goals into a reality.
In this handy guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know to design and implement an attractive label that’ll make heads turn.
Defining and Creating a Visual Identity for Your Brand
Your brand’s visual identity includes all of the graphics and images that tell the public who your company is. Your company logo, colors, and even the interior design of your space are all a part of your visual identity and tell a story about your ethos to position you apart from the competition.
Step #1: Identify Your Brand Personality
According to the American Marketing Association, your brand personality is “the set of human characteristics associated with a brand.” These characteristics draw your customers to your brand.
There are five dimensions of brand personality, including:
- Sincerity
- Excitement
- Competence
- Sophistication
- Ruggedness
Each dimension can be broken down into specific traits. For example, a brand that falls into the ruggedness dimension is expected to display tough, strong, outdoorsy traits. If this is your brand identity, your beer label design can feature tree outlines atop a forest-green background, fish or trout swimming across your label, or a landscape illustration of a mountain range.
In contrast, one that is sophisticated would be expected to be glamorous, charming, and even a little extravagant. For your beer can labels, use bright, pastel colors, cursive print across a stark white backdrop, or elegant geometric designs.
Step #2: Curate your Beer Label Visuals
If you’re lucky, you might already have an image of what you want your brand’s visual identity to be. However, many business owners aren’t sure where to start. If you’re a brewery owner, you’re more likely to be an expert on craft beer, not necessarily beer label design.
The good news is the process of establishing your brand’s visual identity is less complicated than you might think. When curating your visual identity, there are three objectives you must try to meet:
- Unifying aspects of your business with consistent messaging
- Eliciting an emotional response from your customers
- Telling your customers about your brand
The 5 Key Elements of Good Visual Identity
Determining your brand’s visual identity can be broken down into five elements. Let’s dive into each of these elements to help you better understand how to design a winning beer can label.
Element #1: Style, Imagery, and Color
The first element of visual identity is style and imagery. This refers to the artwork that goes on your shrink sleeve. Think of it as a means of telling your brand’s story. You can elect to go with something simple or opt for a complex work of art depending on your brand personality.
For example, you can choose from:
- Cartoons
- Portraits
- Comics
- Elaborately painted scenes
- Simple designs
The key to styling the imagery correctly is to match your brand identity. A sophisticated brand identity won’t pair well with a funny cartoon. The driving force behind crafting your brand and visual identities is cohesion.
Element #2: Label Size and Shape
Once you have an idea of the imagery you wish to use, you’ll need to make sure it’ll fit on your chosen label. There are several standard beer can sizes:
- 8 oz.
- 12 oz.
- 16 oz.
The most common size is 12 oz. Labels will typically wrap all of the way around the can, but some only cover half of the surface. This means there’s a wide range of available label sizes, including:
- 2.25” x 8”
- 3.625” x 6.25”
- 3.625” x 8”
- 5” x 6.25”
- 5” x 8”
You’ll want to make sure that everything you need can fit legibly on the label you select. This includes the images and text.
Element #3: Copy Development
Copy refers to the text you have on your label. While you don’t want to include an entire novel’s worth of text, you do want to make sure you have:
- The brand name
- The TTB required information, as listed below
- Descriptive words that are meaningful to your brand (crisp, aged, dark, smooth, etc.)
Don’t underestimate the power of that last tip. Just a few carefully chosen words can paint a vivid picture for your customer. Appealing to your customer’s senses and helping them imagine what it’ll taste like when they sip your beer can go a long way toward convincing them to purchase your product.
Element #4: Typography
Have you seen the Saturday Night Live sketch about the font used for the blockbuster film Avatar? In the sketch, the cast pokes fun at the fact that papyrus was the style of font chosen for the film’s materials. While this is a satirical example meant to be humorous, it does illuminate a specific point—your choice of typography matters.
Why? Let’s take a look at a few important factors:
- Your customers need to be able to read the text on your label
- Typography hints at your brand’s personality and ethos
- The typography needs to work with the other components of the label for a cohesive feel
Often, simple fonts are best for labeling. They’re clear, easy to read, and won’t make you the butt of late-night television jokes. However, sharing your unique brand ethos can often be a bold, yet rewarding choice.
Element #5: Color
Another element to consider is color—bright colors will pop off the shelf and elicit feelings of fun, excitement, and cleverness. A vivid combination of pink, yellow, and blue may be the perfect palette for a company whose bubblies are contagious.
However, for those looking to curate a “competence brand personality,” a sophisticated lettering with toned-down colors may be a better fit. Choose reliable colors like navy blue and black to establish your brand as one consumers can trust.
To that end, color serves multiple functions in beer can label design, such as:
- Capturing your customer’s attention – When we scan a crowded shelf brimming with options, we naturally gravitate toward something that stands out from the rest. Observe other companies and the appearance of their cans. What color choices will help your beer pull ahead of the competition?
- Conveying the brand’s personality – Your brand’s personality should guide your color choices. Take a bit of time to research the psychology behind certain color choices to help you convey the message you’re after.
- Hinting at the beer inside the can – Picture yourself sitting poolside sipping a beer. Which colors come to mind? What type of beer are you drinking? Use your beer type to guide your color choices. Light, summer beers pair best with colors that reflect the season, such as sky blue, lemon yellow, and bright pink. While ciders may elicit more autumnal colors like deep yellow, orange, and red.
Quick tip: When choosing your color palette, ensure that the text is legible and stands out against the background.
The Fine Print: What Requirements Must Your Label Meet?
There are legally required elements you must include on your beer can labels. According to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (otherwise known as the TTB), labels for malt beverages must include the following information:
- Your brand name – The brand name must be clear and visible on the label per TTB guidelines. You also want this to be the case for brand recognition so that customers can find your beer quickly when they scan the shelves.
- Name and address – This can get a little complex. Beers made in one place and packed in another require both names and addresses on the can. If it’s made and packed in the same place, you only need one location listed.
- Net contents and alcohol content – The net content is how much liquid is in the can while the alcohol content refers to the percentage of alcohol your beer contains. There are specific requirements for spelling out the information that you must follow.
- Health warning label – The surgeon general warning that you’ve seen before is another must. This is typically printed on the back of the can, but you can put it wherever is appropriate based on your design.
- Type of beer – You also need to include the type of beer, such as ale, lager, or stout somewhere on the label.
- Country of origin – The country of origin is only necessary if your beer is imported. Beer brewed and packaged in the United States doesn’t require a country of origin.
- Miscellaneous information – If your beer falls into any other specific category such as lite or low-carb, you should also include this information on your label.
Submitting Your Label for TTB Approval
Once you have a draft of your label complete, you must have it approved by the TTB and obtain a Certificate of Label Approval (COLA). The process is fairly simple and can be completed entirely online.
How to Find the Right Designer for your Can Sleeve Label
If you’re overwhelmed by all of the information you need to include on your shrink sleeve label design, a good partner can help streamline the process. Find a sleeving and co-packing company that prioritizes:
- Customer service
- Speed
- Coast-to-coast service and shipping
- End-to-end capabilities, including sleeving, labeling, co-packing, and sales
Printing the Perfect Can Sleeve Label: Types of Labels
Once you’ve designed your label with an eye-catching design and included the proper requirements, it’s finally time to print your label. However, the decisions don’t stop here. There are several types of can sleeve labels to choose from:
- Pressure-sensitive labels – These labels are applied to cans using pressure, and they don’t require heat, adhesive, or solvent.
- Shrink sleeve labels – Shrink sleeve labels are printed to wrap around the can completely. Using heat, the labels are shrunk so that they’re applied nearly seamlessly to the can.
- Paper labels – This classic type of label uses adhesive to wrap around a bottle or can.
- Film labels – Film labels are made with a type of laminate and offer greater flexibility.
Can Sleeves We Like, and Why
Here at Wildpack, we love a label that’s not like the rest—one that’s bold and sophisticated with can’t-miss-it designs. Here are a few of our favorites (feel free to take some inspiration as you go):
- Shacksbury Cider’s Citrusy Hardball Cider – Cool, calm, and collected, this retro-inspired design brings us back to the days of pick-up baseball games and cold glasses of ice-cold lemonade—except this time it’s a crisp, whisky cider. They hit it out of the park.
- Untitled Art’s CBD Sparkling Water – Eye-catching and cute, this strawberry-pressed label is interesting and serene with its pastel colors and simple design.
- Pure Project Brewing’s Forest of Giants IPA – Looking at this can transports you directly to the densest parts of a misty woodland and perfectly reflects the IPA’s murky concoction of fruity flavors.
Design the Perfect Can Sleeve Label with Wildpack Beverages
Your brand identity tells the world who your brand is. The visual manifestation of your brand personality is the face you show the public. For beverage producers, visual identity comes in the form of shrink sleeve design. You want your can designs to reflect your brand’s personality while catching the attention of potential customers.
At Wildpack Beverage, we take a boring aluminum can and turn it into a work of art. Our low minimum orders and customer-friendly process will ensure that your experience with our team is a positive one. We have many can sizes and finishes to pick from so you’re sure to find something to suit your needs. Contact us today to learn more.
Sources:
American Marketing Association. Dimensions of Brand Personality. https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/63546495/brandpersonality20200606-60251
TTB.gov. Labeling and Formulation Approval. https://www.ttb.gov/beer/labeling-and-formulation TTB.gov. COLAs Online
Customer Page. https://www.ttb.gov/labeling/colas
