Food Label Design? Wha....?

[MonaCK2]

Okay - so I'm a graphic designer.

My experience definitely lies more in the area of Multimedia design, however - presentation work is my speciality, but I also dabble in flash as well as regular Web design.

Which is why I am currently baffled as to how to approach the project that my husband has set forth to me.

You see, my husband is a manufacturer of a national brand of sauces and marinades. He's coming out with a new product line, and wants to bring the design of the label "in house".

In house, literally, means our office here at home.

He doesn't quite understand that even though I'm a graphic designer, it doesn't mean that I know the in and outs of food label design as well.

So where do I begin? How do I find out how to design for what I see as a pretty highly specialized way of designing? Is there some sort of template out there that I can use for at the very least figuring out where the nutrional label goes?

Any insight that anyone can provide would be -very- much appreciated...

[Samakimoto Graphics]

Advice:Commission a graphic designer in the "Classifides" section.
- give an idea of what you expect...

All the best!

[PrintDriver]

Does he have a printer lined up for the label run?
Talking to one of their art production techs wouldn't hurt so you can get the file parameters set up right. Do you have the nutrition info (usually a standard format) and ingredient listing?

Sometimes all you have to do is supply the printer with the label art and the info and they'll lay it into a file. Give them a call. They might be floored someone is actually calling BEFORE the design is done.
:D

[keku]

I know There are some rules when designing labels for food packaging
theres a minimum to the font size you can use and also rules for the barcoding and the space allocated around it along with the background colour if your barcode isnt on a white background.
unfortunatly i dont know what these are of the top of my head but you will need to research this before you do the design. i have some notes on this somewhere but I am in Australia so im not sure if that will help you.

Good Luck with it!

[MonaCK2]

He does have a printer lined up - and going to talk to them is actually a great idea (in fact, after further discussion with my husband, he suggested that I do the same, and will be doing so in a few weeks).

Thanks for all your advice, guys. I really appreciate it :)

[cornfed]

I would think that the FDA has guidelines for you to follow as well. I used to design labels for LouAna Vegetable Oil. I can't remember what the guidelines were, but I do remember following them very strictly. Whatever you do, don't scale the barcode. I did that once, ran 100,000 of them only for the barcode to fail when it hit the stores.

Here's a site that may help you!
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/label.html

[BJMRGTIVR6]

as far as template...I think it depends on the bottle type and size. I have some Nutrition Fact templates at home that I go by based on teh FDA info.

I would also recommend a UV coating to keep the oils from ruining the label too quickly.
as for design, look to see what other sauces, marinades, etc. you will be designing and try to give them a uniform look. And REMEMBER, to wrap a bottle or similar shaped/size bottle if you are wrapping the bottle as the label will be seen in sections.

[prepress_goddess]

this might help you out

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/flg-5-1.html