Product label Design

been a couple of weeks since my last post, so I thought I would share what I’ve been up to at work.

My job at Design-a-Cake couldn’t be more varied as a graphic designer, a few weeks ago I designed an email template for use in newsletters, after that I designed the ebay store we use as one of our trading platforms, last week, I did designs for a new product that Design-a-cake will be selling, it’s an own branded product, which is a concept that the company is used to, having many available in the shop or via the web, but something that I am pretty new to (in terms of design), product, to me has always been this “thing” that other people do, I know how it works, I know how a product comes into reality, I just never thought that I would be part of the process!

The product in question here is a “modelling paste”, I know very little about the cake decorating world, I’m trying my best to learn, and actually, its pretty surprising how much some of the processes, tools and even materials are directly linked to my wargaming hobby, so I’m learning all the time about things, and at the beginning of this project I had no idea what a modelling paste was, now, I have a slightly better understanding!

Basically put, for those of you who like me, have no clue about such things. When designing cakes, there are various types of Sugarpaste, most people think of this as Icing sugar, and typically think of the white stuff that covers a Christmas cake.
That’s sugar paste, and that type of sugar paste is very soft. perfect for covering a cake with.

If you wanted to make something to stick on the top of your cake, you wouldn’t want to use this type of paste, as it’s so soft, the model would fall apart, so, you may decide to use Modelling paste, which is much harder, meaning you can make things out of it that can sit on top of your take (like flowers, or a car, or well, anything that takes your fancy).

Design-a-cake decided they would make their own range of modeling pastes, and I have been tasked to design the product packaging. I have been looking at custom boxes design and some of the designs have really inspired me. I just want to make the packaging look nice so that people buy the product. Designing and manufacting the packaging of a product is a very important aspect of product branding and companies similar to Epic Packaging (https://www.epicpackaging.co/) can help with the manufacturing process.

We discussed things through with our manufacturer, once the amount of the paste per “unit” was decided (50g), and decided upon a clear jar to hold the product, this jar is made from plastic, and will have a white, flat top lid on it, which will be sealed with clear sealing tabs. I wanted to make sure that afterward, the cake is in perfect condition to transport, I do not want it to arrive smushed and damaged! Luckily companies such as Pro-Tect Plastics are able to provide different types of shrink wrap for products and foods, it seems like a safe bet as well as using the jar!

We wanted the paste to be visible through the jar, to show the customer the product without the need to open the packaging, which can sometimes be a problem with some of the products available in this industry, where the product is purchased, and used, based upon how it looks. yet to purchase it, it comes in a bland, sealed cardboard box. Which can sometimes cause the customer (and the retailer!) a massive headache, as its trail and error, or even plain guesswork, to get the product you’re after.

This is why we decided on a clear pot, as it gives the customer (also the user in most cases), a clear view of exactly what they are buying, before they buy it. It also gives them a resealable pot, if there is some of the product left at the end of the project. also, an issue with some products in the industry.

This clear design poses a problem from a design point of view, as how much can I cover? we need the packaging to be bold, so that the customer knows what it is, we also want them to know that it’s a Design-a-cake product, as its a food product, we also have to put on a list of the ingredients in the product.
From that I took those three elements and came up with a solution. Three labels.

1) Front label, the smallest label, tells the customer what the product is (modelling paste), and the shade contained in this particular pot.

Front Label

2) Top label, this was my favourite label to design, mainly because I’ve never done a circular sticker before! and I was really pleased with how it turned out, This is a circular sticker that is placed on the top of the pot, this reinforces the branding on the pot, yet is very simple in its design.

lid_label

3) rear label, Slightly larger than the front label, as it has far more info to put on it, this label has all of the ingredients on it, and goes on the back of the pot. here it is:

rear_label

with only two of these labels covering part of the clear area of the pot, I’ve managed to squeeze on all of the elements I needed to incorporate into my design, while at the same time leaving enough room to be able to see the product in the pot.
I’ve also been able to make best use of the branding for the company on as many of the surfaces as I can, with the Logo, and web address being shown on all three labels, without overcrowding the overall design. Once I knew the design was perfect, it was time to find a Label Printing service that could bring these designs to life.

YouTube is a powerful platform that offers innovative ways to market your cake factory by featuring your cakes in all their glory. By using recipe videos, specialty cake demos, testimonials, behind-the-scenes footage, and live demos, you can engage your audience and bring awareness to your brand while satisfying their cake cravings. To gain more viewers on your youtube videos there are some options like themarketingheaven.com this will help you to increase your viewer count and in that way the video will be recomended to more potential customers.

I’m really pleased with how they turned out, and am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the fist batch to see how they look! (I have to say, its going to be weird photographing a product that I’ve had a hand in designing!)

Hope you’ve enjoyed the post.

Chris