There's never a bad time to consider brand or design improvements, but the new year certainly marks a great opportunity.
In this blog post, we'll be going over our top tips for strengthening and enhancing your brand through a variety of different ways, and looking at how you can incorporate 2018 design trends ahead of the competition.
1. Grab attention with Gradients
Instagram made headlines with its notable brand refresh in 2017, introducing a distinctive gradient design across multiple colours, in stark contrast to the flat design trend of recent years. This bold decision acts as a backdrop to its new logo and accompanying identity, with the change both setting themselves apart from the competition and generating a wave of publicity in the process.
Bright colours and gradients produced using inks can be an effective way to help labels stand out to consumers, and our Digital Label Press is perfectly suited to achieving these colours with its ability to print in an extended colour gamut. Gradient screens can also be achieved for long run production with our flexographic label printing process, which uses a combination of printing plates to achieve the desired result.
The use of colour isn't just limited to inks either - there are a wide variety of material options which can also bring colour to a design, in an often more price-conscious way. This includes bright fluorescent papers which act as the perfect contrast against black print using our Hot Foil process, or even a standard colour wash to go that step above standard white backgrounds.
Want to try incorporating more colour, but not sure how? Our design studio can recommend potential changes so that you can easily find a way to enhance your labels - just get in touch!
2. Show Individuality with Illustrations
The rise of websites providing high quality (and free) stock photography means that it can often be more difficult to stand out amongst competitors, not just on websites and social media, but also with product design and packaging. Many brands, particularly those selling premium or locally based products, are now looking to illustrations as a way of setting themselves apart.
This can even be extended to using subtle variations of designs with the same product, helping to create a more unique and premium feel for potential buyers. Our digital print press unlocks these results, with its high quality output well suited to intricate and detailed designs, in addition to being able to print unlimited varieties in smaller quantities due to print plates not being necessary.
You can even go one step further and couple high quality printed illustrations with premium materials and finishes. Talk to our team to find out more about what options we have available, and our recommendations for provided artwork.
3. Shine-Out with Metallic Elements
Emphasise quality with metallic elements on your labels, either highlighting a branding element such as your logo, or a key feature such as a quality mark or 'Made in' badge. There are three main ways in which you could incorporate this feature; either through a metallic print using our Hot Foil press, the use of standard printing onto metallic material, or high quality digital printing on metallic material in a full range of colours.
One of the easiest ways to add metallic elements to a label is through directly printing in metallic foil on out Hot Foil Press. If you want simple, larger, elements to have this metallic finish, then this is a great option. Alternatively, using a metallic material such as Metalon can help your labels to stand out, with details printed in hot foil on top in standard colour options.
More complex and refined metallic designs can be printed digitally. By applying ink directly to the material it is possible for a full range of colours to appear metallic, rather than just gold and silver with hot foil. You can also combine metallic and non metallic elements in a single label to create highly detailed designs. Customers who have received deliveries from us over Christmas and the New Year may have seen some of our decorative labels on our packaging, which showcase many of the available options when digitally printing metallic labels. Contact a member of team to find out more about what we can offer.