Small Labels

I can. That is I can peaches and pears. This year we had cucumbers. After 30 years of gardening I was going to get those cucumbers. I ordered seeds from Johnny’s in Maine. I got 10 seeds for $6.95, and yes they were worth it. Now we have pickles!

Designing a Small Label

Creating a canning label, specifically a small label to go on a caning jar is an art. To get an illustration, a title and ingredients can be a challenge on a 3×2 inch label. Of course we all see the ones in the grocery store that wraps around the entire jar – so that no one gets to see the entire contents. Though usually commercial pickles are fine. Except for the sugar.

Once we found out how much sugar goes into bread & butter pickles, we went dill. Doing the label seems easy enough, right. Well, the illustration needs to be right, readable at a small size. It tells a story, how it grows. It has a vine, a leaf, a flower, and the fruit — a lot to get on a 2×3. Luckily I had the subject to draw from right in the back yard. Then the font. Picked a home made look. Next positioning the text in relation to the illustration.

Simple is hard.

Labels are not always easy. I did a logo once and the client wanted to see a label layout of a 2×2 inch round. The content provided was a enough to write a book. In fact I suggested that a small tag with multiple pages be attached with a rubber tag band.

Fonts Used: Wreath Halftone Medium, ITC Kabel

Created in Adobe Illustrator CC 2018