We recently unveiled our Anderson Valley label, Path Stone, as well as our CBC label in this post here on the blog. Below is the work-up for the Path Stone brand from start to finish. The final label image was the culmination of many revisions and iterations around our initial mock-up design. Going from idea stage to final printed product was quite a process with both of us learning a great deal along the way. Below I go into some detail about how things unfolded and the decisions we made along the way. First though, here is a quick review of some of the label attributes we had laid out at the very beginning when we conceptualized our Anderson Valley brand. I'll dig into the marketing and branding side of things for Path Stone in a separate post.
Label Requirements
- Clean/classic look with balance and symmetry in the design elements
- Black and red color scheme for the text
- Silver foil embossing on the stones
- High quality paper stock, either off white or bright white
- When viewed head-on, the label should cover the entire width of the bottle exactly
- Smart use of white space
- Spare no expense in packaging
The First Mock-Up
This image was created in about 2 minutes with the basic Paint program found on all Windows based computers. The initial color was red, then gold, then we went to silver since path stones are a lot more silver/grey in color than either red, or gold.
Graphic Artist Mock-Ups
The mock design was handed off to our designer at Crushpad who would work on getting us to a final design. Here are some of the initial concepts he came up with as we began to really narrow down what worked and what did not. The basic design scheme was already there so it was a matter of presenting the stones effectively and pulling the overall label together with spacing, typography, and other considerations.
Refining and Revising
At this point the design was probably about 85% complete, not counting the back label. Decisions regarding the fonts to be used and the color scheme were finalized. For the main brand name, we went with a font called Aviano and decided on Garamond for the varietal, vintage, vineyard, and AVA information. While using two different serif style fonts together is not typically a good idea, this combo seemed to work well and so we went with it. Maybe we will change this for our 2008 label run, keeping everything in Aviano. The decision to include the small line elements surrounding the vintage was finalized as well. Overall, we felt it gave a little lift to the look and feel of all the element blocks. We went through a few different color schemes at this point too, ultimately deciding on the red instead of silver for both the varietal and vintage blocks. Spacing was something we were very attentive to and keeping all the elements more or less equally spaced seemed to work best. Visually, things were really starting to come together. At this point we printed up a number of labels on our home color printer and began glue sticking them to empty bottles. This was a good thing because it meant we got to drink a lot of wine in the process.
Front Finished--But Where to Put Alc. by Volume?
Such a small part of the label, yet, attention to detail dictated that we get things exactly perfect with regards to where the required alcohol content line was going to go. We had also put the number of cases produced on the front, but in the end, everything was placed on the back label, which kept the front label super clean and balanced. Below is the final front label that would be sent to the printers along with a detail look at the stones. You will notice that there is more white space at the edges in this final version. This is because we decided to go with a wider than normal--well, wider than what was offered--label that would size to the edges of the bottle we selected when viewed head on, rather than show a small amount of the glass. This is a small detail but makes a huge difference in the final presentation. We did have to incur a small charge for the custom die to cut the label to the size we wanted, but in the end it was completely worth the $200 or so bucks.
Back Label Content
We wanted to put as much effort into the back label as we did the front to ensure a complete design that was up to our standards. We opted to provide the technical details of our wine rather than come up with flowery romance copy. We think our target market will appreciate this information and we like how it looks. We also decided to re-create the front label content in miniature as a header block on the back--sans the embossed stones. Putting this information there also allowed us to move the Alc. by Vol. line onto the back. The TTB doesn't care where you put alcohol content, as long as the companion information--varietal, vineyard, AVA, year, brand, etc. can be seen next to it. To balance things off we added the "Product of USA" line along with the required "Contains Sulfites" disclosure to the footer beneath the required "Government Warning" text block.
Producer Information and Logo
Producer information is a required element on every wine label. We decided to put our website address along with our bridge logo on the back along with this information as a way of further associating Covered Bridge Cellars with our Path Stone brand. The bridge logo matches the red ink color, and in keeping with our endorsed branding approach, will be consistently found in the same spot on all future brand labels--as well as our corks.
Choosing Paper Stock
While there are tons of different types of paper one could choose, we had a few choices in which to work with. Crushpad provides a basic high quality laid and plain paper along with a felt option, but we needed something that would work with the embossed stones. We looked at a heavy stock "Classic Laid" paper in both bright white and off-white colors, but we're told that there were better alternatives given our embossing needs. A sample of Classic Crest was sent to us and we really liked what we saw and felt--it simply worked. The bright white made all the elements pop and had a cleaner look than the other options we looked at.
Embossing Decisions
We had gone back and forth on trying to decide exactly how we wanted to emboss the stones. In our minds eye, we both knew what we wanted the finished product to look like, however, trying to convey that vision to someone else is not always easy. There are lot's of embossing techniques, but basically we were trying to decide between a standard embossing, which would raise the stones in one plane, giving them a flat one dimensional look, versus a sculptured emboss, which provides shape, form, and texture to the element. The latter involves an artists hand carving the stones in the die, providing surface relief that will be present on the finished label element. Despite the added expense, we opted to have the stones sculptured embossed, in the end we felt it was worth it given the positioning of this brand as a high-end offering and the realistic look we wanted for the stones. To help the artist, we put together an "inspiration" document with photos of real stones and examples of other sculptured embossed wine labels. We also had a choice of 4-5 different foil types we could have used, each with a different level of shine and reflectivity. We let our designers choose this element of the label, our only guidance was that we wanted something that was not too dull, but also not too shiny. : ) We also had the Path Stone name embossed on the front and back, which gives it a raised feel and is a nice touch to the label design.
The Final Printed Labels
Below is are a few photos of our Path Stone label. There were several extras from the original roll that never made it onto bottles that Crushpad sent out to us. Overall, we couldn't be more happy with the outcome, the labels look clean and encompass our vision for what we wanted to present to our customers. The changes in humidity has curled the paper and backing a bit, but hopefully the pictures give you a sense of how things turned out. Soon we will have some bottle shots of the entire product presentation. Our capsule color choice was black.
Thanks to the Crushpad Graphic Design Team!
Definitely need to give a shout out to the Crushpad folks for helping us get these labels finished! The team over there pumps out more labels than you could imagine--hundreds upon hundreds--and their attention to detail and helpfulness does not go unnoticed! To our original designer KC--if you're reading thanks a lot for all your help, you are a patient man!! : ) And to Megan, who also helped us out a lot, a big thank you to you too if you happen to see this. So Young thanks for getting everything finalized there at the end, we look forward to working with you in the future. Finally, thanks to Sharon and Jenny, you guys are awesome!
Jeremy & Casey
