# Label Critique Please



## boonedesigns (Apr 24, 2014)

Here is a concept for a wine label I had the pleasure to design & illustrate. I would appreciate feed back from wine makers & connoisseurs.


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## Sp33dymonk3y (Apr 24, 2014)

It is great! Do you sell wine labeles? I found a website I like which my profile picture is the ones I'm going to order when it's time, but I've never use the site before and the price is pretty high 


Sent from my iPhone using Wine Making


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## wineforfun (Apr 24, 2014)

While I am not a big fan of those colors, it is very nice and clean. Looks very much like a wine label.
Is there a significance to the E in fence being designed that way?


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## bkisel (Apr 24, 2014)

I like the way you used a section of broken fence to depict the "E". The label has a calm pastoral feel/look which I like very much. I question where/how you have the varietal written, if it were say "Washington Melrot" instead of "Red" would it be written over the two little patches of grass or would the patches be spread in order to always border the varietal?


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## Runningwolf (Apr 24, 2014)

First off I love what you got going there and how you did the E thing in the word fence and followed through with it on the fence.
Two things;

Where is the wine variety? Wines are red or white but a name and variety would be good..

The second part is, I was loving and hating the label at the same time and couldn't figure out why. I got it. It's the brown bushes or grass on the bottom. I would change it to green with some color like in the pasture. It will make the fence pop out more also.


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## peaches9324 (Apr 24, 2014)

boonedesigns said:


> Here is a concept for a wine label I had the pleasure to design & illustrate. I would appreciate feed back from wine makers & connoisseurs.


 I would change the color and texture of the wood to give it a three dimensional look- stressed black wood adding some white and grey and black, a darker green in the fore front grass and change the color of the lettering to stressed black wood like the fence and as bkisel has mentioned the varietal is very important. just my opinion Hope this inspires you! keep us posted please


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## Kraffty (Apr 24, 2014)

Sounds like some pretty fair critique in general, I'd add that I think the type at the top is out of balance with the rest of the label, too small, too jammed up against the top.
The illustration has a retro 1950's children's book kind of look to it, feels comfortable.
Nice, Mike


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## boonedesigns (Apr 25, 2014)

Thank you for the messages. Of coarse I agree with some and and disagree with others. Just like art it's a personal opinion of choice some like certain colors, font, style and other don't. I have been a designer for 15 years I enjoy hearing differences of opinion. I really was going for something different that is why I combined the vector graphics of the fence & the hand painted acrylic painting of the landscape.

To answer some of your questions. I will probably miss a few (sorry).

1. Yes, I design labels, packaging, along with logos, brochures ect. But I don't make (print) them. Although I do have a few sources I am eager to try. Blue Label Printing & yourlabelsnow.com. 

2. The E in the logo represents a broken fence. It would be used as a logo for brochures, business cards, signs ect. Branding the Vineyard Image. 

3. Red was just a name I came up with because I needed something for the mock up. It will be changed to what ever the client want to name their wine flavor. It could be anything. 

4. the fence and grass were created as a silhouette. My idea for a big budget winery would be to change the painting in the background for each flavor of wine. It could go funky like a checkered abstract colorful painting, ect, ect. But the silhouette would stay the same. This is to marry the vineyard brand but differentiate the different flavors of wine. 

Thank you for your comments I will give each of them some thought. We are still in the concept phase of the project. 

I also included a black version. I am in between black or the brown. The brown feels warmer & more ohio country (where the vineyard is located) But maybe the black is better. I need to take another look


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## ibglowin (Apr 25, 2014)

I like the label very much overall. I would double (or triple) the typeset up top. Way too small to read much less catch anyones attention.


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## WI_Wino (Apr 25, 2014)

Are you expecting to sell label designs to a winery? If so you'll need to worry about where to put the required governmental warnings and more. Surprisingly the government has a bunch of requirements around alcohol labels. 

http://www.ttb.gov/wine/wine-labeling.shtml


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## GreginND (Apr 25, 2014)

I'm of the camp that dislikes that dark brown. Maybe a more wood-toned brown would be better? Regardless, I think the color you choose for the fence should be one that will 1) not seem too gloomy, and 2) not clash with a variety of colors if you will be swapping out the background. If you are going with a silhouette look, perhaps black would be better with some lighter brown highlights?

I LOVE the broken E. I'm not a fan of the star in the location. Does it have a significance? I think it just distracts the eye away from the name. I would use just a round dot and maybe not as bold.

I definitely like the concept.


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## bkisel (Apr 25, 2014)

There you have it , design by comity. Good luck!


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## Wiz (Apr 25, 2014)

How can anyone criticize anyone's labor of love? If it looks good to you that is all that counts.


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## Runningwolf (Apr 25, 2014)

Wiz said:


> How can anyone criticize anyone's labor of love? If it looks good to you that is all that counts.



Wiz, he asked us for our opinions. He is making the label for someone else, not for himself.


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## boonedesigns (Apr 28, 2014)

I realize that there will be additional text. I only put text on 1/3 of the label. That leaves 2/3 space for any government warnings. If a box of color is needed it can be added. 

Good call on the logo size. I will be increasing it to about 2.5 inches. It can't be bigger then the viewable area. Although I don't think it's the most importing thing. If you take a look at some wine out there you have to search for the name. Some people buy wine like myself for the "cover of the book" Actually the cheaper wines sell this way. They allow themselves to get a little funky and don't always follow the rules. I think it is most important to take a look at the wine shelves and see what is going to stand out. What will be different, what will catch a person eye. My favorite all time design is tentacle from www.eightarmscellars.com. If the bottle wasn't $100 I would buy it just display on in a wine rack. I think the design has to spark interest. I bought 2 bottles of wine the other day because they had horses on them. I needed something new to taste, I might as well buy a bottle with a beautiful piece of art on my favorite subject. 
Here is an excellent article I found while i was doing my research. 
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/20...our-eyes-how-wine-labels-trick-us-into-buying

Someone make a comment about the star. I actually love the star. Bullet points are nice but they are commonly used and over used. I took at look at changing it to a simple line but I do like the star. It give is a more American Look. This vineyard is in the heart of USA. In this area they are very patriotic. While shopping for wine this I saw that Mad Housewife wine also uses a Star on the bottle. I thought it looked great. So it's going to stay unless the client wants to change it. 

I just got comments back from the vineyard. They LOVED IT but wanted to change the fence to break at the bottom. That was the only change. I will suggest a few other changes and wait for them to tell me what government warning need added. Thank you for your critiques. I think some were fair. The ones I don't agree with is nothing new, it's every day in the life of a designer. I don't always agree with every change I get but I have to do them anyway, I work for the client not for my portfolio. I came across this article the other day and thought it was a good read. It's very true. http://www.buckeyeinteractive.com/2013/03/how-clients-can-ruin-good-design/


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