We Design Labels for Luxury Brands
How many times have you seen the logo and brand label design for Coca-Cola change over the years? Brands’ labels change the way they do to either remain relevant in the current year or to evolve further and break new stylistic sensibilities. Of course, current day fashion and public taste dictate many of the changes you witness from time-to-time, but another reason why brands may want to bring about changes in their brand labels is to demonstrate the evolution of the brand itself. If you believe it may be time for your brand or flagship products to evolve in the same vein, here are a few excellent sources of inspiration for you.
Cadbury Dairy Milk
While everything else about Dairy Milk’s brand label has changed, one thing has remained fairly consistent: that classic purple cover with touches of occasional gold thrown in for good measure. One noticeable thing about Dairy Milk’s label transformation is how technology has allowed Cadbury to insert an image of actual chocolate and milk instead of a simple red caricature resembling a milk vessel. The modern-day Dairy Milk label appears sleeker, glossier and is more willing to draw emphasis on the name of the product: Dairy Milk. On the other hand, the classic Dairy Milk intends to draw more focus on the brand name ‘Cadbury’s’, with vintage fonts, and floral elements are thrown in on the sidelines. In any case, the classic label design was no slouch, Dairy Milk Cadbury’s most successful product by 1914 (in just 9 years after its introduction) while the newer design they introduced has successfully managed to ensure Dairy Milk always retains its freshness even among today’s radically different consumer demographics, with a steady growth rate of 9% even amidst the financial crisis of 2008.
Nike
With Nike, you know you’re always going to see the classic ‘tick mark’. But, something has changed. In 1971, Nike didn’t quite ‘own’ the tick like it does today, and hence it needed to overwrite the name of the brand on top of the ‘tick mark’. Nowadays, the ‘tick mark’ symbol is automatically associated with Nike because of brand recognition, so Nike often excludes the name of the company on its branding. What did Nike do to earn this brand recognition? Nike simply removed its name and let its brand logo do all the talking. To summarize the evolution of their brand label alongside our evolving tastes, we’d use one word – minimalism. Such a move speaks of confidence in their brand and simplifies the entire process of designing labels, too. Nike’s decision to drop its name appears to be a rewarding decision, as its global sales have been on an upward incline. From 1.21 billion USD in 2005 to 2.21 billion USD in 2012 and 4.24 billion USD in 2017. Their label makers, among other teams at their disposal, must be doing something right.
Lipton Tea
Lipton’s 1900 label design is nothing like it’s 2010’s design; it’s quite comfortably the most radical label design transformation we’ve witnessed. Lipton’s 1900 label seems messy, chaotic, and quite indicative of its times. You would read such lines as “By special appointment”, “latest sale in the world”, “appreciated for their delicious flavour everywhere”, and “direct from the gardens” sprinkled all across their label design, while at the centre sits a black and white image of an actual tea garden. Fast-forward to 2010’s and we see none of that. We simply see a cup of good old Lipton tea with a yellow background, with a few tea leaves sprinkled around – the brand doesn’t need to do more at this stage, the name speaks for itself. This label is an endorsement of the renowned mantra of “less is more” and many, many a brand has stayed true to that mantra. But, these wonderful results notwithstanding, not as many companies in 1996 would’ve understood the need to relaunch the same products with brand new packaging – which amounted for a significant chunk of its $52 million as advertisement expenses. In 2017, Lipton was sitting pretty as one of UK’s leading products, it seems like money well spent.
Are you also considering revamping your brand to modernize it? That’s an excellent way to keep your brand relevant and modern in appearance. Here are some examples of things you can focus on while you’re at it.
- Your renewed vision for your brand
- The prevailing trends as far as design and aesthetics are concerned
- The message you’ll be sending across with the revisions you’re planning to make
- The history and evolution of some of the other brands that have successfully redesigned their look and the impact they’ve had upon doing so
- The company that will be tasked with helping you redesigning the look of your brand and its credentials
Conceptualizing a brand new label design is one thing, designing one is another matter altogether. Matters get even more interesting when a brand must tailor its branding (in the form of their labelling and logo design) to keep up with the times and its prevailing competition. It’s essential to seek a label designer who can do justice to your scheme and recreate what you have in mind. Our in-house label designers have extensive experience in the art of designing a wide variety of labels and we will be happy to address any questions that you might have.
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