DIRECT marketing THROUGH
product LABELS
Part of a branding Package, product Presentation, when it comes to wholesale and retail, is, after all, one of the main reasons why a customer comes to a Graphic Artist for applicable solutions.
If products are not appealing, don’t stand out from the client’s competition, don’t cater to the specific demographic our customer wants to attack with his whole marketing campaign, no matter how much money a company throws at making sure they produce the best product in their market niche, sales will not improve, production will not grow with them, and of course, there won’t be any increase in profit.
Labels don’t have to be “pretty”, they don’t have to necessarily follow the latest design trend either. Novice designers tend to make the mistake, that when designing a product label/presentation, they design mostly for themselves. Designers are creatures of EGO. It’s dangerous to design in a certain way because it’s what everyone else is doing. We could fail to comply with one of the basic principles when we are providing our professional services to a Client: To DESIGN an element that will become part of the Brand Book/Identity Guidelines. A primary representation of their company, through the products they sell. And that such presentation meets all the requirements it needs to successfully increase placement and sales.
And that’s just it! It can’t be about a TREND. Although, I do understand, that everything has to evolve. CHANGE is always necessary, and adapting to the latest developments in any field, is a good practice, with an exemption: As long as it doesn’t contradict what a Brand/Company stands for, it’s target demographic’s expectations or just the style and general perception that could have been established through decades of product and/or BRAND PLACEMENT. THAT is extremely valuable, and changing things just for the sake of being in vogue, is completely failing our Client’s expectations, and could end up messing with the marketplace they have taken years or even decades to accomplish.
And that even applies to NEW Brands and their products.
LEARN about your Client’s business.
About their market segment, about their competition, etc. We have to LISTEN, we have to TAKE DOWN notes for Project Requirements, and then, and only then, do we look at Design Trends, and figure out how to best fit our customer’s products within the current market niche they wish to join and preferably dominate.
That could lead to product looks that don’t necessarily appeal to everybody. That might even be considered out of fashion, ugly, in bad taste.
Passion is a big part of the Creative Process, but we have to distance feelings from our work. That’s also why so many novice designers take it personally when a customer says to them, in so many words: “I don’t like it!”.
Of course, lacking a way to explain in more specific and technical terms, the reason for their dislike, it just comes out as a hostile remark. But it’s just an intuitive reaction, they feel that the result that was provided, will not accomplish the function for which it was created. They know best what they want their Brand to say, how it should be represented, and what their customers want (or so they think). But if a designer has taken the time to talk and most of all LISTEN to his Client, and then come back with a solution, which is accompanied by a rational explanation founded on what we as, first and foremost, CONSULTANTS, suggest is the best way to accomplish our customer’s needs and expectations, it will most certainly get a much warmer welcome when our customers get their first look at the results.
It’s a given, that the arrow won’t always hit the mark dead center.
There will probably be revisions and even significant changes. And we could always run into an impossible client, who really has no idea of what he/she wants and will blame you for it. But most of the time, if we follow a proven and well-established path of production, making sure to get approvals for every stage, the final result will most probably not only be satisfactory, or even great for our customers, but also something to be proud of and maybe even “pretty” enough for our Portfolio hehe.
This will also, most certainly result, in Customer Loyalty.
It’s truly satisfying when a Client comes back to us for more work, telling us straight of the bat, that their product has been flying off the rack since they started using the work you delivered to them for use on their products!
*Oh, and BTW, a side note on this Gallery: This is also a showcase of my 3D modeling and rendering abilities <wink>.
P.S. If you ever wonder HOW MUCH you can charge for a FREELANCE project like this, make sure you check out my “Project Budget Calculator“, it might give you at least, a reference as to how to best calculate the value of your work.
