Create a Personalized Wine Label to Remember

By: Sharon Benton

You are going to a wedding, a birthday party, or sponsoring a corporate event, and you are thinking about wine as a gift. Why not take the gift one step further with a personalized wine label?

It’s fun to design your own label for that special occasion. The technical specifications are pretty straight forward—there are two label sizes depending on which wine you get. And it is very important that you the file you send to Northwest Cellars is at least a 300 dpi resolution JPG. That is referred to as a high resolution file. The better the resolution, the more crisp and clear the image will look on your label. You can find detailed technical specifications here.

Beyond the technical, you want your label to have a big emotional impact. Start with the photo, logo, or the image you want to use on your label. This is what people will notice first before reading a single word on the label.  Laura Olsen of Olsen Creative explains, “…the emotional impact of visuals can make or break any thing you can put in writing.”

First, consider the event you are creating a label for – a wedding, birthday, a thank you gift, or a corporate gift. Think about not only how you want the label to look, but also how you want it to “feel”. What message do you want to convey?

For a wedding or an anniversary you may want something elegant or happy and fun, probably with a photo of the happy couple. When choosing a photo, look for one that is in sharp focus without a distracting background. For an anniversary, an old wedding photo can work beautifully. For the font, a script or calligraphic font is a good choice, as it resembles writing from a typical wedding invitation. Consider a font such as :

If you are designing for a corporate event keep corporate colors in mind. The font you use should be similar to the corporate font, or a simple font that does not compete with corporate identity. For example, the fonts used for the wedding labels above would probably not be appropriate for a corporate gift. Of course, there are always exceptions, for example, a company specializing in bridal wear, a florist, or other such industries, you could get away with a fancier font because of the nature of the business.

But simpler fonts would be a better fit for most corporate labels, such as:

If you are using a corporate logo,  consider incorporating the company colors in the label design, such as these labels:

Are you gifting some lucky person with a case of wine for their birthday? Think about the recipient and their personality. Are they fun-loving, adventurous, artistic, serious? What would they really appreciate on their special label – a photo of themselves, their dog, their car?  Vintage photos can be fun, too! Again, match the font to the image you are using and think of the mood you want to create. These fonts are full of personality:

You can see more sample labels for inspiration here. If you are uncertain about designing your own label, Northwest Cellars designers can help make your personalized wine label sing!

For more information, take a look at this page on the Northwest Cellars web site.