Personal bottle labels-Advice on software/programs

my sister is going to do some for me. i asked her what she would be using and she said adobe illustrator. its
probably a program that you. need some time to get good with. but you better do it now, there wont be much time once that baby comes.

 

I use Illustrator and really enjoy the results. Maybe you can get an older version for less money. Mine is at least 7 years old and still works great for making labels.

 

You can give GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) a try. It's apparently pretty comparable to Photoshop.

I know it isn't a "pick it up and go" piece of software, but there are tons of tutorials for any kind of effect you can think of.

http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/10-excellent-open-source-and-free-alternatives-to-photoshop/

 

hey.... I'm new to this whole forum, but have been researching label design and looking for opportunities to get my foot in the door of beer/wine label design. I've been doing graphic design for 20 years (mostly music/CD/LP packaging for AC/DC, Hendrix etc.) and really appreciate a clever/well designed label. Innovative packaging and unique design can do a lot to draw attention to your brew and having someone who knows the programs and design principles will generally give you a much more professional looking end product.

I would think there are a lot of designers out there in this less than amazing economy looking for similar opportunities and would be willing to "work for beer"... (or perhaps a modest fee)...

I do notice a few folks here in the forums that seem to feel that cool label art somehow takes away from the integrity of a well made brew.... I know it's what's IN the bottle that really counts, but what's ON the bottle can really make a difference!

 

A great site for artwork is http://www.wikipaintings.org/ Most are in the public domain and they make some very unique labels. I've used a few so far: my homebrewery's tag and a beer that's in the fermentor.



I don't label bottles... these will go on tap handles or I laminate them to make keg tags.

 

Im in the same boat right now, check this link and see what you think -

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...4IHACg&usg=AFQjCNFB-QmoI-stcjFCbPL3tvFYIW-xzQ

 

I am looking into using this one
http://www.corel.com/corel/product/index.jsp?pid=prod4900069&cid=catalog20038&segid=8100006

Just watched some stuff on it and it seems like it would be great for making labels. I am going to download the free trial version soon and tink with it to make a couple labels for a few brews that are fermenting right now.

 

Unless you have the equipment to cut out odd shapes, or buy precut labels, be careful of anything not square!

 

If you can make your own label in photo shop, you can use it on grog tag.

My wife made some tags on there for a couple of cases of bottles for my brothers wedding. It was an absolute HIT at the wedding. I had people digging empty bottles of out of the trash from the bartenders to keep them for the wedding.

Water proof, and reuseable. The price wasn't that great, but I didn't have a whole lot of choices out there. But as far as quality, they were all printed nicely, held up from being iced in an ice cooler, and they also sent a page of extras too as an FYI. Came with necker labels too, which was nice.

 

get labels from Austinhomebrew and hand draw, sign number, and draw them only go to software if you are repeating batches and recipes and in that case use illustration or ipaint

 

IMO, the best way to make the labels (per price and ease of use) are rectangular labels printed on a laser printer or brought to Staples / Kinkos / etc. Color copies are pretty cheap and 2-8 labels can be put on each page (depending on how big you want the prints, how big your bottle / tap handle is)

Use a cutter to cut out the labels, something like this: http://amzn.com/B0038F1A0S (my wife does Scrapbooking, so we have this sort of supplies).

Affix labels to bottles with glue stick (my preference) or milk.

GIMP isn't that hard to use once you learn a few of the basics. There are lots of tricks to make for cooler labels. I'm hardly an artist, but I think my recent few labels are pretty awesome. (With "stolen" public domain artwork). Here's one I did tonight for my Flanders I just brewed (it'll be a while, but I put these labels on the carboys too).