How to Design & Print the Most Eye-Catching Dietary Supplement Label

Is your supplement product label well-designed? You’ll know it is if you can walk down the aisle of a grocery store and can spot it immediately.

Without a creative and well-designed label, your product can get lost among the hundreds of other supplement brands and products consumers see on their local store’s shelves. Many consumers are not going to spend hours researching products and companies, especially when they’re already at the store. Your product label needs to have the ability to grab your audience’s attention in less than a second.

The most effective supplement labels have a clean look with concise copy and know how to attract their specific target audience’s attention. To have your supplement product stand out among the rest, follow these essential tips.

Check Out the Competition

Go to your local store and look at your competitors. Take note of their packaging and ask yourself:

• What do you like about the design?
• What do you NOT like about the design?
• What is the color of the packaging?
• Where does the label list its benefits and certifications?
• What kind of font are they using?

All of these questions are important in the beginning stages of your label design because they will help you understand common traits among your competitors and help you understand your target audience better. For example, if you’re a protein powder, you may notice that many brands use warmer colors to evoke energy; or, if your product is organic, almost all brands will make sure to have it mentioned on the front of the label somewhere.

Choose the Designer of Your Label

If you know how to use creative software and have an eye for detail, you may have the ability to design the supplement label yourself; however, if you do not have these capabilities, there are still plenty of options.

The best option would be to either hire an independent graphic designer or design company or use an online creative platform, such as 99designs. Though you will have to do some research beforehand to find the best deal, investing in a professional is worth the time and cost for several reasons:

• They have experience in designing labels and packaging for supplements,
• They have an understanding of how to catch a person’s attention, and
• They are familiar with the FDA guidelines to ensure your label is compliant, which leads us to our next point…

Ensure Your Label is FDA Compliant

It cannot be stressed enough that your label design is FDA compliant. Without it, your supplement product cannot be sold in the United States. Some requirements brands miss when designing their label include:

• Label Statements: There are four statements you must include on your label:
  • The supplement name
  • The amount in bottle/jar
  • A list of ingredients
  • The manufacturer, packer, and/or distributor’s name and address
• Supplement Facts: A list of dietary ingredients and their sources. Paragon can provide this to all customers upon request
• Percent Daily Values: The daily reference value found in one serving of a supplement

Carefully Produce Clear & Engaging Messaging

What is special about your dietary supplement? Is it GMO-free? Is it organic? Does it have any claims or certifications that other competitors don’t have?

This is where the copy (or text) on your label comes into play. The label copy communicates to the consumer the benefits, ingredients, and certifications of your supplement. It should not only be readable but also clearly and concisely communicate the highlights of your product. You want to make sure the consumer can quickly see the special qualities of your product from a glance so they can make an informed decision.

Please note that all claims should be factual and abide by the relevant guidelines.

Don’t Forget Your Barcode

Sometimes the most obvious part of any project can be forgotten. If you are considering selling your product through grocery stores, gyms, and other health shops, a barcode will help store clerks scan your product without all the hassle of looking up your product and entering its code. To acquire a barcode for your product, you can follow these instructions.

Decide Who Will Be Printing Your Label

Once you finally have a final label design, it’s time to bring the design to life by getting it printed for your packaging. There are many supplement label printing companies for you to order your labels in bulk. A label printing company will most likely have some specific guidelines that designs must follow before they can be printed including:

• File format (Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign)
• Screen and Printer font files
• All placed files
• A certain amount of bleed
• CMYK versus Pantone colors for color match

By utilizing these best practices, the label design process will be much easier for you, especially as many manufacturers and co-packers have their customers submit label proofs for approval. Paragon does the same for all of our full production runs. Once the label proof is approved, the final product can be packaged. For more information, please feel free to contact us.