What are custom labels?
Custom labels are basically anything other than a blank label. Through a mixture of specifications and a bespoke design, each label will be personalised when printed to suit your preferences and needs. With FastLabels, you’ll have labels which tick every single box when it comes to size, shape, design and finish.
After all, if you want a truly professional look which rivals the biggest brands, then pre-set sizes and templates just won’t be up to the job.
Our printed custom labels come in 4 standard shapes:
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Circle – Perfect for button-style custom labels, or rounded labels on products
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Square – A versatile shape to suit almost any application
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Rectangle – Tall and thin, short and wide, or somewhere in the middle - it’s up to you
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Oval – A rounded label of a different width and height combination.
Need a custom shape or size?
If you need something different, we offer die-cut labels, where they can be custom made to almost any shape you can imagine. Plus, you can choose your own completely unique size, right down to the millimetre. Simply enter the height and width and then we’ll do the rest.
What about finishes?
Once you’ve selected the right shape, you can personalise them further with a range of finishes, including gloss, matt, metallic and more.
How can they be used?
With our personalised labels, there’s really no limit. Not only can you tailor them to your exact requirements with custom sizes, shapes and finishes, but you can also choose from materials such as polypropylene, which is waterproof, UV resistant and perfect on packaging of any type. There’s also paper, which is food-safe for direct contact on food items and also a little more budget-friendly.
Plus, our high resolution Xeikon printers ensure world-class print quality fit for any brand – from budget to luxury - and all for some of the UK’s lowest prices.
To get an instant online price, simply choose from the options above or use our calculator for a quick price where you can also order online.
Creating personalised labels
When it comes to customising your label there are six important factors to consider:
Choosing a shape
We technically offer infinite shapes! There’s square, circle, rectangle and oval, but also custom shapes where we contour the cut around your artwork.
Typically if you already have the design in mind, you’ll know which shape suits it best, but sometimes it just comes down to personal preference. A design with the same width and height, for example, could work equally well as a square or circle label.
How to decide on the size
Usually there’s only one specific size that works best, especially for the likes of product labels where it either fits or it doesn’t!
We always advise getting out a ruler/tape measure to get it right. And as we offer completely custom sizes down to the millimetre, you can be very specific for a perfect fit and more professional result.
If you have more flexibility, it can be helpful to get some paper and cut out the desired size so you can see it in person. You can also just mark it out on a ruler. Alternatively, we have some of the most popular pre-set sizes available on our order calculator if you’d like to choose one of those instead.
The material for your custom labels
Materials can consist of normal and specialist types. If you just want your design printed on a white background, there’s the choice of
paper (cheaper), or polypropylene (liquid resistant and more durable). The best choice there depends on your budget and requirements. For example, you don’t want your label staining if it’s likely to come into contact with liquids.
Specialist label materials include:
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Metallic - a shiny multi-colour metal effect
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Textured paper – Can look more luxurious, hand-made, or even a bit more rustic depending on the design style
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Clear – Printed on transparent material so there’s a see-through background (great for transparent surfaces).
Not sure which one? Grab a
free sample pack first.
Finish (and how it influences colour)
Customising the finish of a label is where your decision starts to influence how your design is perceived. This is because different finishes actually slightly change the colours when printed.
Take traditional gloss and matt. Because gloss is more shiny and reflective, it brightens printed colours. With matt on the other hand, the silky, non-reflective finish makes colours look more subdued.
It’s physics!
Gloss is a very popular and safe choice for most types of palettes, while matt can work well for darker colours. Think of black, for example. This can be shiny and reflective (like a black piece of plastic), or silky and non-reflective (more like black leather). This gives you an idea of how the same colour can come across in different ways depending on your preference and brand style.
The choice plays into brighter tones too. Some customers want their colours to be vibrant, where gloss works best. But matt can also work well if you prefer the result to be slightly more pastel-like.
Which supply format suits your needs?
How you customise your labels for supply can be very important. If you’re just applying them by hand, then you can have labels on rolls or on sheets depending on your preference and methods.
Size plays a role too. Small labels and stickers can work well for sheets because you can fit a lot of them on each A4 sheet. With bigger labels though, you might only get 1-4 per sheet, which makes them more cumbersome to use. Keep this in mind when choosing.
Finally, if you’re using a mechanical label applicator (manual or automatic), the vast majority of these use rolls only. Check out our
labels on rolls for more information about this, including advanced settings to make sure the rolls are set up correctly for the applicator being used.
The design of your label
Finally there’s the all-important design. If you haven’t finalised the design of your sticker or label yet, here are some key points:
- Think about the brand you want to portray and how this may influence fonts, colours and styles
- Ensure that text is large enough to be readable. Keep in mind the difference between a larger size you may see on screen, and the final size of the custom label when printed
- Use high-resolution images and logos for a better print result
- If there are barcodes or QR codes, ensure they are high quality and large enough to be easily scanned
- Keep in mind the surface the labels will be applied on, and how that might influence the overall look of your item or product when paired with the label
- A popular strategy to follow for custom product labels is a more spacious front, with an emphasis on visuals and a small amount of descriptive/selling text, followed by denser information the back with all key information to help the customer decide whether to buy. Instructions and usage tips can help a lot too!
Need more help?
If you decide to choose us to create your custom labels, we have an-house design service at your disposal which you can select during checkout. And with our artwork check guarantee, we’ll manually inspect your artwork before printing and let you know if there are any issues before we start. For anything else, please do
get in touch.