# Photoshop labels



## candicec003 (Mar 22, 2017)

Does anyone have any experience with making a label with photo shop? I have a basic label i made on Microsoft Word that incorporates my logo and some short descriptions on the front. But its lacking and i want to amp it up if i can, without paying thousands of dollars for branding. I think i read somewhere that someone used photo shop to make their label. Any input?


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## toxikon (Mar 22, 2017)

Hey! I'm a graphic designer and game artist, been using Photoshop for over a decade... Would be happy to help.

If you're looking to do it yourself, Gimp is a free photo editing program similar to Photoshop. Adobe provides a subscription based model for its products, I believe Photoshop is around $20/mo.

One thing you can do to easily make your labels look more professional is use good fonts.

I like sourcing fonts from dafont.com, losttype.com and fontsquirrel.com.

Let me know if you need anything!


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## mx5inpenn (Mar 22, 2017)

It's funny, I use Lightroom, but never liked Photoshop. I use Paint Shop Pro for mine, so similar. I started with my logo and name, created a box for the soap name and another for ingredients, merged the layers, but saved it as a psp file. Now when I need a label for a new type, I can just fill in the boxes and save for that soap. I print it from Word tho. I use a label template and just insert the image.


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## candicec003 (Mar 22, 2017)

mx6inpenn said:


> It's funny, I use Lightroom, but never liked Photoshop. I use Paint Shop Pro for mine, so similar. I started with my logo and name, created a box for the soap name and another for ingredients, merged the layers, but saved it as a psp file. Now when I need a label for a new type, I can just fill in the boxes and save for that soap. I print it from Word tho. I use a label template and just insert the image.



That's kinda what other options i'm looking for is layers and transparency and stuff like that, i feel like it would be alot simpler if i had better tools to do it with. Using Microsoft Word is painful lol



toxikon said:


> Hey! I'm a graphic designer and game artist, been using Photoshop for over a decade... Would be happy to help.
> 
> If you're looking to do it yourself, Gimp is a free photo editing program similar to Photoshop. Adobe provides a subscription based model for its products, I believe Photoshop is around $20/mo.
> 
> ...



So when you say photo editing program, do you mean taking a photo then uploading it then changing it? Im not really looking for that


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## mx5inpenn (Mar 22, 2017)

candicec003 said:


> So when you say photo editing program, do you mean taking a photo then uploading it then changing it? Im not really looking for that



Photoshop, PSP and Gimp are photo editing programs. You can do much more than edit photos of course.


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## toxikon (Mar 22, 2017)

candicec003 said:


> So when you say photo editing program, do you mean taking a photo then uploading it then changing it? Im not really looking for that



They're technically photo editing software but they have tons of different functions. You could design a business card with them or do a landscape painting and everything in between. There is a learning curve if you've never used any similar software before.


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## DanielCoffey (Mar 23, 2017)

There is a £10.10/pm Photoshop CC plus Lightroom CC plan but it is a 12-month subscription (without any Cloud storage). To be honest if all you need is a relatively simple graphics tool, GIMP will do the job well and it is free. There are a fair few tutorials for it too.


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## BrewerGeorge (Mar 23, 2017)

If you don't already know Photoshop, might as well learn the free GIMP.  It will do everything you want it to do.


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## dibbles (Mar 23, 2017)

Royalty Soaps made a tutorial for making labels with GIMP. Not sure if it is what you are looking for, but it might be helpful.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqD-Q24lnSw[/ame]


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## dixiedragon (Mar 23, 2017)

You could try Photoshop Elements. It's a much more stripped down version of photoshop, much cheaper (under $100) and easier to use. If you are editing photos for a billboard or for National Geographic, you probably need full Photoshop. But I think you'll find Photoshop Elements will do what you need. You could skim a copy of Photoshop Elements for Dummies at a bookstore and see if it might work for you.

Another option might be to pay a student to design your label. Check out your local community college (or art school if you have one), see if they have graphic design classes and ask the teacher to recommend a student.


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## LilyJo (Mar 23, 2017)

We use photoshop for all of our labels, logo, pretty much all marketing.

Its a bit of a faff to start with but it does allow you to create lots of advanced graphics.  Its worth looking at.


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## Seawolfe (Mar 23, 2017)

Gimp rawks. I do all my artwork in it and then print from there or export to Office Libre docs.
Think of photo editing software as simply 2D art software - really nothing to do with photos.


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## candicec003 (Mar 23, 2017)

All i really want, is a cigar style soap wrap label. I want to be able to print as many as i can on one page, so maybe 4 or 5. I'm also kind of stuck between whether or not i should do this at home with my own printer, or find an online business to do this for me. Anyone know a cheap online canadian supplier for label printing? Rate now im spending about .20 cents per label doing it myself.


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## BrewerGeorge (Mar 23, 2017)

candicec003 said:


> All i really want, is a cigar style soap wrap label. I want to be able to print as many as i can on one page, so maybe 4 or 5. I'm also kind of stuck between whether or not i should do this at home with my own printer, or find an online business to do this for me. Anyone know a cheap online canadian supplier for label printing? Rate now im spending about .20 cents per label doing it myself.



One thing to consider is that if your home printer is an inkjet, the ink will run if it gets wet.  A laser printer will not.


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## dixiedragon (Mar 23, 2017)

Yes, when my current inkjet dies, I'm going to get a laser printer. They aren't ridiculous - $150 to $200 - and the toner is MUCH cheaper than ink.



candicec003 said:


> All i really want, is a cigar style soap wrap label. I want to be able to print as many as i can on one page, so maybe 4 or 5. I'm also kind of stuck between whether or not i should do this at home with my own printer, or find an online business to do this for me. Anyone know a cheap online canadian supplier for label printing? Rate now im spending about .20 cents per label doing it myself.


 
I think it depends on how many variations you want? For example, if you're label will be exactly the same except for name, and you are going to use a large number (I'd say over 500), then getting them printed elsewhere and running the sheets through your computer printer to add "Vanilla" or "Pink Sugar" or whatever the name is, that could work.


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## toxikon (Mar 23, 2017)

My local Staples does laser colour prints for 40 cents a sheet. I think it'd be reasonable to assume you could fit about 5 cigar band designs per sheet, so it'd work out to about 8 cents per band. I think that's a pretty reasonable route to take, especially if you don't want 500 of the same band.

That's assuming you're okay with basic printer paper. I assume most customers remove the band fairly quickly before using the soap, so I personally wouldn't bother with expensive cardstocks or waterproofing. But others might.


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