Mark Golden on Paint

Writing a label is a bit like writing Haiku; there are strict standards and requirements with very little space. The best label will have all the essential information and provide it in legible format in the appropriate language.

Unfortunately, because of the various requirements in different countries as well as in different States we are left with a label strategy that suggests we are better off with less information on the label. In Canada and in France there are ‘label police’ with the potential of fines, if the languages are not of complete equivalence. So we deliberate and obsess endlessly about what to include and what to leave off. These debates can go on for months.

For what benefit I’m not sure… So we start off each new search for the perfect new label with what we think are the most important values for our customers. I always start with the color swatch on our labels. We began this effort to assist customers in knowing exactly what to expect inside. About 10 years later we added the black bars to the label to give customers a better idea of the transparency or opacity of each color. Although it is quite often that customers open the jars or tubes to see the color inside, (which is particularly silly in acrylic because to see the color, you really need to see the dried swatch).

Besides the name of the color, I think the most important information includes the products lightfastness, the pigment, the binder (in our case acrylic), and the information on the safe use of the material. Our safe use directions are unique in the industry. It took months of writing, working with toxicologists and health advocates to craft what we believe is the most accurate information about these materials. But as we go forward we are going to have to lose a good deal of this information as it is just not possible to include it in a way that is legible and responsible on some of the smaller labels. So we will continue to obsess about these labels as we go forward.

My question is… do you actually read the label? Should we just get over ourselves and stop driving everyone crazy? Is it just enough to have the name of the product on the label and that’s where most of you stop reading???

A golden label
Words weigh in different lay
Nay, colors don’t lie