Create distinctive packaging
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Table of Contents
Excerpted from “Adobe Creative Suite Idea Kit” by Katrin Straub.
In this tutorial, we will design a wine label for a bottle of merlot. We’ll use Adobe® Illustrator® to do the layout, combining text, graphics, and an image (a photo that you’ll finalize in Adobe® Photoshop®).
Before you begin your design work, it is vital to first study the subject, do some research, consider how the label will look on the shelf, and how it will be printed and fit the bottle. For merlot, a luscious red wine, I’ve chosen a rich color combination of autumn reds and yellows. The overall feel should suggest an elegant wine from an old winery.
Design the basic layout
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Start Illustrator.
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Choose File > New > Document. In the New Document dialog, Select Letter from the Size pop-up menu, click the Landscape Orientation button, and choose CMYK Color Mode. Name the document winelabel.ai and save it into your working directory.
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In the Toolbox select the Rectangle tool and click anywhere within the Artboard. Use the Rectangle dialog box to create a label 250 mm wide and 65 mm high. Drag the rectangle with the Selection tool so it all fits onto the Artboard.
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Create crop marks by choosing Object > Crop Area > Make.
The bounding box that the artwork can be cropped to is called the crop area. Only one crop area can be created per document.
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In the Layers palette rename Layer 1 Crop marks and create a new layer called Background.
It is always a good idea to work on different layers when a layout is made from several different elements.
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On the Background layer use the Rectangle tool to create another rectangle the same size as the first one. Keep the fill black by setting the color to K100.
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Place an image you want to use as the background by choosing File > Place. In the Place dialog box check Include Linked Files.
Tip: Linked artwork stays independent from the Illustrator document and results in a smaller file. Embedded artwork is copied to the document and as a consequence produces a larger file.
The picture is placed to the left and centered between the top and bottom of the label.
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Save your file as winelabel.ai. The photo you just placed may need more work, but it should be perfectly adequate for judging color, size, and composition. In the meantime, you can concentrate on the main elements on the front of the label: the brand name, “Chalet,” and descriptor, “Merlot.”
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Create a new layer and call it Graphics. Make sure the rulers are showing (Command-R/Ctrl-R). Using any tool, start dragging in the ruler along the left-hand side of the document window and drag to the right. This creates a vertical guide. Continue dragging until the guide is centered over the placed image.
The diagonal lines on the photo intersect at the label’s center point.
