Label Update and Design Costs
NOTE: We’re still giving away free tee shirts and free Pinot over here.
A Big thank you to everyone that voted on our labels. 79 of you voted, which is just tremendous!
You spoke and we’re listening, so I got together with our graphic designer Chris and told him that we’re going to be using label 21 as a base going forward.
A couple people mentioned that having the vintage date too close to the Capozzi logo detracted from the brand so we’ve eliminated that. We were split internally about which logo to go with, the original one designed by The Calligraphy Lady or the slimmed down version Chris created. While it wasn’t a slam dunk, we’ll be going with the new slimmed down version. We’ll also be using the darker mesh gradient from label 32 as was suggested by a couple of you.
I’m hoping to post a vlog of Chris doing the design work that shows the development process and us putting the finishing touches on the label. But first he has to agree to let me film him 
.
Label Costs
By the way, for those of you interested in getting a label done for your wine, let me share some facts and figures with you:
- CF Napa charges around
$50,000$25,000 for a complete identity development package.UPDATE: After talking with David Schuemann, the owner of CF Napa, I was alerted that the number stated above is high for most clients. In fact, their services are often less than half of what was quoted above. If you want a highly original design from the best in the business, this is money well spent.
They are good, of that there is no doubt – if you have the cash.
- Mid level designers and consultants will do an identity design for around $15,000. A little better. If you have no idea what you want in a label and you need someone to brainstorm for you, this is probably the way to go.
- Our label, which you all helped us choose, will end up costing under $2000.
How? I knew what I wanted going in. I knew how I wanted the label to look, what my market niche was and how I wanted to position my brand. This is the heavy lifting that CF Napa does for you at an extravagant cost. It is the heavy lifting the mid-level designers will do for only mildly extravagant cost. If, however, you already know what your brand is going to be all about, how you want consumers to perceive it, and you have a strong idea about how to capture that in graphic form, you don’t need to pay an arm and a leg to get good results.
I knew I wanted a hand crafted, one-of-a-kind script for my label. So I Googled around and found a woman named Dayna in New York that does calligraphy for weddings. She’d been featured in Martha Stewart Wedding Magazine, an E True Hollywood Story on Jennifer Lopez, and her portfolio was (and is) thick with excellent work. I contacted her with my proposal and she said she was thrilled to be able to work on a wine label, something she’d never done before.
Keep in mind this is a woman who is used to grinding through hundreds of invitations, menus, and placards at a time. A one-off to a pro like her was a complete breath of fresh air and she really seemed to enjoy the work, and I think it shows in the final product. It also showed in her quoted price: $300
I then took that logo to Chris, a long time friend and an amazingly talented artist and designer. His work ethic is unparalleled: for every hour he bills I bet he actually works two and a half. He also knows as much as any professional working today about press work because he’s worked in a print shop for years. In short, he was the perfect choice to complete our label design.
He took the rasterized version of the logo Dayna gave me and converted it to vector art, which prints better and is infinitely scalable. Then he modified it for the better. Awesome work all the way around.
As I mentioned earlier he almost always underbids a project (in terms of how much effort he actually puts in) so we agreed upon a price at the beginning. I’ve since added to that, so I’m estimating that total costs will be around $1500.
You may not love our label or the style I chose, but you can’t knock its visual appeal or professional appearance. And we were able to get it done for something much less than 50 grand, and that makes me very proud.
7 Comments → “Label Update and Design Costs”
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Josh –
Thanks for sharing your label design process with your readers. As a designer myself, I empathize with clients who can’t always put the entire process in my hands from strategy to execution (as much as I’d like that). You had a strong sense of self going into the project and a it showed in your ability to bring this project to a close within a tight budget. Kudos to you.
I’m curious to know, who will be handling the printing for the label? Wondering who the big names in wine label printing are…
Stratton,
I’m wondering the same thing. I really haven’t asked around too much on label printers, though I have heard that you can get amazing prices by working with Australian companies due to the fact that they are heavily subsidized. That may be one place we will be looking.
My impression (right or wrong) is that printing prices in the states are fairly similar. We will be going pressure sensitive instead of glue-on however, and that will narrow the field a bit. I’ll be sure to post when I get better info.
And actually, I empathize with you, the designer. The amount of work and creativity that goes into designing a good label is unbelievable, and I hope I didn’t give the impression that I think that artists in your profession are overpaid. For those that need the entire process handled for them, there is no substitute for an expert.
Thanks for the comment, and enjoy your shirt! Should be ordering them soon.
Josh – Not the wrong impression at all! I completely understand it. I’d love to fill my cellar with first growths, but my neither my bank account nor my wife would be with me for very long
Looking forward to the shirt… and the wines.
I had a fellow colleague forward this thread to me and I must admit I wish I could charge as much as you said we do for a label design. I could have retired years ago. Ha ha… I mean 50K really? Where did you come up with that number? I have never been contacted by anyone from Capozzi and have no idea where they came up with our fees.
For anyone interested in the what CF Napa really charges feel free to give me a call. We base our pricing on a number of factors and our fees are a fraction of what was stated as our price for a label.
As for the label “Design” presented here. I suggest you look at the Sea Smoke Pinot Noir label that we designed. SeaSmoke was established and designed by CF Napa several years ago and is a trademarked label and design. The label for Capozzi, while inexpensive to create is simply in my opinion a rip off of our original design work. Often inexperienced or young designers fall prey to copying work they admire. While in most cases this is often an innocent mistake it is unethical and in violation of trademark law. I suspect that legal council for Sea Smoke may also find issue with the label design as I have.
Cheers, Dave
David Schuemann
Owner | Creative Director
CF Napa – Brand Design
2787 Napa Valley Corporate Dr., Napa, CA 94558 | 707.265.1891 phone | 707.265.1899 fax dschuemann@cfnapa.com | http://www.cfnapa.com/
Package Design | Identity | Naming | Collateral | Signage | Web sites
Dave,
I think what I wrote was “complete identity design,” not simply label design, for 50K. I’m told by friends that that type of price is in line with what they paid as well, but if I’m so far off base as to be laughable, I’ll gladly update the post with a more accurate price range. The figures I got were from discussions at the Davis OIV Wine marketing course, not from anyone at CF Napa, so I could very well be wrong.
As for Sea Smoke, fantastic design no doubt. But for there to be any real case for trademark or copyright violation Seasmoke would have to make the case that they own rights to all swirlies on wine labels. Our hand-crafted font looks nothing like the one you talented folks created. Likewise, the swirlies are not intended to mimic fog or smoke, they are simply there to frame the font.
I’m surprised at the hostility and charges of being unethical. In any event, Seasmoke certainly has nothing to fear from our small brand, and CF Napa I’m sure is doing fine without our business. Thanks for the comments and best wishes for continued success.