Official Luthiers Forum!

I need to find some software to design a new label. What is everyone else using - anything for free?

Edit - what are you printing on?

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Good luck Steve and I am not trying to be unkind here - I have been looking for decent label making software for several years and nothing, by itself, seems to fill the bill.

So I use Paint Shop Pro AND Photoshop to be able to do what I want to do. Others have done labels with just Word if I recall correctly from some of the other threads.

I'll search for some other threads and post a link for you if I come up with anything useful.

_________________
Ann Arbor Guitars

Not much in this thread about software but lots of label ideas: http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10102&t=10061&hilit=+labels

_________________
Ann Arbor Guitars

Thanks Hesh. I used to have a label program that came with an old HP inkjet printer and it did a pretty good job but, alas, it is no more. I'm sure I can probably work something out in Visio or one of the other Windows apps but thought it would be easier and faster to use some label software. Maybe someone else has some recommendations that will help us both.

Nice samples - there are some good ideas there.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I offer label design at a fee if you desire to have a lable designed PM me. I use several differnt pieces of software to design with but the finish file will be a DWF file that you can print with any printer. Most prefer 6 or 8 on a page dependent on size of the label. PM me if interested

I just used MS Publisher 2000 edition. Mine is very simple, though. No background pictures or anything. I wanted mine to look a little aged, so I soaked the label in tea after I printed and cut it out. My daughter looked at me pretty funny over that one. I let it dry, made a little paste out of white glue and stuck it on.

Darrin

You can download a fully working free trial copy of Corel Draw and use it for 15 days (last time I checked).
I do all my design work with it these days. It's fairly easy to master.

Cheers,
Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Photoshop is the way to go. The sky is the limit....

_________________
Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Corel Draw and Photoshop are both very good programs in the hand of someone that knows how to use them. I've started putting mine together in Visio. It's not optimal for this purpose but does allow me to manipulate all of the elements and colors, do resizing and so on. I use it a lot for cable drawings at work so it's something I'm comfortable with.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Hi, Steve. I'm not sure this'll be much help, but I really mean to encourage you. Professional design software is expensive, and while you can often get trial versions, I'm pretty sure that you will use up most of the trial period just trying to figure out how to use the software. However, if you have a good assortment of fonts, an all-in-one scanner/copier/printer, and if you can draw or sketch basic designs, I think you could make yourself a satisfactory label using your word processing software. People often find that it's very difficult to be objective about one's own design, so I encourage you to sketch everything out--many designs-- first, and then consult with family and friends for their reactions. Also, look to other labels and logos for inspiration, and don't get fixated on guitar labels at this point. Just keep your eyes open the next time you're in the grocery store, and you'll see thousands of potentially inspiring labels. When you think you've got a basic design that you like, post it here and let all the forum members give you feedback. Several of us are professional designers, and I'm pretty sure you'll find everyone to be helpful and generous with their suggestions. Press on, and good luck!
Patrick

Hey Patrick, Good advice. When I get something to the 'draft' stage I'll post it for suggestions. I'd probably just use Word but I wanted some of the lettering in an arc which isn't too hard to do with Visio. As an engineer I'm more of a straight line, symmetrical objects, CAD kind of guy so I can use some design help for sure.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Also the kind of paper is important. Here is a compilation from anonymous builders on the subject:

Guitar Label Paper

“You should only use paper made from the pulp of Adirondack spruce and bleached Brazilian rosewood. Anything less will alter the tone.”
“Antiquarian booksellers sometimes sell individual leaves from things like 15th century manuscript bibles and prayer books that were written on real vellum. This material is suitable also but you`ll have to scrape off all of that unreadable medieval calligraphy and the tacky raised gold-leaf illuminations.”
“Pauline, I get my supply from a monastery high in the French Alps where Benedictine monks lovingly produce a limited supply in their vats when they're not making wine. This gives it the distinctive texture. And don't forget the liquid hide glue when gluing it into the guitar. Nothing else is quite the same!”
“Mine comes from a small Andalusian village about 50km from Granada. The wood fibers are chewed and regurgitated by rare Almansan goats, mixed with a secret blend of natural gums and resins and rolled out by hand on the thighs of nubile young gypsy women.”
“I mix my own hide glue, in a water-to-glue ratio and a touch of Jerez brandy that I`ve experimented with for many years, to adhere the labels to the guitar. I feel this is very important to achieving that authentic Spanish sound.”
“The goatherd/paper makers say that some high-altitude Alpine spruce (preferably Slavic) can be used but that they generally prefer Adirondack.”
“Mine comes from a small Andalusian village about 50km from Granada. The wood fibers are chewed and regurgitated by rare Almansan goats, mixed with a secret blend of natural gums and resins and rolled out by hand on the thighs of nubile young gypsy women.”
“I mix my own hide glue, in a water-to-glue ratio and a touch of Jerez brandy that I`ve experimented with for many years, to adhere the labels to the guitar. I feel this is very important to achieving that authentic Spanish sound.”
“The goatherd/paper makers say that some high-altitude Alpine spruce (preferably Slavic) can be used but that they generally prefer Adirondack.”
“GV, your post got me to thinking. So I contacted Fra Ignatius at the monastery. It turns out that the all-organic Adirondack paper that they've been supplying me with is sometimes a misnomer. Some of it is actually made with Philippine mahogany instead and he recommends it only for use in finger style guitars with nut widths of 1 7/8" minimum. He did inform me that after extensive testing it was also determined that the paper contains trace elements of oak from the vats and that they were going to be upgrading their production systems to conform to the "Purity in Guitar Labels" act of 1995. He also informed me that they had some hazelfichte Adirondack in very limited quantities which would be available in the New Year, but I'm kinda hesitant. If you can't trust monks, who can you trust?”
“Mine come from La Viuda De la Madera…She is the sole supplier of genuine "papal de guitarra"…it is made from wood discarded by the masters as cutoffs from high altitude spruce tops floated down river and soaked in Galicain bow wow brine before being masticated to the proper pulp by La Viudas maiden daughters..Hence virgin paper…there is even a patron saint. St. Salivaria. The ink is made from fresh Portuguese octopus slime fused with iron oxides scraped from the hardware of sunken galleons. Even the labels are signed and numbered...available only to a few, and I must thank Sr. Vega for his generous gift of 7 thousand. I cherish them and they are used only for my best baraquinhos. Many gracias and saludos Manzanillo mi amigo.”
I make "genuine" labels for my reproduction furniture…If you wanna fake a label...there are ways.

_________________
Ron

If you have some specific idea of what the label elements are to be, it would help those who are familiar with software to make a recommendation. Some software is designed to work with vector graphics, which is great if you want to shrink and expand the whole label or just some label elements and keep the lines very crisp. For example, your label will include your logo which you also want - much bigger - on a T-shirt. But, if you do not need vector graphics (you just want to make a 3" x 3" label, period), then you don't need vector capabilities and can work with raster-based software (which is often less expensive, and easier to learn.)

Unless you're pretty good with graphics software, you may want to start out with good old pencil and paper - and start scribbling. Then once you have a pretty good idea what you want, then take it to the computer.

Or, you could even stay with a hand drawn label, and take it to a good copy machine. A pencil scribble sketch drawing can be drawn over with a fine tip permanent marker or a technical pen, and the underlying graphite can then be erased. Then, if you want, you can shade/fill or partially fill in the areas defined by the black lines, using colored pencils or markers. This really could be the best solution for those that do not know how to use graphics software, and do not want to take the time to learn it. Once that is done, it could be taken to a good copy machine or... you could use the graphic label as the starting point for a computer label - by scanning the hand drawn art work, and importing that into a graphics program. You could then add just text in the particular font and font size that you like. That could yield a very readable professional looking label, that also has a "hand-made" look to it.

If you are in the market for a graphics application:
I've got quite a few graphics applications, including PhotoShop, Corel Painter, Adobe Fireworks, Adobe Freehand, Adobe Illustrator, MS Publisher, and Jasc/Corel PaintShop Pro. They are all good at what they are designed to do. There are several Freeware, Shareware, and Open Source graphics applications (like Gimp and IrfanView and OpenOffice Draw) that could probably do the job just fine, but I still have to say that PaintShop Pro (from Jasc, version up to 9, or from Corel, version X or higher) is a great application for little money. Look on Ebay for a copy of Jasc PaintShop Pro version 8, or Corel PaintShop Pro v.X, either of which you can probably find for $10 to $15. (Version 8 was sort of a breakthrough version, version 9 has unresolved "issues" and then Corel bought them out, and the latest versions from Corel have features added that are probably not worth the extra money to you.)

Many graphics applications (such as PaintShop Pro) allow you to work in layers. That is a cool functionality, as it will allow you to adjust layer properties independently. So, for example, you can keep text (in one layer) very crisp and sharp, while making background elements softer and/or drop the opacity of the background down to achieve a "watermark" type of look.

Hope this helps!

Oh, and be sure to show us your label when you're done!

Dennis

_________________
Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

For the Paper, you can go to Office Depot or any store that sells a pretty good selection of papers.

Parchment paper is what I use and it comes in many different colors. The particular type that I got is made by Southworth and is "copper" it looks like old paper kind of like what you see replica constutitions, etc. printed on.

_________________
Thanks,
Blain

http://www.ullrichguitar.com

"89.67% of all statistics are made up on the spot."

Hey, Steve, Over the years, I've had a lot of engineers as clients, and I say that with a big grin on my face! You'll be fine. Just sketch out your ideas, break out of the "straight line" realm of thinking, and press on. If you want to try something truly amazing, try sketching your ideas with your "off" hand. Or try sketching them upside down, and then turn the sketch right side up to see how well you did. You will be amazed at how these little exercises will help you break out of your analytical side, and unlock the creative side of your brain. I am totally serious. Okay...I'm looking forward to seeing what you cook up in terms of a graphic design. Post it when you've got it!
Cheers.
Patrick

Thanks everyone, lots of good ideas. I'll post what I come up with. It needs to be quick cause I'm almost ready to close the box!

BTW it's about 10 minutes after midnight here - Happy New Year!

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Ok so I'm working on the label and overthinking it as usual - I'm about ready to do something real simple and let it go. But I did get off on this tangent for about half the day trying to see if I could come up with a logo using my initials, SRS. I've come up with a bunch but there are only 4 basic types. I've looked at them so much today that I'm not sure I even like any of them. Anyway, I thought I would ask for opinions to see if any of these look like something I might want to keep working on or if I should just throw em out and move on.

Suggestions (including "dump em") welcome. Thanks.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

You are doing good Steve!

I like #1 and #3 with #1 being my favorite.

_________________
Ann Arbor Guitars

I like 1 and 3 too, but 3 more.

_________________
Build log

I also like #1 and #3. I think #3 would be nice with another S like in one.You might try that.

Good work, Steve. If you're going to just do the label, then I think you could almost toss a dart at them to pick one. They'll all work. The "SR" logo worries me a bit because it doesn't contain your last initial. But it looks very nice. Here's a consideration: If you think you might also inlay this logo at some point, then #s 2 and 4 will probably be easier to inlay. #4 looks somewhat like some commercial logos I've seen--try making a simple modification to it. Nice work!
Patrick

I also prefer 1 and 3. I like 3 primarily because it would be easier to inlay but, as Patrick said, it doesn't have my last initial.

I have several versions of the SRS logo, one of them might be easier to inlay.

Any suggestions?

Right now I'm thinking I'll go with #1 and try to modify it to make it easier to inlay.

Thanks all for the comments.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Try sending Paul Burner a PM. He's a designer, and his work is just fantastic. Look at the label he came up for the project he's doing with his son . . .

http://gallery.me.com/slidearts#100442/ ... olor=black

Here's what I came up with, I used MS Visio for the label then copied with SnagIt to resize and tile. I shamelessly copied elements from other folks labels - I hope no one is offended. I think the label will look ok on a darker and a bit heavier paper like a parchement; maybe I can find some of that genuine "papal de guitarra" . I also may try soaking one in tea. I think I'll send the initials to Andy Depaule and see what he can do as a headstock inlay, maybe just plain and spend the time to inlay it or, perhaps, in an elliptical insert. Thanks everyone for all the help.

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"