How it looks on a shelf

Supplements are sold on a wall of similar tubs, and the visual conventions are strong enough that departing from them reads as amateur rather than as distinctive.

The category conventions

Two poles. Performance: bold type, high contrast, the active and its dose stated large, frequently dark. Wellness: muted, spare, botanical, the ingredient named rather than the dose.

They sell to different buyers and mixing them produces something that reads as neither. Pick one and commit, because the customer is reading the category signal before they read the words.

What has to be legible

The product type, so somebody can find it in a row. The key active and its amount, which is what people compare. The flavor, which is the commonest reason for picking the wrong tub. And the servings, because that is how value is judged here rather than by weight.

Everything else can be on the back.

The panel is part of the design

Unusually in this category the Supplement Facts panel is not something to hide. Customers read it, compare it, and photograph it.

A brand with nothing to hide should give it room and set it cleanly. A cluttered, shrunken panel reads as evasive, and the heading has a prescribed minimum relative type size anyway.

The same applies to Other Ingredients. Naming a flow agent and saying why it is there is a stronger position than burying it.

Consistency across a range

Hold the label system constant and vary the flavor or product cue. A range that reads as one family takes more shelf and more memory than the sum of its tubs.

And keep your own display stock rotated and out of direct light. A faded, dented tub on a market table argues against the product inside it.

References