Adding shapes to a label design in Labels by Zaweba

Shapes in Labels by Zaweba are the plain building blocks that make a label look finished. You can add a rectangle (with a corner radius if you want rounded corners), an ellipse or a line, then set its fill colour, line colour and line width. Used well, they turn a block of text into something that looks designed.

Most address labels need nothing more than text. Shapes come into their own on name badges, product labels, price stickers, jar labels and return address labels, where a border or a band of colour helps the label stand out or tie in with a brand.

The three shapes and what they are for

A rectangle is the most useful. Give it a line and no fill to make a border around the label. Give it a fill and no line for a solid coloured band, such as a header strip along the top of a name badge. Raise the corner radius for soft rounded corners that echo the shape of many label sheets.

An ellipse works as a circle or oval. Put one behind a short word such as a price or a size, or use a small filled circle as a dot of colour that marks a category, red for one kind of stock and blue for another.

A line is a divider. A thin rule between a company name and an address, or between a product name and its details, makes a busy label easier to read at a glance.

Fill, line colour and width

Each shape has its own fill, line colour and line width, so two rectangles on one label can look completely different. Keep line widths modest on small labels; a heavy border can eat into the space on a narrow L7651 sticker. On larger labels and badges, a slightly heavier line reads well from a distance.

Choose colours with printing in mind. Pale fills behind text help it stand out without fighting it, while dark fills need light text on top. If you print on a mono laser printer, colours become greys, so check that text is still readable.

Stacking shapes with text and pictures

Shapes can be stacked in front of or behind text and pictures using the stacking order. A coloured band almost always goes behind its text, or the text vanishes. A border can sit on top, so pictures don't cover it.

The designer works one item at a time: drag to move, resize with the handles, nudge with the arrow keys, and everything snaps to 0.5 mm, which makes it easy to line shapes up neatly. Items aren't rotated, so plan bands and dividers as horizontal or vertical. Undo and redo are there if a change doesn't work out.

Fitting shapes into a whole design

Shapes work alongside everything else a label can hold. A product label might combine a coloured band, the product name, a barcode and a logo. A name badge might use a rounded border, the {Name} merge field in large type and a QR code in the corner. The design saves as a .ozl file with everything inside it, so you can reuse it next time.

When the design is the same on every label, print it with one label across a whole sheet. When each label carries a different name, Print and merge fills the fields from your address book or a CSV file, and the shapes stay the same on each.

Common design slips

Leave a margin between shapes and the edge of the label. Printers can drift slightly, and a border that runs exactly along the edge will look uneven if it shifts. Calibrating the printer helps, but a little breathing room is kinder.

Don't let decoration crowd the address. On postal labels the address is the job, so keep shapes small and quiet there, and save bolder designs for badges and products.

Before printing a full sheet, export a PDF with label outlines or print a test on plain paper and hold it against a label sheet, so you can see how the shapes sit.