How to measure a bottle for a label

Find the flat panel

A label needs a straight surface to sit flat. On most bottles and tubs that is the band between the point where the shoulder stops curving and the point where the base starts to round off. Run a fingernail or a ruler down the side and you will feel where the straight section begins and ends.

Anything outside that band curves in two directions, and a flat label laid over it wrinkles or lifts at the edge.

Measure the label height

Measure the height of the flat panel with a ruler held against the side of the container. Then take a clear margin off the top and the bottom so the label sits on the straight part even if it goes on slightly crooked. About 3 mm at each end is a sensible starting point.

Label height = panel height minus the top margin minus the bottom margin.

Measure around the bottle

Wrap a strip of paper around the middle of the panel, pull it snug and mark where it meets itself. Lay the strip flat and measure to the mark. A flexible tape measure works too.

If you have calipers, you can measure the diameter instead and multiply it by 3.14. Measure in a couple of places on the panel, because some containers are not perfectly round.

Gap or overlap

The label length depends on how the two ends should meet.

• With a gap. The ends stop short of each other, which hides small differences in where the label goes on. Start with the circumference minus about 5 mm.
• Full wrap. The label goes all the way round and one end laps over the other. Start with the circumference plus about 6 mm.
• Front and back labels. Two separate labels, each narrower than half the circumference, with space between them on both sides.

These numbers are starting points, not rules. A paper test on the real container tells you whether they work.

A worked example

Example only, with round numbers. A capsule bottle has a flat panel 70 mm tall and a circumference of 160 mm (a diameter of about 51 mm).

Our price calculator works in inches, so this label would be entered as 6.1 × 2.5 in with a gap. To convert, divide millimetres by 25.4.

If the label carries a lot of required text, such as a Canadian natural health product label, check the size against the layout before you order. Our guide to NHP labels covers what has to fit.

Tapered, square and oval containers

Tapered containers

If a container is wider at one end, like many tubs and some cups, a rectangular label wrinkles along one edge and lifts along the other. The label has to be curved, like a slice of a ring, so it follows the taper. Measure the circumference at the top and the bottom of the panel and the slanted height between them, then order the label as a custom die-cut shape with the curved outline in your file.

Square and oval containers

Measure the flat face rather than the distance around. Keep the label on that face and clear of the corners, where it would have to bend in two directions.

Test it with paper

Before you order, print the label outline at actual size (turn off "fit to page" in the print settings), cut it out and tape it to a real container.

• Both edges sit on the straight part of the panel.
• The ends meet the way you planned, with a gap or an overlap.
• The front of the design faces forward when the seam is at the back.
• Required text is readable and not hidden in the seam.

If anything is off, adjust the size and test again. It takes a few minutes and costs a sheet of paper.

Ask for the bottle drawing

Bottle suppliers often have a technical drawing for each bottle, showing the label panel height and the diameter. Ask for it when you order bottles. It saves measuring and avoids rounding errors, though a paper test on a real bottle is still worth doing.