Product Label Basics in Jordan: What Goes on a Retail Label

A retail product label carries four kinds of information at once: who made the product, what is inside it, how to use and store it, and how the supply chain identifies it. A label gets sent back for redrawing when one of those four is left out, or when the artwork was drawn on a flat rectangle without measuring the container it has to wrap around. This guide covers product label basics in Jordan from the buyer's side: what typically goes on a label, how to lay one out so it survives printing and application, and where files usually go wrong.

One thing to be clear about up front: this is a printing guide, not regulatory advice. What a specific category of product is legally required to display in Jordan is a question for the regulator, not for a print shop. That distinction is covered in its own section below.

What information goes on a retail product label?

Across most consumer categories, labels are built from the same set of blocks. Not every product uses all of them, but going through the list is the fastest way to find what you forgot.

• Product name and descriptor. What the thing actually is, in plain words. A brand name alone does not tell a shopper whether they are holding shampoo or conditioner.
• Brand name and logo. The identity block, usually the largest element.
• Net contents. Weight, volume or count, in the unit your category uses.
• Ingredients or materials. The dense text panel on food, cosmetics and cleaning products.
• Directions for use and storage conditions. Refrigerate after opening, keep away from sunlight, shake before use.
• Warnings and allergen information where the category calls for them.
• Batch or lot code, production date and expiry date. These change from run to run, which makes them a layout problem rather than a design one. See the section on variable data below.
• Barcode. The number is issued by GS1, the body that administers retail barcode numbers; a printer reproduces the barcode, it does not assign the number. If your product is going into retail and you do not have a number yet, that is a step to complete before artwork, not after.
• Producer, importer or distributor name and contact details. Whoever a customer or an inspector should be able to reach.
• Country of origin.
• Symbols. Recycling marks, care symbols, period-after-opening marks, and any certification mark you are entitled to display.

A useful habit: write all of that text out in a plain document first and get it approved, then design around it. Designing first and then trying to fit a long ingredient list into a space that was never allowed for is one of the reasons a label ends up being redrawn.

Which label information is legally required in Jordan?

We do not state legal requirements we cannot verify, and neither should any printer. Labeling obligations vary by product category, and food, cosmetics, cleaning products and medical items are not treated the same way. Jordan's national standards body is the Jordan Standards and Metrology Organization (JSMO), and requirements for a specific category should be confirmed with JSMO or with a regulatory consultant before the artwork is finalized, not after a run has been printed.

Treat the list in the previous section as what brands commonly include, not as a compliance checklist. If your product is regulated, the compliance text is the part of the label to lock down first, because it is the part that is expensive to get wrong.

Should the label be in Arabic, English, or both?

Whether a bilingual label is required for your category is, again, a regulatory question. What we can tell you is what it does to the layout, because a second language changes how much room the content needs on a face that is already small.

• Plan for both languages from the first sketch. Adding an Arabic panel to a finished English design almost always means shrinking type or dropping content.
• Arabic reads right to left, so the Arabic block is normally right-aligned and often mirrors the reading order of the English one. Two blocks aligned the same way tend to look accidental.
• The two languages rarely occupy the same amount of space. Line lengths, line heights and the vertical room diacritics need all differ between the two, so never assume a straight swap fits the same box.
• Arabic type breaks badly if the font is not embedded or outlined. Letters are joined contextually, so a substituted font does not just look different, it can break the word shapes entirely.

How do you lay out a label for the actual container?

A label is not a poster. It is a piece of material that has to fit a physical object, be applied by a person or a machine, and stay readable at two very different distances. Six things decide whether that works.

Measure the container, not the artboard

Start from the object. For a cylindrical bottle or jar, the usable flat area is much narrower than the circumference, because the surface curves away from the viewer on both sides of the front face. For a wrap-around label, decide where the seam falls and keep the barcode, the logo and any critical text off it. For a box panel, measure the flat face and stay inside any recess, embossing or edge radius the packaging already has.

Set the hierarchy for two reading distances

A shelf label is read twice. At arm's length a shopper sees the brand, the product name and the variant, and nothing else. In the hand they read the ingredients, the directions and the contact details. Design the first group to be legible across a shelf and the second group to be legible when held, and do not let the second group compete for the space the first one needs.

Respect bleed, trim and safe margins

Cutting moves slightly on any press, and a label die is no exception. Any color or image that runs to the edge needs bleed past the trim line, and any text or logo you cannot afford to lose needs a safe margin pulled in from it. On a small label that margin costs a surprising share of the face, which is another reason to plan the content before the design.

Keep the small text printable

Ingredient panels and legal text are the first thing to break down on a printed label, because they are the smallest type on the piece. Set them in a single ink color rather than building them from four inks, avoid reversing tiny type out of a dark background where ink spread can close the letterforms, and keep the contrast high. Images and any rasterized artwork should be at 300 DPI or higher, which matters more on a label than on a large-format job precisely because the detail is so small.

Give the barcode room and contrast

Barcodes fail for predictable reasons. Leave the clear quiet zone on both sides unprinted, and take its width from the specification of the barcode standard you are using rather than judging it by eye. Keep the bars dark on a light background; red bars, or bars printed on a dark or metallic background, can defeat a scanner. Do not stretch the code non-proportionally to make it fit, and do not place it across a wrap seam or on the tightest part of a curve, where the scanner sees a distorted image.

Leave a home for variable data

Batch codes, production dates and expiry dates change between runs. If they are going to be stamped, inkjetted or applied after printing, leave a clean, empty area for them at a known position, with no artwork underneath. Deciding that afterwards means either overprinting your own design or applying a second sticker.

Material, finish and how the label is applied

The layout question no one asks early enough is what the label has to survive. A label on a dry retail box has an easier life than one on a cosmetics bottle handled with wet hands, or one on a food container that goes into a fridge and comes out with condensation on it. The container's surface matters too: adhesive behaves differently on glass, on smooth plastic, on a matte coated box and on an irregular or textured surface.

If labels are applied by machine rather than by hand, the roll itself has a specification, including which way the label faces as it unwinds. That is worth settling before production rather than discovering at the packing line.

Product label basics in Jordan: a pre-print checklist

• Full label text written out and approved, including any compliance wording, before design starts. Content added late is what forces type size down below what a press can hold.
• Category requirements confirmed with the relevant authority, not assumed.
• Container measured, seam position decided, curve accounted for.
• Barcode number obtained and the code generated as vector artwork, not copied as an image from a website, with its quiet zone clear.
• Arabic and English blocks both allowed for if the product needs them.
• Artwork built at final size rather than drawn small and scaled up, which softens every edge and every bar.
• Bleed and trim marks added, critical content pulled inside a safe margin.
• File supplied as PDF, AI, EPS, PSD, JPEG or PNG, in CMYK, images at 300 DPI or higher, all fonts embedded or outlined. Color mode is the easiest of those to miss, and the reason is explained in our guide to CMYK vs RGB for printing.

The full file specification is on our print file setup guide. We print from the artwork you supply and we do not currently offer in-house graphic design services, but every file is reviewed for print suitability before printing.

Frequently asked questions

What has to be on a product label in Jordan?

That depends on the product category, and it is a regulatory question rather than a printing one. Requirements should be confirmed with the Jordan Standards and Metrology Organization or a regulatory consultant before artwork is finalized. In practice, most retail labels carry the product name, brand, net contents, ingredients or materials, directions and storage, batch and expiry codes, a barcode, producer or importer contact details, and country of origin.

Does my product label need to be in Arabic as well as English?

Whether it is required depends on your product category and is a question for the regulator. What matters for the print job is that a bilingual label needs its space planned from the beginning. Arabic reads right to left, sets to a different length than English, and must have its fonts embedded or outlined, otherwise the joined letterforms can break.

Where do I get a barcode for my product?

Retail barcode numbers are issued by GS1, not by a printer. Obtain the number first, generate the barcode as vector artwork rather than copying an image of one, and give it a clear quiet zone with dark bars on a light background. We reproduce the barcode exactly as supplied.

What size should my label be?

Take the size from the container rather than from the design. On a bottle or jar, only the part of the circumference facing the shopper reads clearly, so a wider label does not mean more usable space. Measure the flat face, decide where the seam falls, and keep the barcode and logo away from it.

Can Printman design my label?

No. We do not currently offer in-house graphic design services. Send a finished file and we will review it for print suitability before printing.

Getting your labels printed

Once the content is settled and the file is built, product label basics in Jordan come down to ordering the right format. Adhesive labels for bottles, jars, boxes and retail packaging are produced on rolls, either round label rolls for jar lids, caps and seals or square label rolls for box panels and flat pack faces, and the whole range sits in the stickers and labels category. If the product needs a tag that hangs from it instead of an adhesive label, see label tags. The process itself, including how rolls differ from individual stickers, is explained on our product label printing in Jordan page.

Most orders are ready for collection within 1 to 3 business days, with delivery time added on top: JOD 3 for standard delivery within 48 hours anywhere in Jordan, JOD 4 for same-day delivery in Amman, and JOD 6 for same-day delivery to other governorates, with fees that may vary for large-size items and bulk orders. The details are on our printing delivery across Jordan page. If you would rather have your container, quantity and material discussed before you commit, request a quote and we will reply within one business day. Make it inkredible.