Welcome to the very first in a brand new series of blogs we are putting together!
We already have our customer spotlight blogs. Where we chat to and learn more about our amazing customers.
We also have our product spotlight blog where we showcase one of our favourite products and show some awesome photos of it.
In this new series we will be chatting to other companies who we think will be useful to our customers. So that could be designers, printers, web developers, market organisers. Anything that will be of help to our awesome customers. So if you have a suggestion, let us know!
With our very first industry spotlight blog we welcome Steve Stark who is an amazing graphic designer and illustrator. And owner of Steve Stark Designs.
Hi Steve! Thanks for joining us in this new blog feature! Can you tell us a bit about yourself, what you do and how you know Sen5es?
Hello. I am Steve Stark. I work as a freelance graphic designer/illustrator.
For the last year or so, the bulk of my workload has been food and beverage industry related. Mainly labels for hot sauce and all the branding and design that goes with it. It is something I have experience in and love doing.
I became aware of Sen5es via James Grace, the founder of The Somerset Chilli Co, who I have been working closely with over the last few months on the rebranding of the business.
Most of my work is from overseas, so it’s great to meet you guys and now be able to refer a reputable company to UK clients when they ask if I have any recommendations.
How did you get into design and illustration?
When I stopped tattooing, I wanted to find a way to continue making art for money. I wanted to find another way to use my skills as much as possible. I’m completely self-taught and never want to stop learning. Earning a living with art never gets old for me. I am very appreciative that I get to do this and forever grateful to my clients old and new for making it possible.
I see from your website that you are influenced by tattooing, skateboarding and street art. How did you start designing bottle labels?
I have always been interested in brand image, especially for hot sauce and beer. It sounds cocky but sometimes I would look at things out there on the market and think that I could do better.
Whenever I had no paid work coming in, I started to reach out to communities online that were full of people that brewed their own beer and others that made their own hot sauces.
Without labels on all their products looked pretty much the same. I would reach out to a handful of them and say something like “let me design a killer label for your hot sauce - no charge”. 9 times out of 10 they would say yes. It gave me a lot of experience in designing labels.
Now I am lucky enough to be in the position that people mostly reach out to me and I get to charge money for it.
How important is the right label and logo to a small independent food company?
If you are wanting to get yourself out there, I think that it is everything.
It’s a way to represent who you are as a business. Your brand image means a lot. You could be sitting on the greatest products ever but if they are branded badly, people may not gravitate towards it.
Some of Steve's designs from left to right: Tropical Thunder - Bergen, Norway | Angry Emu - Indio, California | The Somerset Chilli Co - Bath, Somerset
What advice would you give to someone who is just starting a small food business and is starting to think about branding?
Go for it but do not rush into anything. Take your time and work towards creating something that is built to last.
Find out how you want to identify yourself against other products on the market. Find out what your competitors are doing, what do you like and dislike about how they are doing things? Could you improve on that?
Start building up a bank of reference pictures of how you want to identify yourself. Note every bit of inspiration you find, no matter how small. Write down any and every idea you have.
Find a reputable graphic designer that you can work well with. Bounce around some ideas and do not be afraid to ask silly questions.
What recent projects have you been working on?
A lot of my time recently has been invested in The Somerset Chilli Co’s rebrand. I have been working with James Grace on a completely new look for his company. James had already been going for around 6 months and gained a great following. It has been a big task, but never laborious!
We’ve basically worked from the ground up, starting with a new logo and then moving onto his range of sauces and everything that follows. Lately we have spent a lot of time working on banners and loyalty cards for markets and creating menus and hospitality labels for stocking his products in restaurants, bars and pubs. It has been great watching his brand grow.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
Lately, Instagram. I opened an account at the start of the year. I’m about 10 years late to the party but better late than never. I mindlessly scroll through that and sometimes see something genius that inspires me!
I have a lot of artists that I’ve looked up to forever, mainly from the tattoo industry and skateboarding world - people like Steve Caballero, Vernon Courtlandt Johnson, Mike Giant and Jim and Jimbo Phillips. Whenever I can’t get into the swing of things, I’ll just look at their work.
How do you start designing a bottle label when a new client comes to you?
Normally I’ll set up a video call or phone call, but most are happy to liaise via email. It’s a lot easier to speak “directly” at first as it just saves on a lot of back-and-forth emails in the early stages.
Clients mostly have a vague idea of what they want and provide some visual reference or even something they have scribbled on paper, it all helps. We discuss layouts, themes, colours and anything that’s related to the overall look that they want.
The early concept of a label design I create is rough, I just keep it fast and loose for the initial concept. Just to ensure that the client and I are on the same page before investing any heavy time into a project.
Once we have the basics down, I create a more refined concept, that is still very open to changes. It doesn’t matter how many iterations we do, I want it to be perfect. Once we have a more refined concept down, I create a final, print ready version for the client.
Most clients are happy to take it from there, but others like to have me deal directly with whatever print service they use. I am always more than happy to.
Does the product that you are creating a label for influence your design?
It can do but generally I stick to the requests of the client. As products go, the standard bottle sizes that people use for their hot sauces are not huge by any means. I try not to make anything overly busy if we can get away with it. I have always found it best to get all the necessary info on the label first and then work out what room we have to play with.
Just from experience I tend to put into practice what has worked in the past, for example using the right font size to be legible in print, using the minimum size for a barcode/QR code before it becomes too small to be picked up easily on a scanner and making sure that everything on the label flows well - just to name a few.
What is the most interesting thing about your job?
I get to chat to people all over the world. I love speaking to clients and hearing about the milestones they make with their businesses and that I have helped in some way.
I find it hard to comprehend that my artwork is just out there in the world.
There are thousands of people walking past my artwork on - grocery stores, shop fronts, food markets, restaurants, breweries, farm shops and more. It’s crazy to me.
If I ever get that lottery win, I would love to visit all the different locations and countries where products with my artwork on pop up. I would love to see it in person. I am fortunate that when possible, most people send me their products to see.
What projects do you have lined up for the future?
I have been working with a handful of new clients that are in the early stages of starting up their hot sauce businesses. I have also been chatting with a more established business that are interested in a rebrand.
If you got the chance to do your dream project, what would it be or who would it be for?
I would love to do more work in other industries. The cannabis industry is booming in the US and Canada. I would like to land a few commissions related to that. I created a logo for a cannabis seed bank, but I would definitely like to get involved with something bigger.
In all honesty I’m very content with what I’m doing currently. If there is constant work for me, I’m content. The only dream I have is to be able to earn enough money to buy a house and have my own home studio.
What service can you offer our customers that they can’t get elsewhere?
Just dedication the job. I am a perfectionist with design. Commission me and find out.
What a fantastic chat with Steve! I'm not sure about you but I learned a lot from our chat.
Thank you so much Steve for chatting to us. Be sure to go and check out his website www.stevestarkdesign.com and head over to his Instagram @stevestarkdesign and give him a follow and a like for all things design and illustration!
What do you think about his series? Who would you like us to speak to next? Do you have any recommendations? Comment below! Or tag us/DM us on social media. You can find us on Instagram and Facebook.
All the best
The team at Sen5es
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