Name: Sticky Print Pixels
Address: GB

How to Measure Any Product For a Perfect Label Fit

A friendly guide for anyone who’s ever eyeballed a jar and hoped for the best.

Right.... Let’s get to it.

Most label disasters don’t happen at the printer.
They happen at your kitchen table, when you guess the size, copy what your mate uses, or pick a label that “sounds about right”.

Guessing leads to three classic crimes:

The Wrinkly Shoulder Special
The label is too tall and bunches like a badly fitted bra.
The Squashed Wrap-Around
It goes too far and now everything looks cramped.
The ‘Oops I Cut Off My Logo’
The artwork kisses the edge and suddenly looks cheap.

Measuring properly fixes all this.
Your labels look professional, your jar looks like it has its life together, and you won’t waste money printing batches that don’t fit.

So let’s do it properly. Without faff.

Tools You’ll Need

Nothing fancy:

a ruler (millimetres, please)
a soft tape measure or a strip of paper
a pen
your empty, clean product

And don’t even start with “I don’t have a ruler”.
Your great-great-grandmother will feel my eye roll.
They’re 50p in Tesco.
Or print one off, I’ll add a printable ruler template.
Just set your printer to 100%, otherwise your measurements will be about as trustworthy as a man promising he’ll “fix it tomorrow”.

Flat and Straight Sided Containers

If your container is a box, a tin lid, or a straight-sided jar, congratulations... you’re in the easy group.

✔ Step 1: Measure the usable height

Ignore:

✘ the lid
✘ curves
✘ ridges
✘ threads
✘ fancy decorative nonsense

Measure only the flat area where a label can sit without doing acrobatics.

✔ Step 2: Measure the usable width

Flat surface? Use a ruler.
Round jar? Soft tape or paper strip around the middle.

✔ Step 3: Leave breathing room

Always allow:

2–5 mm gap at the join
a couple of mm top and bottom

This avoids peeling, wrinkling, and tears (yours, not the label’s).

Using Pi (The Secret Weapon for Round Jars)

If your product is round, you have two choices:

✔ Method 1: Soft Tape / Paper Strip

Wrap around the flattest part.
Mark where it meets.
Measure in mm.
Subtract 2–5 mm.

Boom, wrap width sorted.

✔ Method 2: Pi

If you only know the diameter, do this:

Circumference = diameter × 3.14159

Example:
Diameter = 70 mm
Circumference ≈ 70 × 3.14159 = 220 mm
Minus 3 mm = 217 mm max label width

This method is great when product listings give useless drawings and no proper label area.

Tapered Jars & Curves (Where Most Labels Go Wrong)

Tapered jars are the “boss level” of label fitting.
They look pretty… but they’re picky.

To measure them:

Find the flattest horizontal band around the jar.
Avoid steep curves (top or bottom).
Measure the height of that band. It’s usually smaller than you hoped.
Wrap your tape around the middle of that band.
Subtract your 2–5 mm gap.

Important:
Tall labels on tapered jars behave like a cat in a bath, badly.
Shorter labels sit beautifully.

Working Out Maximum Label Height

This is where most people make mistakes.

Never let your label touch:

✘ the shoulder curve
✘ the base curve
✘ the threaded area
✘ the sloping taper

Example:
Jar height = 90 mm
Bottom curve = 10 mm
Top curve = 15 mm
Usable = 90 − 25 = 65 mm

The whole jar might be tall…
but your label area is not.

Bleed, Safe Zones & Artwork Size

Once you know your physical label size, you need to set up your artwork properly.

✔ Finished label size

The actual size after trimming
(e.g. 70 mm × 150 mm)

✔ Bleed

2–3 mm extra on every side
(so artwork becomes 74 mm × 154 mm)

✔ Safe Zone

Keep all important text a couple of millimetres inside the edge.

Otherwise trimming will chop off your CLP text and you’ll be very cross.

Worked Example (Round Candle Jar)

Label area diameter: 75 mm
Label height between curves: 60 mm

Step 1: Calculate wrap width

Circumference ≈ 75 × 3.14159 = 235 mm

Minus 3 mm gap = 232 mm max width

Step 2: Choose label height

Pick 55 mm to avoid curves.

Step 3: Finished label size

55 mm × 230 mm

Step 4: Add bleed (2 mm each side)

Artwork size: 59 mm × 234 mm

Done.
A label that actually fits.

Common Mistakes (Don’t Do These)

Measuring the whole jar including lid
Using the jar’s total diameter instead of the label area diameter
Ignoring bleed
Ignoring safe zones
Designing right up to the edge
Making the label wrap 100% around
Assuming every jar takes the same label size (it absolutely does not)

A few minutes measuring saves days of rage.

Final Thoughts

Measuring for labels isn’t scary.
Once you know:

how to find the usable height
how to work out wrap width
how to handle curves and tapers
how to add bleed and safe zones

…it becomes second nature.

And honestly?
If you’re ever unsure, just shout.
I’d much rather help you measure your jar properly than watch you waste a whole sheet of labels.

Now go measure something lovely.

How to Measure Any Product For a Perfect Label Fit