A bibliography about information design of all sorts of labels.

Designing labels

Compiled by:
Karel van der Waarde
2024

A. Labelling studies
1. Enable purchasing
- Nutritional value of food
- Energy labels
- Climate impact: food
- Eco score & label
- Sustainability label
- Organic logo

2. Enable use
- Signage and wayfinding
- Traffic signs

3. Enable disposal
- Sorting labels
- Plastic packaging
- Compostable packaging
- Deposit return schemes
- Electrical waste (WEEE)

4. Purchasing and use
- Textile care labels

5. Use and disposal
- Medicine labelling
- Tobacco packaging

6. All three
- Machine readable code
- Warnings

7. None
- Chasing arrows triangle
- Green dot

B. Design artefacts
Packaging
Labels
Text
Pictograms

C. Design process
Principles
Participatory design
Evaluation

D. References
Articles
Books
Standards
Websites

Colofon & notes

Some websites

Christoph Brugger’s very substantial collection of pictograms and articles about pictograms.

Recycle Now. An explanation of common recycling symbols in the UK.

Keurmerken.net (in Dutch). A collection of all sorts of fake logos and symbols.

Keurmerkenwijzer.nl (in Dutch). A collection of 300 certification marks and symbols about the environment and well-being.

Labelinfo (Belgium: in Dutch and French). A collection of 106 symbols by the Federaal Instituut voor Duurzame Ontwikkeling.

Eco label index. This site lists 456 eco-labels in 199 countries and 25 industry sectors in 2018..