There is not much to choose from when it comes to case labels, and that is a good thing: between them, A4 and A5 cover almost every case in a warehouse. The only question is which goes where.
A4: the standard for large cases
On a doublewide, a 12U rack case or a big cable trunk, A4 is the obvious size. There is room for a full contents list, the reading distance is a few metres, and the label stands out among the rest.
Pick A4 when:
- the case is taller or wider than roughly 80 centimetres
- the contents run to more than a handful of lines
- the case sits in a truck or a storage rack where you need to recognise it from a distance
A5: for everything smaller
An A4 label on a small case does not just look odd, it often simply does not fit between the ball corners and the handles. A5 is the better choice there: half the size, the same layout, the same information in a more compact form.
Pick A5 when:
- the case is a utility case, a small rack or a tour trunk
- the side you are labelling has less than 25 centimetres of clear space
- you want two labels (top and side) without going through half a roll of laminate
Do not mix within one case
What you really want to avoid is the same case carrying an A4 on one side and an A5 with slightly different information on the other. Pick one size per case and keep the layout identical. A crew that knows two versions of the same label has to look twice every time.
Print and material
Both sizes print on ordinary paper and get sealed afterwards. Laminating lasts longer, sealing is faster and cheaper - see the article on printing and laminating for that trade-off. More important than the material is that the PDF carries its fonts with it, so a label printed on a colleague's printer comes out identical.
In Caselabel you pick the size when you download, and you keep a separate layout per size. That way an A5 label can be laid out more compactly than the A4 of the same case, without entering anything twice.