It starts with great graphic design. Finding the right packaging designer can mean the difference between your product gathering dust or flying off the shelf.
Everyone wants something amazing, but how do you make it happen? Finding a fantastic packaging designer isn’t as easy as just doing a quick online search for “designers.” Knowing a bit about finding the right designer will make your life easier.
While you may have some great ideas on how you want your design to look, you may not have the time or skills to do-it-yourself. Finding a design professional will bring your creative concepts to their full potential.
Here’s a brief outline of what we’ll go over:
How to write a design brief
One of the least demanding approaches to start off the interaction is to compose a plan brief you can impart to your creator. Numerous originators will request that you round one out at any rate so this is a decent method to save a brief period going ahead.
Our accomplices at Fiverr make the plan interaction simple with a structure that guides you through fostering a brief and matches you with the ideal planner dependent on your mentioned measures. In case you're searching for a simple, proficient plan insight, get coordinated with a Fiverr bundling master and avoid this DIY configuration brief cycle.
Ponder your plan needs–and in case you're hoping to discover a planner all alone, a portion of the sorts of inquiries you could incorporate when you compose an imaginative plan brief:
What we do
Give the designer a quick summary of your product or service. Describe the values that are important to your company so it can translate into your design.
Who is your target market?
Does your product target a specific niche or demographic? Be as specific as possible so your designer knows who they’re trying to reach. For example, trying to reach busy female executives who don’t have time to plan meals is very different from saying you’re trying to reach women between the ages of 25-40.
What are your goals and inspiration for your design?
Establish direction and tone for your designer. How you want your audience to react when they see your packaging is critical to the final design. Be specific. For example, do you want your audience to reuse their boxes for gift-giving or do you want them to share photos of them on social media?
This is also a good time to create a mood/inspiration board. As a non-designer, you may not know how to describe a concept to your packaging designer but showing them a mood/inspiration board is a good way to convey what you want.
Who are your competitors?
Let your designer know who you compete with. Identifying your competitors will help the designer understand key elements of your product and industry so they can make sure you stand out from the crowd.
What’s your deadline?
This is a key element to any project. With packaging design, it’s important to establish deadlines with your designer because you’ll need to allow for design time, the date you place your order, production time, fulfillment time, and the date you actually need your packaging.
What to look for in a box designer
Portfolio sites
Every good box designer will have a unique portfolio they’ll want to showcase. Keep in mind that even designers with amazing portfolios aren’t always the right fit for your project.
Look for someone with packaging design experience, print or creating vector graphics. When you look through their portfolio, look for a variety of different projects. A box designer that can emulate more than one style of work may be better suited to creating your custom design.
It’s fine to go with someone who utilizes a certain style, but you need to be aware that they may not be able to create a unique aesthetic for your brand.
If you’re having custom packaging designed, you want it to reflect your brand and the product you’re trying to sell.
Freelancers
The gig economy is booming which is a good thing if you’re looking to hire a packaging designer and finding a freelance designer isn’t difficult but finding one that you can rely on and trust is another story.
The quality of freelance design ranges from amazing to dreadful. A good starting point for finding a reliable freelance is to check out designer’s portfolios on sites like Behance and Dribbble.
Portfolio sites
Behance is a free platform for freelancers and other creatives to showcase their work. A designer uploads images of their recent work to create a digital portfolio that is accessible to anyone online.
The quality of designers on Behance is excellent. You’ll find a wide array of packaging designers that specialize in fields from branding, architecture, photography, packaging design, and just about any other creative field, you can think of.
Behance offers excellent search functionality and with the filters provided, you can really hone in on who and what you’re looking for.
Let’s search for packaging that looks “retro” on Behance and apply the following filters:
Dribbble is an invite-only platform for freelancers. Designers on Dribbble are invited by their peers to showcase their work. This helps increase the quality of designers available.
You can sign up for a free (limited) account in order to find the designer that’s right for you.
Searching on Dribbble is easy. You are given the option to search through “Shots” or “Designers.” Shots are small images posted by members to show what they are working on. Designers can tag shots with their skills which makes them searchable on Dribbble.
When you search for a packaging designer, you can filter your results for designers, design teams, or both. Searching for a designer in this way will show you multiple pieces of the designer’s work and lists their skillset.
Here is an example of a search for a designer using the skill set as “packaging.” To do so, use these filters:
When you find someone you’d like to work with, visit their profile and find their contact information on their website.
Dribbble offers a direct messaging feature but it is only available to designers who have been invited to the community or businesses using Scout (Dribbble’s monthly business plan).
While Dribbble and Behance are similar in nature, Dribbble is more of a community where designers and freelancers network with one another. Behance is more of a portfolio site where designers post case studies of their work. It’s a good idea to search both Dribbble and Behance because designers aren’t always on both sites.
Upwork is one of the most popular sites to find freelancers.
You’ll start by submitting information to Upwork about your project and the skills required. Freelancers on Upwork will be able to view your job and submit bids.
As freelancers submit bids to your job, you’ll be able to review their profile to see client ratings, portfolios, Job Success scores, and more.
Once you’ve reviewed bids to your job, pick a finalist and go to their profile and click the “Hire” button to get started. Schedule a chat with them to finalize any details about your job.
You and your designer will be able to communicate through Upwork’s platform to share feedback and files if necessary.
You are able to pay designers by the hour or with a fixed price for your project. If you are paying your designer by the hour, Upwork offers features that can track the designer’s billable hours so you are able to verify that they are accurately billing your project. For fixed priced projects, you are able to set milestones with your designer that ensure your work is being completed. Paying your designer is easy on Upwork and can be done with most major credit cards or PayPal.
If you’re on a tight budget, Fiverr is your go-to service. For as little as, you guessed it, $5 you can get a design in a very short turnaround. You can find designers who do custom packaging on Fiverr.
Fiverr is known for its $5 price point but some services are priced much higher. A quick search for “packaging design” shows prices vary, starting as low as $15 up to $180.
While Fiverr might not be the best place to find a designer to manage a large packaging project, it’s a handy place to source logos and graphics for very little money.
FAQs
How do I write a packaging design brief?
There are a few simple questions you'll want to consider when writing your packaging design brief:
What is a packaging designer?
A packaging designer is a graphic designer that creates packaging that helps build brand loyalty for a company's products. Packaging designers are essential create strong emotional connections with customers while also helping to market a product.
How do I pick a packaging designer?
Picking the right packaging designer is subjective. You'll need to consider the designer's style and whether it aligns with your branding and messaging. Cost and pricing will play a key role in choosing a packaging designer. Finding a designer who is cheap may seem like a great solution at first but you'll want to consider how your packaging is perceived. It may be worth investing a little more in your packaging design when you're able to deliver an amazing unboxing experience to your customers.
How do I find a product packaging designer?
Finding a packaging designer will be dependent on both your product and the type of connection you want to make with your customers. Utilizing the resources of porfolio sites, design agencies, and freelancing networks will help you find a packaging designer.
Roundup summary
Designing your own packaging doesn’t need to be terrifying—with the right help and tools, it can actually be a lot of fun!
Conclusion
Whether you seek outside help by approaching an agency or freelance designer or use online apps or software to create your own logos and graphics, you’ll find that the packaging design process can be incredibly rewarding.
For many entrepreneurs, the process of packaging their products can feel very cathartic, as this marks the moment your product is ready to be shared with customers.
Have your packaging design ready to go? What are you waiting for? You can start to mockup your design on Pinterest and before you know it you’ll have a printed box to call your own!
