After so many years spent in the industry, I can say I know what the best packaging designers do, how they do it and how they think. Even if it seems hard to understand their job at first, as a business owner you need to realize how hiring a skilled packaging designer can help your company succeed.
So, What does a product packaging designer do?
Packaging designers usually do two kinds of jobs. One is communicating with other departments to get basic information, like marketing for market, production machine and line, sales for and clients’ needs and accounting for the budget. Second is professional work, like working out material, size, shape, manufacturing process and provide the draft design of the packaging solution, then testing the design with mock-up and adjust them to final solution. That is also the process of new project.
I have been developing innovative packaging solutions for more than 10 years now. That is why, today, I will tell you briefly what my job is all about. By the end of this article, you will have a clear understanding of what a packaging designer does and how can a skilled one help you and your business succeed.
Now, let’s get further about these two jobs:
Basic information, and the role of the packaging designer in one company
You could say that a packaging designer acts like a god who knows everything and interacts with everyone in order to build the perfect solution.
Creating packaging solutions is not an easy thing to do. That’s why designers like me request so much information from so many different people.
Are you curious about how we communicate with other departments? Well, know you have all the answers you need!
Marketing
The marketing department offers us valuable information such as:
- What is the most popular packaging solution to your product?
- What worked and what didn’t work in the past?
- What colors, shapes or psychological tricks are suitable for our clients?
This is where I start, I try to understand the needs of our target market. It is their job to do research and present the conclusions, so I can use that in the following steps.
Manufacturing
The manufacturing department is in charge of discovering the limitations in terms of production. That is why I always need to be in contact with them: to know what’s possible and what’s not.
After having the discussions with the marketing department, I can come up with thousands of ideas. Some of them are realistic, some are impossible to produce. Their job is to keep me down to earth.
Sales
The relationship between the packaging designer and the sales department is one of the most important. That is because, unlike the marketing department, they get to interact physically with clients and observe honest reactions.
I can learn more about delivering, storing and I can discover new perspectives about what people like. Also, I get to see what the strong and weak points of current packaging solution are, then develop new and better characteristics.
Accounting
Last but not least, I need to interact a lot with the accounting department. They are keeping track of the company’s revenues and expenses and will tell me what the budget for my project is.
It’s important to me to know how much money I can spend on my projects, and only the accountants can tell me that. This way, I can make sure I have the possibility to go through all the necessary phases of the process.
Main job, what exactly does a packaging designer do?
Now that you’ve found out who I collaborate with, let’s see what I actually do as a packaging designer.
Here are the parts of the final solution that I spend most of my time on:
Material
One of the most important details about a packaging solution is the material used during the manufacturing process. While choosing the perfect combination, you need to pay attention to a lot of aspects, such as:
- the type of product you aim to protect. Decide whether it needs a special type of protection that can be granted only by specific materials or not.
- a visually pleasing pair of textures and colors. Combining two different colors is a tough task, even for an experienced packaging designer like me.
- the places where the packaging will be stored at. You need to take into consideration external factors such as: humidity, chemical agents or possible severe shocks.
Size
Thousands of products are shipped directly to customers, to distributors or other retailers. An optimal-sized packaging solution should fit into delivery trucks, containers, pallets and shelves. What everyone wants is efficiency, so a good packaging designer will have this aim in mind while developing the solution.
We need reduced shipping costs. The retailers need efficiency in storage facilities. Customers need to be motivated to buy. Somehow, the happiness of the whole distribution channel also relies on the size of the packaging, and I am in charge of making that happen.
Shape
When talking about the shape of the packaging solution, we talk about creativity and thinking out of the box.
I always need to find a way to mix the manufacturer’s capacity to produce the sketch and the forever-existing need to make the final product outstanding.
That’s why I think the success of a company can depend on my design skills! I am the one who let’s their products differentiate in the eyes of a neutral customer via packaging.
Artwork
All the data that I gather from all the departments needs to be included in the final packaging solution, and this is our team’s main value.
Box-Shape, colors, fonts, image, barcode, standard symbol, recycle symbol and so on will be creative by our team. Also we will provide 2-3 versions draft, then talked with other department and decide which one is better. Back and forth like this to get final version.
Testing
After get final version, our team or colleague from other department will send final version to supplier and get mock-up or sample. Let’s take snack packing as an example. Following are usage of mock-up:
- Our team will evaluate whether this mock-up is what we need
- Our team can find error easily and change something to make it better at the same time via this mock-up
- Supplier can calculate exactly cost and delivery time
- Our manufacturing department will judge whether final version suits our production line and calculate our cost and delivery time
- It is evidence between we and supplier when conflict happens
Anyway, this stage is very important for a new project, maybe spend us 1-2 month to get final packaging to market.
You also can read our another blogs to know more knowledge about packaging.
What is the value of a good packaging designer?
Long story short, a good packaging designer will increase your sales, reduce your costs and convert first-time customers into recurrent ones.
It seems like the secret weapon to win the game, right? But let’s see exactly how they help!
Sales increased. A good packaging designer will create a perfect combination to influence clients into buying the product. The designer will attract them with unique packaging, and convince them to buy thanks to valuable and relevant information.
Costs reduced. A skilled packaging designer knows how to create efficient packaging. First of all, that makes you spend less money on shipping costs.
At the same time, you will get better agreements with your partners. You will offer them the chance to create a well-organized storage space, thanks to your ergonomic packaging.
Your first-time clients will be transformed into recurrent ones. The best packaging designers focus on user experience. If clients are happy about the experience of using your products, they will just keep buying them for the rest of their lives.
It seems like a lot of value-added for only one person, but that’s why an investment into a professional packaging designer makes such a big difference.
Conclusion
Packaging designers have a complex job, but they are masters of combining all types of data into a completely solution. My years of expertise have confirmed that this job cannot be done properly by other untrained employees. Save yourself time and money and invest in a professional packaging designer! Or if you want to be even more efficient, get in contact with a company specialized in creating innovative packaging solutions, contact us to get more ideas.
