Who Designs Packaging for Products?
Who designs packaging for products? Packaging designers do! They are graphic designers specializing in product packaging design.
But First, Why Packaging Design?
It’s not just necessary to have attractive packaging; it can also be crucial for business success because it differentiates your product from your competitors. It helps your product get noticed on store shelves (or online) where there’s tons of competition for consumer attention. Most importantly, you need it to help drive sales. People will buy a product if its packaging is enticing — even if they are unfamiliar with the brand.
Who is a Packaging Designer?
Packaging designers are creative professionals who create visually compelling and functional packaging to contain and market products. They’re highly skilled at graphic design, but their specialty is packaging design. In addition to having a great eye, these design professionals understand the creative and technical processes involved in graphic design, product marketing, and print production.
Packaging designers work in a variety of settings. You may find them at a marketing agency, working independently as freelancers, consultants, solopreneurs, or working directly for a retailer or product manufacturer.
Graphic Design vs. Packaging Design
So here’s the deal, all packaging designers are graphic designers, but not all graphic designers are packaging designers. What does that mean? Well, it means that packaging designers are first and foremost graphic designers. They are creative professionals who create visual content to communicate messages. This is the same as any other graphic designer (e.g., print designer, web designer).
However, since not all graphic designers have experience designing packaging for products, a generalist graphic designer might not understand the specific nuances of packaging design.
Who Packaging Designers Are Not
Packaging designers are not structural engineers. Structural engineers determine the material quality, form design, protection of the product, and manufacturing process. Packaging designers take the dielines created by structural engineers to create and apply the graphics and set them up for print.
So, designers will commonly collaborate with structural engineers to achieve a packaging form aligned to the brand aesthetic. This is also true for any other specialist on the project, such as illustrators or photographers.
Takeaway: Packaging Design is a Speciality
There are few design specialties that combine strategy, creativity, storytelling, and technical prowess as consistently as packaging designers. When you think about it, a good package is one of the most visible elements of a product or brand, meant to catch the eye, attract attention and convey important information. Of course, this isn’t your standard territory for all graphic designers. When hiring a packaging designer, look for someone with proven experience.