Packaging Design Services

Packaging that sells from the shelf. Not just sits on it.

Packaging is advertising you don’t pay media for. It’s there every time someone walks down the aisle, scans a shelf, or scrolls through a product listing. It’s often the last chance to persuade someone before they choose – yours or a competitor’s.

Beyond protecting what’s inside, packaging needs to communicate. What is this? Who is it for? Why should I choose it over the one next to it? I design packaging that answers those questions quickly and compellingly, built to stand out where it matters most.

What Makes Packaging Design Different

The shelf is one of the most competitive environments a package design will ever face. You have seconds – sometimes a fraction of a second – to catch someone’s attention while they’re scanning dozens of options. Everything about the package design needs to work towards that moment.

My background in advertising shapes how I approach this. I think about hierarchy – what the eye sees first, second, third. I think about focal points and how to create them. I think about differentiation – what makes this packaging look distinct from everything around it, not just attractive in isolation.

But packaging also has constraints that other design work doesn’t. There’s the physical reality of the format – dielines, folds, seams, the way a box opens or a pouch stands. There are production limitations – what can actually be printed, on what materials, at what cost. There are regulatory requirements – mandatory information, nutrition panels, legal text that has to appear somewhere.

Good packaging design works within all of these constraints while still achieving the primary goal: making someone pick up your product instead of another.

What Kind of Packaging Design Do I Do?

Product Packaging

Boxes, cartons, pouches, bottle labels, tube designs, sachets, blister packs. The primary packaging that contains and presents your product. I work across categories – food and beverage, personal care, home products, consumer goods.

Labels

When the container is standard but the label is yours to design – bottles, jars, tins, tubes. Label design has its own considerations: curved surfaces, small dimensions, the relationship between front and back panels.

Retail-Ready Packaging

Shelf-ready packaging, display cartons, multi-packs designed for retail environments. Packaging that needs to work both as protection during shipping and as merchandising when it reaches the shelf.

Gift Packaging

When the packaging is part of the product experience – premium boxes, special editions, gift sets. Packaging designed to feel like an occasion, not just a container.

Packaging Systems

When you have a range of products that need to look connected. A system of packaging that shares visual language while differentiating between variants, sizes, or product lines.

Copy and Packaging Design Together

Packaging copy is its own discipline. You have very little space and a lot to communicate – product name, variant, key benefits, usage instructions, ingredients, legal requirements. Everything is competing for attention on a surface that might be smaller than a postcard.

Because I write as well as design, I develop both together. The copy gets written to fit the package form, and the design gets built around what needs to be said. Hierarchy decisions happen once, not twice. There’s no back-and-forth between a copywriter and a designer trying to make each other’s work fit.

This is particularly valuable when space is tight – which, in packaging, it almost always is. Knowing that I can edit a headline to make it work in the available space, or restructure copy to fit a layout, means fewer compromises and faster decisions.

If you have existing copy or regulatory text that must appear as-is, I can work with that too. But having the option to develop both together often produces better results.

3D Visualisation

Here’s something else I offer that most packaging designers don’t: I can produce 3D renders of packaging concepts before anything goes to production.

This means you can see how a finished package design will look in context – on a shelf, next to competitors, from multiple angles – before committing to print. It’s useful for internal decision-making, especially when stakeholders find it hard to visualise flat artwork as a finished product. It’s useful for retailer presentations, showing buyers exactly how your product will appear in their environment. And it’s useful for e-commerce, where a good product render can be the difference between a click and a scroll.

I build these renders myself, which means they’re integrated into the design process rather than being an afterthought. As the packaging design develops, I can update the renders to reflect changes, so you’re always seeing the current version in three dimensions.

Learn more about 3D Visualisation

How I Approach Packaging Projects

Understanding the Context

Before designing anything, I want to understand the full picture. What’s the product? Who’s buying it? Where will it be sold – supermarket shelf, boutique store, online only? What’s the price point? Who are the competitors and what does their packaging look like? The answers shape every design and packaging design decision.

Working With Constraints

Packaging has physical realities. I’ll need dielines or specifications for the format you’re using, or we’ll need to work with a packaging supplier to determine them. I factor in print method, material, and production budget from the start – not as afterthoughts that force redesigns later.

Concepts and Refinement

I typically present two or three initial directions – different approaches to solving the brief. We discuss what’s working, what isn’t, and choose a direction to develop. Then comes refinement: fine-tuning the design, testing it in 3D renders, adjusting until it’s right.

Print-Ready Delivery

Final artwork delivered ready for production – correct colour specifications, proper bleed and trim, separated files if needed. I can liaise with your printer or packaging supplier directly if that’s helpful, or hand over files for your team to manage.

For Brands

If you’re launching a product and need packaging that will compete, I can help from concept through to print-ready artwork.

I work with brands at different scales – from small businesses launching their first product to established companies adding new lines. The approach adapts to the situation. A startup might need more guidance on production options and supplier selection. A larger brand might have those relationships in place and need a designer who can work within established specifications.

Either way, I’m thinking about your packaging as a commercial tool, not just a design exercise. It needs to sell.

Learn more about how I work with brands

For Agencies

If you’re an agency with packaging projects that need external packaging design support, I can work to your brief and process.

Sometimes agencies need overflow capacity for packaging work. Sometimes there’s a project that needs senior-level thinking or a particular skill set the in-house team doesn’t have. I’m comfortable slotting into your workflow – your briefs, your review process, your client relationship. White-label as standard.

The 3D visualisation capability is often useful for agency work – it makes client presentations more compelling and reduces the ambiguity of flat artwork approvals.

Learn more about how I work with agencies

Who This Is For

Brands Launching New Products

You have a product ready for market and need packaging that will compete. Not just something functional – something that sells.

Brands Refreshing Existing Packaging

Your current packaging isn’t working as well as it should. Maybe it looks dated, maybe it’s not standing out, maybe you’re repositioning the product. Time for packaging that reflects where you are now.

Brands Building Product Ranges

You’re expanding from one product to several and need a packaging system that works across the range – connected but differentiated.

Agencies Needing Packaging Support

You have client packaging projects and need a designer who can deliver. Concept work, execution, or both.

Related Services

3D Visualisation for Products

If you need product renders for packaging presentations, e-commerce, or advertising, I can help – whether or not I designed the packaging.

Learn more about 3D Visualisation Services

Brand Identity Design

If your packaging needs to align with a new or updated brand identity, I can develop both together.

Learn more about Brand Identity Design Services

Graphic Design

Packaging design is part of my broader design and graphic design offering, which includes brand identity, brochures, and other print and digital work.

Back to Graphic Design Services

Let’s Talk

If you’re developing packaging for a new product or refreshing what you have, I’d be glad to discuss your project.

Get in touch

Or back to all design services