On a normal day, I was planning to gift something to my cousin for her birthday. She loves chocolates, so I saw this Ferrero Rocher in a bakery, and I immediately craved the gold foil-wrapped chocolates more than ever. I bought one for myself and as a gift for her, which made me think about how beautifully they present the chocolates in luxurious presentation boxes, giving them a premium feel and positioning them as high-end confectionery. This is when I came to think about how important package design is for product-based brands. The packaging designer behind this iconic chocolate look made me want to buy this confectionery, and if you need a good package to make your product stand out from the rest, you gotta find yourself a brilliant package designer.
Table of Contents
In this article, we will be looking into📝:
- Understanding Package Designers: Here, we look at what exactly these masterminds do to elevate a product through packaging and make it more appealing and safe for customers.
- Skills Needed for a Package Designer: What are the skills, extra brains, or that extra eye for aesthetics? Well, let’s look at the skills in detail in this section.
- How to Hire a Package Designer: We will look at how to hire a professional package designer for a brand through steps you can’t miss, along with some important questions you can’t miss out on asking in the interview.
- Personal Tips: These are some professional tips from my side to help you in the hiring process and find the right package designer for your storming ideas.
In this article, I have covered everything related to package design and helped you select one that matches your brand. So make sure to read till the end to understand everything related to package design.
Who Is a Package Designer
A package designer is equally important to product design. Well, a product with good packaging can tempt you to buy it and later make you regret it if the product isn’t up to what you expected by seeing the package design. Well, the package designer is the only one there to blame. I’ve heard that Coca-Cola bottles were designed to look like an hourglass shape of a female body to make it more appealing to the male audience. Package designers think crazy and make their products look aesthetically pleasing with the package.
The perfect packaging design doesn’t exi… pic.twitter.com/MHNkYRnB50
— Designers Hum😂r (@designershumor) December 12, 2020
But who is a package designer? An unknown hero behind the success of brands, or a masked villain who deceives people with beautifully designed packages?
Well, I think he is a hero in every brand’s story.
Packaging designers are talented, creative professionals with a practical bent. They make sure to make products more eye-appealing but also involve their patience in meeting budgeting requirements and delivering products safely and sustainably to consumers. They are supposed to collaborate with every team behind the idea of the product so that the final product entices human eyes and pushes them to check it out.
They work with product designers, graphic designers, branding people, researchers, and marketers to ensure that the packaging is both functional and conveniently pleasing to consumers. They have to also understand the target group of consumers and target demographics. Basically, being a package designer is no easy job like being a friendly neighborhood Spiderman.
A package designer should also have in-depth knowledge of materials, trends, graphic design, and manufacturing, along with their creative talents, to create attractive and functional packaging that represents the inside products more accurately and must catch human attention. This means they need to share crucial product details or features on top of the package while not compromising the overall look, which basically goes back to the idea that a package designer should be well-versed in the basics of graphics design, advertising, color theory, balance in design, and also knows a lot about consumer psychology.

Let’s look at the steps to find your next packaging designer to help solve all your marketing problems and sell your products right away! Let’s look at the steps to find your next packaging designer to help solve all your marketing problems and sell your products right away! Additionally, consider how you can optimize your delivery routes to ensure your products reach customers efficiently, enhancing satisfaction and reducing operational costs.
How to Hire a Package Designer

So now I don’t have to stress enough about how hiring a package designer is an important decision that can leave a lasting impact on your business journey and market presence. As you hire other employees for your brand, it’s as simple as that, but here, the difference comes when you have to consider other factors before proceeding to hire a package designer.
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✅Target Audience: You need to understand the type of target audience you’re planning to sell your product to and, at the same time, make sure your product has a valuable place in the current market.
✅Brand Identity: Before hiring a package designer, you need to properly establish a brand identity of your own, including a proper color code, a logo, and good brand values.
✅Establish a Budget: Hiring a package designer can cost you some bucks, but overall, you should have a proper understanding of the total budget you have to spend on material costs, like the type you’re planning for packaging.
Now, let’s look at the various skills you have to look for in a package designer.
Skills Needed for a Package Designer

Here are the key packaging designer skills they must possess in order for them to have a great career.
Creativity
Yes, the packaging designer should be creative; that’s the most basic skill a designer must have. Let them be anything, but without creativity, there is no way they can provide solutions to design problems. They should have skills in photography, and understand design concepts and industrial standards. They should be able to work within a design brief and develop designs that capture attention while also experimenting with new concepts and differentiating their product from other competitors.
Collaboration
As I’ve mentioned before, package designers need to collaborate with several other parties, making collaboration an essential skill. They have to work with every team behind a product and should effectively communicate with them to create the final package. This means they should have communication and teamwork skills as well.
Digital and 3D Design Software
What Software is Used for packaging design?
byu/Jpasholk inPackagingDesign
Package designers should know how to use digital and 3D design tools to create detailed renderings of designs and files to showcase the physical packaging digitally. With 3D design programs, they can represent their work in realistic virtual mock-ups with a range of viewing angles and environments. Some of the software that a package designer may use includes Adobe Creative Suite like Photoshop, CS5, MS Office, CorelDRAW, Edko ArtiosCAD, and 3D modeling programs like SolidWorks or Autodesk Inventor.
Proficiency in Illustration
Illustrating is an art, and illustrators are creative individuals who showcase imagery or messages through drawing, sketching, or painting. A package designer should have an educational background or a bachelor’s degree in graphic design or art background. Packaging designers should know how to illustrate on top of packages; for example, if they are planning to make a kid’s toy packaging, they should have attractive illustrations that grab kids’ attention. So, they should have skills and knowledge in visual hierarchy, graphics, coloring, and composition.

Knowledge of Packaging Production
A package designer should have in-depth knowledge of product packaging materials, like different types available in the market. There are various packaging materials, such as plastic, cardboard, glass, and paper, to form the aesthetics and functionality of their designs. This requires an understanding of each material’s strengths, limitations, costs, and properties, so yes, a package designer should be aware of all of these relevant aspects.
Time Management
Package designers adhere to strict deadlines, so package designers should ensure they have great management skills to allocate their time effectively to ensure that they publish design files on time. I think when packaging designers have multiple competing deadlines, this skill of responsibility can effectively help them stay organized and complete their work across all projects within the necessary timeframes. They should accept feedback and incorporate it to contribute to the overall growth of the company.
Asking the Right Questions for the Interview
As for a packaging designer’s interview, you can ask basic interview questions, but asking the right questions can help you understand their overall approach to this job and make an appropriate decision to hire a package designer or not.
So, here I have listed some important questions that you should not miss when asking the candidate during the interview.
1. How would you describe my brand after reviewing our materials?
This can help determine if the candidate has taken the time to understand your products and what you stand for as a brand. If they didn’t take the time to do that, it means they’re not ready to translate your brand values or service ideas into packaging.
2. Can you describe your design process from concept to completion?
This will give you insight into how the designer approaches a project and if this process aligns with your timeline and expectations.
3. Can you show me examples of your work where the packaging played a role in driving sales or brand recognition?
This way, you can see not only their portfolio but also their ability to create results-oriented designs that can have a real market impact. If the person is a fresher, you can further ask for their portfolio and give them a real-time task to create a new package for a product you recommend as a mock design.
4. What is your pricing structure, and what is included in your fee?
This way, you can calculate your budget effectively and understand if the designer charges by the hour, for a flat fee, on a weekly basis, or on a per-project basis. You can also clarify if this includes revisions, design iterations, or additional deliverables.
5. What rights do I have to the final design? Will I own the design, or are there licensing terms?
This is very important because if they have licensing terms, there can be difficulties in the future. So ensure that the final design rights are transferred to you as a brand upon project completion so that you can use the design without any restrictions in the future.
6. Can you share client testimonials or case studies from past projects?
This way, you can see what their clients have to say about their work. If a package designer with experience does not have proper testimonials, this is not a positive sign. So make sure you give yourself a clearer idea of their effectiveness and working style.
Hiring – Final Step
As the final step, after you have decided on a package designer, I suggest you make a formal proposal or contract with them. This way, the duties of a packaging designer are established clearly for both parties. That should also include details about everything related to the job description and role. For example, the contract should outline the following table of contents:
- Project scope
- Deliverables and timelines
- Payment structure
- Revisions and terms of ownership
So make sure you include everything and that it is clearly stated to avoid any further confusion in the future.
Personal Tip✅
As a personal tip or opinion, when hiring a package designer, you should make sure to conduct a proper interview and communicate to understand them as a person and designer. Always check their portfolio before hiring. You want to see if their style aligns with what you’re looking for. It’s crucial to discuss budgets upfront when hiring a designer. I’ve learned that being transparent about what I can afford leads to better outcomes. If you’re unsure about a designer, start with a small project to see how well you work together before committing to something larger.
If you’re not sure about hiring, you can always connect with Graphically.io. We offer package designing along with other graphics unlimited with a monthly subscription rate of $299. You also get unlimited revisions and full ownership of your final outcome, so you don’t have to worry about anything, and this can help you stand out from your competitors and get more drive-in ROI and sales.
Conclusion
A packaging design can be considered good if it’s filled with originality, shelf impact, simplicity, and relevance. So, you need to make sure your package designer understands how to make the most out of a package and increase your brand awareness. When looking for a package designer, evaluate their skills, such as being a strong team player and innovator, having sales skills, and understanding the rules that govern products in the industry. I hope you understand the importance of having the right package designer for your product marketing. You can always connect with Graphically to get a quote.
FAQs
1. What does a package designer do?
A packaging designer uses their graphic design skills to make a product stand out and catch the attention of potential buyers through its packaging. Their responsibilities often include choosing the right fonts, colors, and illustrations to represent the product. They work with digital tools and design software to sketch out and create the packaging designs that bring their vision to life.
2. What is the meaning of package design?
Packaging design is all about bringing together the right shape, structure, materials, colors, imagery, typography, and essential product information, along with other design elements, to make a product ready for the market. It’s the blend of creativity and practicality that makes a product stand out on the shelf.