r/PackagingDesign

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Earlier this year, I made the tough choice to step away from my role due to a health issue. I’m happy to share that I’m now fully recovered and eager to return to work!

Lately, I’ve been receiving great opportunities in print and packaging design. While I come from a general design background, I’ve never worked directly in prepress or packaging. I’m keen to learn and adapt, so I’m reaching out to this amazing community for guidance on how to properly set up package printing files for production.

If you have any tips, guides, or resources to share, I would be immensely grateful. Thank you for your support!

I work on the sourcing and supply chain side of CPG, not in design, and I’m curious how packaging designers here feel about something we’ve been seeing more often. A lot of the smaller brands we work with don’t have an in-house designer yet. They may know roughly what they want — “clean but playful,” “premium but not luxury,” “something that looks natural” — but have a hard time communicating it visually. Lately, we’ve been suggesting they use AI only as an early concept/visualization tool. For example, they might generate 10–20 rough packaging concepts, figure out which colors, layouts, bottle/box styles, typography direction, etc. they actually like, and then give those references to a professional designer. The designer still does the real work: rebuilding everything properly, combining ideas, creating the dieline, typography, hierarchy, regulatory information, print specifications, materials, finishes, and ultimately making sure the packaging can actually be manufactured. From the sourcing side, I’ve actually found this useful because once the designer gets involved, the client can communicate what they want much more clearly than just saying “make it look premium.” But I’m curious about the designer’s perspective. Would you rather receive a few AI-generated concepts from a small-business client as visual references, or does that actually make your job harder? And if a client is going to use AI during the ideation stage, what would you want them to understand before bringing those concepts to a packaging designer?

Hey!
So I’ve got a small side business where I make custom engraved tumblers, press hats and shirts, and other branded merch for the companies I do work for. I’ve got around ten businesses I work with regularly.

I’m thinking about offering custom packaging that matches each brand, basically templated packaging per product, with just the design swapped out for each client. It would be bundled into the product cost so it easy to order and I make a little bit more money.

I’ve got a Cricut and a laser engraver. Is this a good idea, and how should I go about this? I also am looking into windows inside the box, sleeves and other printed things, so if you know about this let me know, I don't want to buy the packaging it want to make it myself, at least until I know it works

Thanks!

Before ordering custom boxes, you'd want to answer these questions:

• What are the product’s packed dimensions?
• Will the box hold one item or multiple items?
• Does it need room for inserts or cushioning?
• Is the packaging for shipping, retail display, or both?
• What quantity can you realistically store?
• What is your target cost per packed order?
• When do you actually need the boxes?
• Has someone checked the artwork for bleed, folds, small text, and low-resolution images?
• Have you tested a physical sample?
• What happens if the product changes size later?

The most expensive mistake is often not the printing itself. It is ordering a large quantity of the wrong size or discovering after delivery that the box does not fit the actual packed product.

For anyone who has made a first packaging order, what did you wish you had checked beforehand?