Agencies charge for strategy, design and production management. Many small brands need the last two and can do the first themselves in an afternoon.
This guide sets out the order of decisions that gets you from idea to a supplier quote without wasting money: what the pack has to do, which format to use, what size, who designs it, and how to get it in front of suppliers.
Decide the job of the pack
Is it a shipping pack (protects in transit, opened at home), a retail pack (sells on a shelf, seen before purchase) or both? A direct-to-customer mailer box and a retail carton have different priorities. The mailer is about the opening moment and inside-lid messaging. The carton is about front-panel legibility from a couple of metres away.
Write one sentence that describes the job, for example: "Protect two jars in the post and make the unboxing feel like a gift." Every later decision should serve that sentence.
Think about where the pack will be seen, too. A pack that mostly appears in product photos online needs a strong, simple front that reads at thumbnail size. A pack on a crowded shelf needs the product name and what it is to be obvious at a glance. A pack opened at home can afford quieter outside graphics and put the personality inside.
Pick the format before the design
Choose from stock formats your suppliers already make: mailer boxes, shipping boxes, stand-up pouches, labels on a stock jar or bottle, paper cups, paper bags. Custom structures usually mean extra tooling and higher minimums, so leave them for later.
Packaroo covers ten formats: mailer boxes, shipping boxes, drinks cans, stand-up pouches, paper cups, clear cups, ice cream cups, paper bags, paper tubes and product labels. That range covers a lot of first products.
Set the size with the product in hand
Measure, add room for protection, and check the external size against your carrier's price bands. Then confirm with your supplier which board they will use, because that affects both the external size and the dieline. The mailer box sizes guide walks through the method with a worked example.
Design: three routes
Do it yourself. Open the format in Packaroo, set your dimensions, and design on the dieline with the 3D preview. Keep to two typefaces and a small palette, put the brand name and product on the main panel and the story inside or on the back. Check everything sits inside the safe area.
Freelancer. Brief them with the format, dimensions, your brand assets, three reference packs you like and the dieline. Ask for the artwork placed on the dieline as a vector PDF with layers separated, not just a mockup. Agree the fee and the number of revision rounds up front.
Agency. Usually worth it when you have a range of products, a retail listing on the line, or need brand strategy as well as design.
Briefing a freelancer: what to include
- The job of the pack, in one sentence.
- Format and dimensions, labelled as internal or external.
- The dieline from your supplier, or the format and size you are using in Packaroo.
- Brand assets: vector logo, typefaces, colour references.
- All the copy, final and proofread, including any legal text and the barcode.
- Three references, with a line on what you like about each.
- Deliverables: artwork on the dieline, layers separated, outlined text, 300 dpi images.
- Deadline and revision rounds.
A freelancer can also design directly in Packaroo and share the project with you for feedback, so you see your artwork in 3D rather than a flat file.
Get it supplier-ready
Whoever designs it, the handoff is the same: artwork on the dieline with bleed and safe area, outlined text, 300 dpi images, and a spec sheet. Read how to send packaging files to a printer for the full list, and bleed vs safe area if those terms are new.
Get three quotes
Send the same spec and files to three suppliers: for example one local, one national and one overseas. Compare unit price at your real quantity, tooling, sample cost, lead time and shipping. The cheapest unit price is often not the cheapest once freight, duties and delays are added.
Ask each supplier to confirm the spec back to you. If one suggests a different board or finish, update the spec and send it to the others so the quotes stay comparable.
Look beyond price as well. How quickly and clearly did each supplier reply? Did they ask sensible questions about your product, or just send a number? Did they spot problems in your files? On a first order, a supplier who communicates well is often worth a slightly higher unit price.
Order a sample before the run
Every time. A white sample for fit, a printed sample for colour. Put the product in it, close it, post it to yourself. It is the cheapest insurance in the process.
Show the printed sample to a few people who match your customer and watch what they do. Can they tell what the product is in a few seconds? Do they open it the way you expected? Small changes are cheap now and expensive after a full run.
The order of work, start to finish
Put together, the process looks like this. Each step depends on the one before it, so resist the urge to jump ahead to the fun part.
- Write the job of the pack in one sentence.
- Shortlist suppliers and ask which stock formats and boards they offer.
- Choose the format from what they make.
- Measure the product and set the internal dimensions.
- Ask for a rough quote on a plain version, so you know the cost range before you invest in design.
- Finalise the copy: product name, description, legal text, barcode.
- Design on the dieline, yourself or with a freelancer, checking in 3D as you go.
- Prepare the files and spec sheet and send the same pack to each supplier.
- Compare quotes like for like, then pick one.
- Review the proof, approve a sample, then release the run.
How long this takes depends on your suppliers and how quickly you make decisions. Ask each supplier for their sample and production lead times early, and work back from your launch date.
First-run mistakes to avoid
- Designing before choosing a supplier's format. Artwork built for one structure rarely transfers cleanly to another.
- Too much text on the front. One clear product name beats a list of claims.
- Unproofed copy. A typo on a printed run is expensive. Have someone else read every word.
- Ordering far more than you need. A higher quantity lowers the unit price but ties up cash and storage. Your first run is also when you learn what to change.
- Skipping the legal check. Requirements for food, cosmetics and other categories vary by market. Confirm what applies to you.
What this costs
Doing the design yourself with a stock format keeps the main cost to the boxes, the samples and the files your supplier needs. A freelancer adds their fee, and an agency adds considerably more. Get the packaging quotes first so you know what you are spending on the physical pack, then decide how much design help you need.
Start small, learn from the first run, and put the savings into the second.
Start here
Open Packaroo, pick a format, drop in your logo and see it in 3D. You can start on the free plan. You pay when you export the spec pack to send to suppliers: A$15 one-time, or a Pro plan if you are making several products. See pricing.