Packaging and print design
In short
In shortSplash Creative designs product packaging, labels, and packaging systems for food, beverage, and consumer brands, along with the print pieces that travel with them. We plan the front panel hierarchy, build artwork on the supplier's dieline, and deliver print-ready files to the printer's specifications. Packaging is often designed together with the brand identity so the product and the brand feel like one thing.
- Who it is for
- Brands that need packaging, print, or editorial design connected to their identity
- What it covers
- Packaging systems, artwork, print-ready files, retail collateral, and editorial design
- Who does the work
- A senior team led by David Herskowitz, Founder and Creative Director
- How it is priced
- Packaging from about $8,000 per SKU. Scope and fee confirmed in a written proposal
Our view
Too many brands treat packaging as the last step: a label put together after the logo is approved. Then the pack has to fight for attention on a shelf, shrink to a tiny product image online, and fit ingredients, claims, and a barcode onto a panel nobody planned for. If the product is great but the box looks generic, the box is what the shopper believes.
What we do instead
We design the pack as part of the brand from the start, so the identity is built to work on a box, a label, and a pouch. We decide what the shopper has to read first (brand, product, variant) and make sure it lands from across the aisle and as a small ecommerce image. And we plan for the unglamorous parts early: dielines, folds, finishes, minimum type sizes, and the regulatory copy that always needs more room than expected.
Where we've done it
Wise Family Pastures had the story, the standards, and a loyal following in kosher communities, and the packaging needed to finally match the product. Pressed Miami, a sandwich shop with a big personality, carried its identity onto packaging with as much attitude as the food. For Peas, Love & Carrots, Danielle Renov's kosher food brand, we worked across packaging, book design, and the website.
What packaging design covers
- 01
Packaging systems
For a range, we fix what stays constant and pick one clear variable, like color or illustration, to separate products. A good system takes the next flavor or SKU without a redesign.
- 02
Front panel hierarchy
Name, variant, flavor or scent, claims, and net contents all fight for the same few inches. We decide what leads, so the panel answers the shopper's first question first.
- 03
Dielines and structure
Artwork is built on the supplier's dieline, accounting for folds, glue flaps, seams, and how panels sit once the pack is assembled. Curved and flexible formats get checked in their real shape, because a label that looks right flat can wrap wrong.
- 04
Print-ready files
Bleed, finish layers, foil and varnish plates, and color specified the way your printer needs them. Substrate, print process, and ink limits are planned into the design, not discovered at proof stage.
- 05
Required information
Ingredients, facts panels, barcodes, recycling marks, and regulatory copy get real space and real legibility. We work from the content and requirements you provide and plan room for them from the first sketch.
- 06
Everything around the box
Inserts, mailers, shipping boxes, shelf talkers, and retail signage designed as part of the same system. Unboxing is part of the package.
Packaging work.
All work
PH Realty Capital
Custom Site Design · Print Collateral + Signage
PH Realty Capital
We're a good fit if...
- You're launching a food, beverage, supplement, or consumer product and need packaging that's ready for retail and ecommerce.
- Your product is better than your packaging makes it look.
- Your range grew one SKU at a time and the shelf now looks like five different brands.
- You're rebranding and the packaging has to change with the identity.
- You need someone who will deal with dielines, printer specs, and proofs, not just send a pretty mockup.
- Your packaging looks fine in person but disappears as a thumbnail online.
Not a fit
Not a fit if you need structural engineering for a brand-new container or someone to manufacture the packs; we design the graphics and the system and work to your supplier's specs. It's also not a fit if you want a label filled into a template for the lowest possible price.
How a packaging project with us works
- 01
Discovery and shelf check
We look at your product where it will actually be sold: on the shelf, next to its competitors, and on the retailer's site. You see the category from the shopper's side before we design anything.
- 02
Specs and hierarchy
We collect dielines, printer specifications, and required copy up front and agree on the front panel hierarchy. A missing barcode found at proof stage costs far more than one found in week one.
- 03
Design routes
We present routes on the actual dieline and as product mockups, next to competitors and at ecommerce thumbnail size. You choose a direction knowing how it performs in context.
- 04
Range rollout
Once a route is approved, we roll it across every SKU and format in scope. Variants are reviewed side by side for legibility and consistency.
- 05
Final files and proofing
We prepare final files to your printer's specifications and review proofs with you within the agreed scope. The pack you approve on screen should be the pack that arrives on the pallet.
One product or a range?
Packaging has to work on the individual product and, where there is a range, across all of it.
Single product
- The question it answers
- How does this product present its information and identity?
- What it covers
- Product hierarchy, information, format, and artwork
- Production
- Print-ready files coordinated with supplier specifications
Product range
- The question it answers
- Which elements make the range recognizable, and which help people tell products apart?
- What it covers
- A packaging system applied across the agreed formats
- Production
- The same, across each agreed format in the range
Questions, answered.
Can you design packaging for a whole product range?
Yes. We decide which elements make the range recognizable and which tell products apart, then apply that structure across every SKU and format in scope. The system should absorb new products without starting over.
Do you work with our printer or manufacturer?
Yes. We build artwork on their dielines, follow their specifications for color, bleed, and finishes, and review proofs within the agreed scope. If you haven't chosen a printer yet, we can tell you which specifications to ask them for.
Should we design the packaging and brand identity together?
If you can, yes. An identity designed with the package in mind works better on a box than one adapted to it later. Pressed Miami's identity and packaging were developed as part of the same project.
How long does packaging design take?
It depends on the number of SKUs and formats, whether the identity already exists, and your printer's lead times. We set the schedule in the proposal and work backward from your launch or production date, so tell us that date early.
How is packaging design priced?
Packaging starts at about $8,000 per SKU, and about $15,000 for a packaging system. The fee depends on how many SKUs and formats are involved, whether we're designing the identity too, how much copy and regulatory content the panels carry, and how much production support you need. Scope, timing, and fee are agreed in a written proposal before kickoff. If you have a budget in mind, share it and we'll tell you what it covers.
Do you write the copy on the pack?
We can. Product names, front panel claims, and the story on the back panel are often where packaging wins or loses, and we write them with the design. Nutrition and regulatory content comes from you or your compliance team.
