Packaging design cost: prices per product line

Packaging design at Alkeme Design costs $3,200 (≈ AED 11,750) to $12,000 (≈ AED 44,050) per product line. Where your project falls in that range depends on a few factors that are easy to predict. This article explains them, what the design price does not cover, and which requirements shape the design.

What determines the price?

Factor	Lower end	Upper end
Variants	One or two	A full line with many versions
Shape	Label or standard box	Custom dieline, several formats
Brand	Visual identity already exists	Brand is created with the packaging
Files	Design as a template	Print-ready files per format to the printer’s specification
Languages	One language	Arabic and English on the same pack

The most important factor is usually the brand. If a visual identity exists, the packaging builds on it. If both are created together, there are more decisions: logo, colours, typefaces and imagery have to work on the pack as well as in the online shop. What a visual identity includes is set out in what a complete visual identity includes.

Why per product line?

Most of the work is not in the single pack but in the system: the order of information, the colour code for variants, the place for mandatory information and the effect on the shelf. Once this system exists, a further variant can need less effort if it keeps the format and system. A new format or dieline is quoted according to its scope.

Fuic, a cacao and coffee brand from Peru, is an example: a packaging set for single origins that all follow the same build. Anyone who knows one variant finds their way around the next. At Bean Bank the same system extends to limited-run drops and merchandise.

Requirements that shape the layout

Good packaging does not start with the front but with the mandatory information. It needs space, and some of that space may be set by requirements.

• Food and drink: the mandatory information, its language and its text size follow the product labelling rules of the market where it is sold.
• Cosmetics and personal care: the information required on the pack follows the rules for that product type in the same market.
• All packaging: material and packaging requirements depend on the market and the pack type, and they change over time.

We plan this information into the layout from the start. The content check belongs to the manufacturer or a specialist adviser, together with the competent authority in the market. Squeezing it onto the back at the end costs either legibility or the front design. On a bilingual pack, space is planned from the actual approved texts in both languages, not from a rule of thumb. Saudi references are covered in packaging requirements in Saudi Arabia.

What the design price does not include

Printing, materials and finishing are charged by the printer or manufacturer. Product photography for the online shop can be part of the project but is quoted separately. The content check of mandatory information remains with the manufacturer.

Why cheap packaging can cost more in the end

A pack that disappears on the shelf can cost sales with every batch. A pack whose print files do not match the dieline can cost a misprint. Either can be more expensive than the difference between a cheap and a careful design. These are risks to check per project, not a guaranteed outcome.

Then there is time. A line where every variant was designed on its own starts from scratch with the next one. A system can reduce that repeated work for extensions that stay within it.

Process and duration

A packaging project follows four steps. First we clarify variants, formats and manufacturer. Then the system is developed on a first variant. Next it is carried over to all variants. Finally come the final artwork and print files on the real dieline.

How long that takes depends on the number of variants and coordination with the printer. You receive the schedule with the fixed price. The longest phase is often not design but waiting for proofs and samples.

Special case: seasonal gift boxes

Many brands add gift boxes or seasonal editions to their core line. These need an early decision: do they stay within the line’s system or get their own design? Do they carry the same mandatory information, or do they hold products that already carry it?

Plan the space and the schedule for this from the start. A seasonal edition has a date that does not move, and waiting for samples can become the limit. The Chimbá Box, which holds three tubes, is an example of an additional pack within the same system.

Examples from the studio

Bean Bank, a roastery with three coffee shops in Zurich and one in Basel, received its packaging, limited-run drops and merchandise from one system. For Chimbá, Fuic and Emozia the packaging was created together with the websites. In personal care and fragrance there are Manifest and Posh Stink, a London fragrance house with four fragrances. For Posh Stink we designed the logo, the bottle mark and the favicon; each fragrance runs to 300 numbered bottles.

How the fixed price is set

In the first call we clarify variants, formats, manufacturer and the state of the brand. From that comes a written offer with a fixed price, a schedule and revision rounds. What the service covers is on the packaging design page. All studio prices for comparison are on the pricing page.

Custom packaging: request design and manufacturing separately

Custom packaging can mean graphic design, structure or both. Describe in the request whether an existing pack is being designed or a new shape developed. Also name the versions, quantities and need for samples.

Anyone who wants the pack manufactured needs a separate production quote. The design fee does not cover materials, tools and printing unless that is explicitly agreed. On food labels, for example, design covers the variant system and the order of approved content; print method and finishing are coordinated with the manufacturer. Coffee packaging in particular is covered in coffee packaging design.