A packaging designer plays a vital role in making things aesthetically more welcoming and attractive. Corporate firms and different companies hire creative content designers to design the custom packaging of their products.
Some designers work as freelancers or establish their own companies with their associates and provide services to different companies. It is not a 9 to 5 job for freelancers; they need to meet the deadline.
To be a good packaging designer, you need to establish certain qualities to make you the best in the market. Let’s find out that how to become a package designer everyone wants.
7 Top Qualities of a Good Packaging Designer:
i) Well Educated:
To become a good product packaging designer, you need at least a bachelor’s degree. Companies hire packaging designers with at least a bachelor’s degree in the graphics designing field.
Some institutions especially offer the packaging design degree, while graphics designing is being offered in many institutions.
ii) Creative Artist:
Creativity is the cornerstone to defining your position on the market. If you can think out of the box and bring something new that can attract the masses, you are the person for this job.
Just coping with others and getting minor changes to the previous ideas is not creativity, and clients do not like it. Creativity comes with experience, exposure, and a passion for learning new things.
iii) Consistency – A Success Tool:
Sometimes just creativity is not enough to be a good packaging designer. You need to be creative consistent.
For example, imagine you put your effort and hard work to bring innovative design, and you do so, but the client rejects it and demands something else, so you should be creative consistent with bringing more creative ideas to meet the customer’s demand.
iv) Good Designing Sense:
To know how to become a packaging designer, you need good design sense and color sense. You should have a firm grip over the combination of colors, illustrations, and shapes.
These things help to design a good packaging design. Without knowing the color schemes and variety of objects, you cannot be a good packaging designer.
v) Punctuality Matters:
Punctuality and success are joining hand to hand with each other. You need to be punctual to establish your name in the market. You should complete the task before the deadline, which will give you an edge to success.
As a freelance designer, if you submit the assigned task before the given deadline, it helps get a good rating from the client, and in freelancing, rating means bringing more business.
vi) Patience is a Key:
Patience also plays a vital role in the designing field. Great things take time to be completed, and sometimes this delay irritates you and the client.
You need to be patient to listen to the client calmly and telling your point of view. It helps to create your goodwill and credibility in the market.
How to Become a Famous Packaging Designer?
i) Get a Degree in Designing:
Firstly, get certified education, you should have a graduation degree in the designing field. If you are clear about your goals to be a packaging designer, it is best to select an institution specializing in this field that ensures a prosperous packaging design career.
ii) Learn Different Skills:
There are also packaging design courses available. However, there is more to it. You should develop yourself by learning different skills like,
- Typography
- Interactive Media
- Adobe’s Creative Apps
- Delivering Presentation
- Branding, and more
You must also have interpersonal skills like, communication, teamwork, and leadership qualities. By learning these skills, you will groom yourself, which will positively impact your personality.
Communication is key to convince the client about your idea. If you have good intra-personal communicational skills, you will easily persuade the client’s mind about your design idea.
If you want to work on massive projects, you need to have good teamwork skills to be a consistent team member. It will help you to a good portfolio of your work in the future.
iii) Grip Over Designing Tools:
A good packaging designer should have a strong grip over the designing tools. Famous designing tools are:
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Photoshop
- Entourage
- Corel Draw
- AutoCAD
Frequent practice can make you the master of these tools. You will get to know about the different short-cuts, which helps to do more work in a limited time.
iv) Gain Handful Experience:
Gain experience by practicing different tools and making different designs. Freelance working can play a vital role in gaining experience. If you are not experienced and not getting work online, so try to do internships.
These internships can be paid or unpaid. Internships give you practical information about your studies. It also provides you a professional environment where you gain experience and confidence, which helps in practical life.
v) Create a Commendable Portfolio:
Either you are doing a job or working as a freelance designer, you need to establish your portfolio. A portfolio is proof of your experience, which helps to establish your name in the market.
Clients and employers also check your portfolio before assigning their essential tasks. If you have a good portfolio, which can satisfy the client to assign the job, you will get the business.
vi) Create Influential Links:
Creating links is like building an empire. You need to establish good working relations with your clients so they can recommend you to others.
You can also ask your customers to recommend you to others. Different techniques are used in creating links across the market. some of the methods are:
- Design your business card
- Participate in different events
- Offer discount on your services
vii) Promote Yourself:
To be a famous packaging designer, you need to promote yourself. You need to exhibit your work, so people can get to know about your work and achievements. Different social media sites can be beneficial to do this. You can share a glimpse of your work on:
- Linked In, etc.
By sharing your sample custom boxes or designs, you will tell the world about your work and achievement. It will also make a good image of yours’ in their minds. They will trust you and will give you the business.
viii) Think Critically:
You need to think critically to make your task more precise and up to the mark. You need to identify and fix the problems in the task before the client identifies those problems. Being your own critic is not easy, but this trait can give your superiority over others.
Can a Graphic Designer Become a Packaging Designer?
A packaging designer is a graphic designer that creates eye-catching and creative designs to help build brand loyalty for your company’s products.
By attending a bachelor’s degree program in packaging design or graphic design, you could study brand development and typography. You will also learn about the materials that are used for creating packages as well as computer graphics and sustainable design.
Conclusion:
Being a master of any art is not easy, but strong determination makes things easy. To be the master of packaging designs, you need to work hard, learn every day and observe things critically. There are many designers who get the degree, but they never make their name in the market.
Just having a designer’s degree is not enough to be a master of this field. Get proper education, learn skills, gain experience, establish links, make a good portfolio and be punctual. Always come with a creative idea, rather than coping with other’s ideas. It harms your credibility in the market, so avoid it.
If you develop these skills and you have patience, you will witness great fortune. Never compromise on the quality of work because it’s the quality that matters in the designing field.