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Differences between designers and sectors Designers produce design schemes for a range of diverse products and for companies across many different sectors. Some design agencies dovetail packaging design with general graphic design and thus need to be flexible about embracing a host of ideas, as each sector has its own particular shared visual vocabulary and cues. Other design agencies therefore choose to focus exclusively on packaging design because it requires a specific set of skills that will be different to those required in other sectors of design, such as print design or identity creation. The degree of focus and specialisation required to produce design packaging means that many agencies only choose to offer a bespoke service tailored to meet specific needs. Packaging design can be perceived as a more ruthless design sector than others, as ultimately it has to result in generating sales and making money for the client, which is what they crucially expect to result from the design and is often their main purpose for producing a product. Packaging design has to quite literally deliver the goods, or a product is highly likely to fail.
In general, the retail sector does not have philanthropists paying for products to get to market; companies have to survive by their own efforts and those of their collaborators, such as design agencies. In this context, packaging design forms part of a multidisciplinary approach that corresponds with the marketing and promotional activities of the client. Within those agencies that only undertake packaging design there are further degrees of specialization, as the mind set and skills needed to work successfully with food packaging are different to what is required for automotive parts packaging, for instance. The ability to specialize is a sign that a design agency has learnt to understand a sector well and that it has a reputation for producing good work rooted in the deeper knowledge it has gained of a chosen sector. The question of whether to specialize or not is one that faces all designers, although in practice the decision may evolve naturally from the type of work that the design agency receives and from the relationships that it has had success in cultivating.
Apparel
Games and toys
Technology
Beverages
Food
Medicine
Gift packages
Home and garden
Industrial
Media
Kids and baby
Office
Personal
Pet food and care
Sports
Tobacco
Electronics
Automotive
Lingerie
Music
The many different sectors that designers can produce packaging designs for: each have their own specific requirements and considerations. This often leads to sector specialization, or specialization in shared or common sectors, for example in food and beverages (as illustrated by the diagram above), where common knowledge may be transferable.