Top Ten Tips for Thrifty Package Design

Get Great Results on Budgets Gone Bust

By Nancy Slaymaker

Pace your spending. Big design projects often change direction quickly, especially at the beginning stages of the creative process. Hold onto the bulk of your budget until the project has “taken root” and stakeholders have had their chance to make initial revisions.

Educate your internal clients. When you’re in the design concept stage, let your internal clients (including your marketing team) know that you can lower expenses and conserve resources by using illustrations in place of expensive mock-ups to communicate initial design direction. Ask for agreement on this point at the beginning and mid-stages of the design project. This one simple step can add staying power to even the most thinly stretched design budget.

Ask for the down-and-dirty. When all you want is creative, compelling work that is “good-enough” but not “perfect,” don’t forget to tell your design studio (and specify it in your instructions). This way you pay for perfection only when you really want it.

Shrink your mock-ups. Instead of requiring full-size renditions of new product designs, ask your graphic designer to provide 50 percent to 75 percent scale pieces. Smaller sizes often translate into lower costs.

Match project to designer. Whenever possible, steer your projects to the design studios that specialize in the type of work you are after. For example, the best comp designers may not be the best at developing innovative, breakthrough concepts. Often, niche-oriented design shops offer the best value (and speed to completion) for the type of work in which they specialize.

Use the Issues Log technique. Create an Issues Log of the design direction that all project stake holders can refer to. I record the date, description of the issue, name of person originating the issue, who is accountable for resolving it, and a brief description (and date) of the resolution. Share the log with clients at regular intervals so changes in direction are visible throughout the design process. Such visibility encourages disciplined design modifications and helps prevent frivolous change requests.

Search for talent. Submit a Request for Quotation (RFQ) to a few design studios you have never used. Invite them to bid on one of your upcoming projects. This is a sure-fire way to discover those hard-to-find design studios that know how to partner with your company and consistently provide effective, value-added solutions.

Channel creativity. Any good (or great) design studio will want to demonstrate their creativity by “showing off” through the work they do for you. But often, this could mean you do not get exactly what you asked for. Try directing your designer’s creative fire by allowing them to submit a “wild card” design in addition to the work completed according to your specific instructions. The deal up front? You agree to pay for the wild card design only if you use it.

Follow the “Half-dozen Rule.” When launching a new project with your design studio, keep your request for design solutions to six or fewer alternatives. Your designers will likely work on twice that number to come up with the six “great” designs…but by limiting the number of submissions you’ll raise the bar on the quality of the ones you pay for.

Request a cost alert. By asking your graphic design studio to notify you when you reach an agreed upon cost milepost, you can avoid surprise invoices at the end of your project.

Bonus Tip! Check out your rejects. Make it a point to revisit the designs that were passed over from previous projects. With slight modification, some of these “almost good-enoughs” can become your new star design. The best part? They’re already paid for.