How to Find a Packaging Designer. I am Australian. I live in Croatia. Most of my clients are in the US, the UK, or somewhere else entirely.
I have never been in the same room as most of them. I have rarely been in the same country as the printer producing their packaging.
Every single project has still been delivered.
Because how to find a packaging designer has almost nothing to do with where they live. It has everything to do with how they work.
Here is what actually matters.
The Worries Founders Have About Hiring Internationally
Most founders considering an international designer ask the same three questions.
Language. Legitimate concern in theory. Not a real issue in practice if you can hold a conversation over Zoom. I work in English every day. So does most of the design world. If a designer’s portfolio speaks English and their emails read cleanly, language is not the problem.
Proofs. This one sounds legitimate but is actually a red herring. Here is why. A digital proof shows you what a file looks like on screen. An offset print run shows you what ink looks like on paper. Those two things will never match perfectly regardless of where anyone lives. Colour shifts happen. Substrate matters. A local designer standing in a print shop is not going to change physics.
What matters is that your designer knows how to spec files properly, communicates with the printer directly, and flags issues before they become 10,000 reprinted units. That is a skill. Not a postcode.
In-person meetings. Nobody needs them. I have done every project of the last decade braless on the couch with a laptop and good Wi-Fi. Zoom exists. Email exists. Written confirmation exists. Meeting someone in a boardroom does not produce better packaging.
If you need to shake a hand to trust someone, you were going to have trust issues no matter what.
The Real Question Is Not Location. It Is Fit.
I do not think working internationally is an advantage. It is not a disadvantage either. It is just how work happens now.
Here is what actually matters when you are choosing a designer.
You like their portfolio. Their work looks like the work you want to make.
You hop on a discovery call and neither of you is an internet weirdo.
You vibe. Professionally speaking, of course.
The budget works. The timeline works.
That is the whole list. Whether they live next door or in a lighthouse on an island in the Adriatic, the work gets done the same way.
If the fit is right, the location is irrelevant. If the fit is wrong, being in the same city will not save you.
Read what to look for in a packaging designer
How to Vet an International Designer Before You Commit
Every founder is worried about the same underlying thing. Getting scammed. Getting ghosted. Ending up with files they cannot use and no one to help.
Here is the exact vetting method I recommend.
Step one. Look at their portfolio. Not the mockups. The real photos of real products in the wild. Anyone can render a beautiful bottle in Photoshop. Fewer people can produce one that actually prints, ships, and sells.
Step two. Book the discovery call. Not the templated fifteen-minute intro call. A proper one. Forty five minutes minimum where you actually talk about your product.
Step three. Ask the awkward questions. This is the bit most founders skip. On my discovery calls I explicitly ask “what’s freaking you out, what’s keeping you up at night, and what do you want to ask but might feel embarrassed to.”
Then I answer honestly. That is what a discovery call is for. Not for me to sell you. For both of us to figure out if we should be working together.
If a designer will not answer your awkward questions clearly, you have your answer.
Step four. Ask for a testimonial or a reference. Not a screenshot on Instagram. A real client you can email or call.
This is what a good process actually looks like
What Confidence Looks Like on a Discovery Call
I have been doing this for seventeen years. Which means I can tell within ten minutes of a call whether we should be working together.
If the fit is not right, I say so.
Not to be difficult. Because taking on a project that is not right for either of us wastes both our time and produces bad work.
That is the thing to look for in an international designer. Someone who will walk away from a project that is not the right fit. Not someone who will say yes to everything because they need the money.
The designer who says yes to everything is the one who will disappear halfway through when they realise the scope has grown, the timeline is impossible, and the founder is a nightmare.
The designer who says “I do not think we are the right match” is the one who will finish your project properly if they say yes.
How the Working Process Actually Looks Day to Day
This is the bit that scares founders the most and matters the least.
Working with me is not an hourly gig. You are not billed by the minute for a Slack message.
I update you throughout the project. We text. We email. Sometimes we exchange memes. You always know where things stand.
That is the whole point.
The project runs on a clear schedule. You know what is happening this week, what is happening next week, and what is coming after that. You never have to chase me for an update because I have already sent it.
The time zone thing is a non-issue. I work with US founders on the East Coast, the UK, Australia, and everywhere in between. I flex my hours to overlap. Zoom does not care what time it is.
If a designer is good, distance is irrelevant. If a designer is disorganised, being in the same city will not save you.
Ready to Start?
If you are trying to find a packaging designer and you have been treating international as a barrier, it is not.
The right designer works with you regardless of where either of you lives. The wrong designer would have been wrong down the road too.
Pick fit over postcode. Every time.
Projects start at $9,000 USD. Strategy-led CPG packaging design for founders whose product is genuinely good but whose branding is quietly letting them down.
Read about how much packaging design actually costs Back to all packaging design services
Studio Stoked works with food, beverage, skincare and wellness founders globally. Based in Zadar, Croatia.
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