The JOURNAL

You know that moment when someone says, “Let’s make pizza at home!” and your first thought is Eww, David? Seriously, why? Every time, it ends up costing more than delivery, tastes like disappointment, and your kitchen looks like a scene from a natural disaster movie. And then, when the smoke clears, you realize the harsh […]

The honest answer for funded CPG founders on how much packaging costs, what you get at each price point, and what bad packaging actually costs you. You’ve got a product that works. You’ve spent real money proving it works. Now you’re getting quotes from designers that range from $800 to $15,000 and you’re wondering what […]

How to Find the Right Packaging Designer (Without Getting Burned). You’ve built something worth talking about. Now you need packaging that makes a stranger on a shelf (someone rushed, distracted, and spoiled for choice) reach for yours first. The wrong designer will cost you a lot more than their invoice. Here’s how to avoid them. […]

If you are trying to choose between a packaging design agency vs studio this is the breakdown nobody in the industry wants to publish. Do you want to work with the person who sold you the work or the person actually doing it? That is the question nobody asks out loud. So I will. That’s […]

You nailed the formula. Found the manufacturer. Built the Shopify store at 2am while your partner watched something on Netflix you’ll never catch up on. And then you packaged it in something that looks like it belongs next to the generic ibuprofen at the back of a pharmacy shelf. Three months later you’re blaming Meta […]

The most expensive packaging mistake isn’t a bad design. It’s a scared decision. I work with founders whose packaging is costing them sales without them even knowing it. I was working with a founder recently. Great product. Genuinely funny name. A clear customer who needed exactly what she was making. We built a strategy around […]

If you’re launching a skincare brand, you’ve probably already invested heavily in formulation. Chemists, testing, tweaks, more testing. Your product might genuinely make someone look like they bathed in the fountain of youth. And then margins disappear. Not because of ingredients.Because of packaging decisions that felt harmless at the time. This is where cost actually […]

Your dog doesn’t care what the treat bag looks like. But the person forking over $30 for freeze-dried duck hearts? Yeah, they do. Welcome to the world of premium dog treat packaging, where aesthetics, strategy, and shelf seduction collide. You’re Not Competing with Pedigree Mass market is loud. Neon paw prints. Shiny fonts. Maybe a […]

If you’re launching a product, one of the most important (and most ignored) questions is: how much should printing and packaging actually cost? Not what looks good on Pinterest. Not what your mood board says. What makes sense for your product, your price point, and your profit. Because beautiful packaging that bankrupts you is still […]

The cost of packaging design in 2026 ranges from $1K to $20K, depending on whether you’re paying for basic execution or strategic decision-making. Designers are not spinning a wheel and picking random numbers. No one wakes up and thinks, “Today feels like a twenty-grand label.” Some designers are order takers.Some designers are strategists. Different job. […]

Pro age beauty branding reframes ageing as confidence rather than something to fix. Most beauty branding still treats aging like a crisis. Fix this. Reverse that. Turn back time before it’s too late. But the brands that convert at a premium don’t play that game. They don’t sell empowerment. They don’t sell desirability. They don’t […]