“Who is in charge of approving the final design?”

“What are the dimensions for the secondary packaging?”

“Are we using crimson red for the product name?”

“Is the packaging opening going to be a zip-lock or an insert?”

If you've ever sat in a meeting where designers are confused, marketing is frustrated, and regulatory is raising red flags all over the same packaging project, you're not alone. One of the biggest sources of misalignment in packaging development is a poorly constructed brief.

A packaging brief might be a document with packaging specifications and graphics, but for any cross-functional team, it’s their collaboration blueprint while designing a product from scratch or rebranding.  

This single piece of communication can make or break timelines, budgets, and brand consistency.

So, if your brief isn’t ‘briefing’ then you seriously need this guide (or at least it wouldn’t hurt to check it out)!  

Why packaging briefs fail

The answer is surprisingly simple yet concerning. Most briefs fail not because your teams lack expertise, but because essential information is missing, unclear, or buried across communication channels. In high-pressure environments, it’s tempting to “just get started” and fill in the details later. But this shortcut often leads to confusion and delays.

Here’s where your packaging design briefs probably fall short:

• Vague requirements: Ambiguous descriptors like "eye-catching" or "premium feel" lack specificity. Without visual references or defined expectations, it leaves room for subjective interpretations and off-brief designs.

• Misaligned formats: Each team has their style of working. One team sends a PDF, another adds notes in Excel, and someone uploads an update to Dropbox. Suddenly, there are five “final” versions, and no one knows which is current.

• Scattered information: There are teams that still rely on endless email threads or Slack messages instead of a centralized source. This leads to missing inputs, conflicting feedback, and rework.

• Last minute changes: Briefs that are “fluid” tend to shift too often. A new claim gets added, the SKU name changes, or a retailer-specific variant appears late in the process. Without formal version control, your teams can work off outdated instructions, leading to revisions.

Key to creating a good packaging design brief  

So, what does a “good packaging design brief” look like? It outlines what each team needs, expects, and delivers. The foundation of creating a good brief lies in the three Cs:

1. Clarity: Spell out what your packaging should achieve. Replace adjectives with complete definitions. Share examples and references instead of relying on buzzwords.

2. Completeness: The brief should be the one-stop source for everything including packaging copy, specs, approvals, and deadlines.

3. Collaboration: No single team holds all the answers. The brief must smartly collate a collective input from marketing, design, NPD, regulatory, and production teams.

What a great packaging design brief should include  

Each team has its own strength and strategy. A good packaging design brief must bring every team to the same page to align with the same goals and strategy. The heart of any great brief is the content itself. You have to be detailed about every single aspect.

To create and understand packaging design briefs for both parties better, you can divide your briefs into two parts: Packaging strategy information and artwork requirements.  

Part one of the brief: Strategy  

This section must inform your creative and technical teams of the business intent, consumer insight, and brand narrative behind the packaging. It provides context for them, ensuring everyone understands the purpose and goals before diving into execution.

1. Project Overview

Explains what the packaging is for, what product it supports, and where it’s going.

• Product name / SKU: It should clearly identify the product and include any variants or sub-brands (e.g., “Berry Burst – 250ml”).

• Launch type: Indicate the type of launch such as a new product, brand refresh, extension, or seasonal edition.

• Target market/ region: Define geographies. Regional compliance and language will follow.

• Target consumer: Describe the potential consumer to help tailor design and messaging. E.g., “Urban Gen Z, eco-conscious.”

• Launch deadline: Set realistic timelines to reverse-plan design, copy, review, and production stages effectively.

2. Brand & positioning

Ensures packaging aligns with the broader brand vision and speaks to the right audience.

• Brand positioning: Give a one-liner about the role this brand/product plays.
  Example: “A dermatologist-recommended skincare line designed for sensitive, acne-prone skin in humid climates.”

• Tone & personality: Describe the style you’re going for and use other brand references, e.g., “bold but minimal, like Brand X.”

• Visual identity: Link to the brand style guide and note key elements: logos, fonts, colors.

• Competition: Mention one or two key competitors and how you can stand apart.

3. Marketing messaging

Outlines what claims or benefits need to be highlighted to appeal to consumers.

• Hero claims: What do you want the shopper to notice first? E.g., “Plant-Based,” “No Preservatives.”

• Differentiators: Find unique aspects to highlight on the front-of-pack such as sourcing, ingredients, sustainability, etc.

• Consumer analysis: Attach the report of the consumer study you’ve conducted to support insights that influence your messaging decisions.

Part two of the brief: Artwork requirements

Once the strategy is defined, this section guides the creative execution. It contains information such as technical specs, legal copy, visual references, and approval workflows.  

4. Packaging structure & print specs

Technical details that ensure your beautiful design can actually be produced and printed.

• Format: Define the packaging format such as box, pouch, bottle, tube, etc, to guide structural design.

• Material type: Specify your desired material such as PET, glass, or kraft board that affects the ink on the print differently.

• Die Line/ template: Attach vendor-supplied dielines with bleed/safety zones marked.

• Print Method: Choose a print method like flexo, digital, or offset as this will affect design constraints and color capabilities.

• Color mode & finishes: Indicate the color mode you want such as CMYK/Pantone + foil, embossing, matte, etc, for a classy look.

• Bleed & safety margins: Confirm bleed and safety margins, typically 3mm for bleed and 5mm for safety, to avoid text or design cutoff during trimming.

5. Final copy

Provides the actual words that will appear on the pack instead of placeholders.

• Front-of-pack copy: The front-of-pack copy should be concise and cover essentials like the product name, weight, and primary claims.  

• Back-of-pack copy: It must include mandatory details such as ingredients, usage, company info, and certifications.

• Copy source/link: Attach the finalized copy doc.

• Copy approved by: Note who has approved the copy and the date of approval to lock the version for artwork use.

6. Visual references

Saves time and creative misalignment by showing inspiration and benchmarks.

• Mood board/ design style: Attach images or link to boards. Be specific about what you like or would like to avoid.

• Examples of brands/ competitors: Share references of competitors whose packaging styles you admire or want to distinguish yourself from.

• Creative notes: Add creative notes to guide layout preferences, such as “Use green tones for the organic variant” or “We want the flavor icon large on the front”.

7. Regulatory requirements

Ensures your packaging labels pass legal and regional compliance checks.

• Compliance Region(s): Depending on the location of manufacturing and distribution of the product, align your labels with the norms set by the FDA, FSSAI, BPOM or any such.  

• Required legal text: List all the required disclaimers, batch codes, and recycling symbols.

• Regional variants: Specify if multi-language versions or market-specific info is needed (e.g., Product labels in Canada must be bilingual).

• Approved by: Name the legal/regulatory point of contact for accountability.

8. Timeline & approvals

Clarifies who signs off on what and by when to keep the project on track.

• Review rounds: Allow for 2–3 structured review rounds and add buffer time between each.

• Final artwork handoff: State the date of the final packaging file delivery to the print vendor.

• Approvers: List all approvers, including roles like the marketing lead, regulatory reviewer, packaging engineer, and product owner, to ensure timely sign-offs.

How to effectively collaborate on briefs (sans the chaos)

If your packaging brief involves five teams, twenty people, and three rounds of revisions, you need more than a Google Doc—you need a system.  

The right collaboration tools, shared docs, clear ownership, and kick-off meetings can contribute to smoother execution. The goal? A brief that feels like a shared effort, not a mystery document dropped into inboxes.  

1. Involve the right stakeholders from the beginning

Bring your core team, including marketing, NPD, regulatory, and packaging, under a single roof during the pre-production stage. Brainstorm and review product objectives with them and align on the timeline and responsibilities before a single word is written in the brief.

2. Collaborate systematically with clear ownership

While the brief should be collaborative, someone from your team must own its accuracy and completeness. Assign a project owner responsible for updating and maintaining the document, while allowing contributors to edit relevant sections.

3. Use a common template and a format

Standardizing your briefs in a reusable format saves time and avoids confusion. A pre-built template ensures nothing critical is forgotten, while a consistent structure helps all stakeholders know exactly where to find what they need.  

Artwork Flow’s Docs can act as a single source of truth for you here.  

Store all the information and reflect all changes? Done.

Can any team work from the same doc? Done.

Duplicate an existing template? Also done.

With our Docs, you can build spec sheets and detailed packaging design briefs with tables, lists, and images to improve the quality of communication.

4. Document feedback loops

Create a system for collecting, consolidating, and responding to feedback. Assign deadlines for stakeholder input and clarify how revisions will be addressed. This avoids open-ended review cycles.

Wrapping up

A packaging brief isn’t a one-time task. It’s an all-time framework that evolves with every cross-functional conversation. It creates chaos and clarity, missed deadlines and smooth launches at the same time.

By investing in a solid brief, you're investing in your team's time, your brand’s integrity, and your product’s success on the shelf.

So, before your next packaging project kicks off, ask: Is our brief a powerful tool—or a bottleneck?

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