Packaging design agency
Packaging design decides whether a product is seen and chosen, on shelf and as a thumbnail in e-commerce. IW Agency designs packaging for food and drink brands, from strategy and heritage to finished production, and works from its office in Stockholm with clients across Sweden, the Nordics and internationally.
What does a packaging design agency do?
A packaging design agency designs what a product says before anyone has tasted it: on the shelf, as a thumbnail in an online store and on the kitchen counter. For a food or drink brand, the pack is usually the biggest medium it owns. It reaches more people, more often, than any campaign.
At IW Agency, we treat packaging as a business decision. The pack has to be seen and chosen, then recognised at the next purchase.
Packaging strategy
Packaging strategy decides what the pack has to do before anything is designed. We review the category, the competitors and the private labels, then decide which elements carry the brand. For Arla Ko, the question went beyond design: how milk could reclaim its cultural status in an increasingly commoditised dairy category. You get a clear direction and a fixed order for what the shopper sees first.
Food and beverage packaging design
Food and beverage packaging design covers what the shopper actually sees: colour, form, typography, imagery and tone of voice. The rye bread category had long been defined by muted tones and functional messaging, and Hatting broke that pattern. You get a design that stands apart from its neighbour on shelf and still says clearly what the product is.
Packaging redesign
A packaging redesign renews an established pack without giving up what customers recognise. Pucko has been Sweden's classic chocolate milk since the 1950s, but it had drifted from everyday drink to nostalgia. We separate the codes that must stay from the details that have aged. Our guide on how to modernise a heritage brand covers that trade-off.
Packaging systems for multi-market ranges
A packaging system makes flavours, sizes and new products look as if they belong together, in every market where the brand is sold. Lurpak carries 120 years of craft heritage and is sold in more than 90 markets. The question was how to evolve the brand and keep it future ready without losing that heritage.
At that scale, the design has to hold everywhere. A system for many markets has to absorb different languages, mandatory label text, pack formats and local retail conditions, and the brand still has to be recognisable at a glance. You get rules, templates and worked examples, so the next variant or the next market is quick to produce and still unmistakably the same brand. Our guide to brand design systems explains what such a system contains.
Packaging for e-commerce
Online, the pack meets the shopper as an image the size of a thumbnail. So we test every design at small scale. Is the logo visible? Can the variant be told apart? Is the product recognisable in a second? Read more in our guide to packaging for shoppers on phones and AI agents.
Selected work
Three cases show packaging design solving different business problems: a regulated market, a dormant heritage and competition from copies. In each, the pack did the work where the purchase decision is made.
Lucky Bait: when design is the only competitive tool
Lucky Bait is a beer from Spendrups. In Sweden, alcohol is sold through Systembolaget, the state-owned chain that holds the monopoly on retail sales of alcoholic drinks. In that market, brands can neither advertise nor influence price, so design becomes the main competitive tool.
The pack had to carry what advertising and price carry in other categories. The work won gold at Pentawards 2025, the international awards for packaging design. The same logic applies in other restricted categories, and we have written about building a brand when you can't advertise.
Champis: a century of heritage became a direction forward
Champis, a Swedish soft drink, was a slumbering classic. We went through the brand's archive, a century of design heritage, to find what still carries weight. The goal was a brand that is both iconic and relevant, without losing its heritage. The work won silver at Pentawards 2025.
Göteborgskex: clarity when the copies move in
When private labels began imitating Swedish biscuit classics, the category became crowded. Göteborgs Kex needed to win back trust and clarity on shelf. That is the pack's job, because the shelf is where shoppers compare original and copy side by side.
The Swedish snacks brand OLW faced the same pressure. As competition and private labels grew, it needed renewed clarity and distinctiveness.
Want to see more? Explore more case studies.
How do we work?
We work in six steps, from the business question to production-ready artwork. Each step builds on decisions from the one before, so every design choice can be justified.
The business and the category. We start with what the pack has to achieve: new buyers, a defended price or a clearer original against the copies. Then we review the shelf, e-commerce and competitors.
The heritage. We go through the brand's history and earlier packs. The aim is to separate the codes customers would miss from what has only become habit.
The strategy. We decide what the pack should say and in what order. The result is a hierarchy for brand, product, variant and message.
Concepts. We develop a few clearly different directions. Each is tested where it has to work: next to competitors on shelf and in the online store.
The system. The chosen direction is extended across the full range. Rules for variants, sizes and markets make it last.
Production. We deliver production-ready artwork and guidelines. The design has to hold in print and in variants that do not exist yet.
The steps are the same for a single product and for a whole range. What changes is how much time each step needs.
Why IW Agency?
IW has worked with brand and design since 1992, first as Identity Works and, since May 2025, as IW Agency. As Identity Works, we won a Pentawards gold in 2011.
At Pentawards 2025, both Swedish gold medals went to IW Agency, the second for Arla (Resumé, 7 October 2025). We have helped Arla evolve its product portfolio since 2007. We also won bronze for the graphic manual of Svenska kyrkan, the Church of Sweden.
We are around 50 people. From our office in Stockholm, we work with clients across Sweden, the Nordics and internationally.
Frequently asked questions
How much does packaging design cost?
Five things drive the price:
how many products and variants are included
whether it is a new pack or a redesign
whether strategy work is needed first
how many markets and languages the design must work in
how much production work is included.
A single product within an existing identity is a small assignment. A full range with new strategy across several markets is a large one. Describe the scope and we will send a proposal.
How long does a packaging design project take?
Time depends on the number of variants, how much testing is needed, internal approvals and production windows at printers and manufacturers. Redesigning one product is faster than creating a new range. Plan the rollout early, so the launch lines up with print runs and stock.
Do we need a brand platform before redesigning our packaging?
Not always. If the positioning is clear, work can start directly on the pack. If it is unclear what the brand stands for, the pack becomes a compromise. In that case, it pays to start with the brand platform.
How can packaging compete with private labels?
By owning what copies cannot take: colours, shapes and symbols customers link to your brand alone. The more distinctive the pack, the harder it is to imitate convincingly. Read more on how to compete with private labels and on distinctive brand assets.
Should I hire a design agency or a brand agency for packaging?
Choose by where the problem sits. If the brand is clear but the pack is weak, design work is often enough. If the question is what the brand should stand for, the pack needs strategy first. We do both, and you can read more about us as a design agency and as a brand agency.
Get in touch
Is your brand facing a new pack, a redesign or a range that has drifted apart? Write to hello@iwagency.com or call +46 8 506 360 00. We start with your business question.
Sources
Resumé, 7 October 2025: report on the Swedish gold medals at Pentawards 2025.
Selected work
Want to know more?
Tell us what you are working on, and we will get back to you.