Your packaging is your first handshake with your customer, make it count.
If you’re a food or beverage brand owner, you already know that taste alone isn’t what sells. Before anyone gets to bite into your cookies, sip your kombucha, or snack on your spicy plantain chips, your packaging does the heavy lifting. It tells your story. It whispers (or shouts) your values. And most importantly, it convinces customers to pick you over the competitor sitting inches away on the same shelf.
But here’s the big decision you’re probably chewing on right now:
Should I hire a local packaging designer or go overseas?
At NOVO MxC, we’ve helped everyone from small-batch startups to national food brands navigate this exact decision. And let’s be real, it’s not a one-size-fits-all answer. There are pros and cons, efficiencies and risks, shortcuts and hidden costs on both sides.
So, let’s break it all down, step by step – like a good mise en place before a kitchen rush. And of course, we’ll toss in some food puns here and there (because what’s life without a little flavour?).
1. Hiring Local: Homegrown Talent With Market Savvy
Let’s start with the hometown heroes. Local packaging designers aren’t just artists—they’re market insiders. They shop the same shelves you’re targeting, attend the same farmers markets, and know exactly how your customers think, eat, and scroll.
Pros of Hiring a Local Designer:
- Built-in cultural context: Local designers understand what resonates with your audience from typography trends to colours that pop in a Canadian Loblaws vs. a California Whole Foods.
- Real-time collaboration: No juggling time zones or late-night calls. You can meet in person, review samples together, and build a real working relationship.
- Supplier familiarity: Need dielines that fit your local co-packer’s machines? Or materials that align with regional recycling rules? Local designers are already plugged into those systems.
Cons:
- Higher costs: Let’s not sugarcoat it. Hiring local talent often means higher rates especially in urban hubs like Toronto, Vancouver, or Montreal.
- Limited stylistic range: Depending on your area, your designer pool may be smaller. Niche styles or global design trends might not be their strong suit.
Actionable Tip: Look for local designers who’ve worked on packaging specifically for food or beverage brands. Ask for in-store photos, not just digital mockups. Bonus points if they’ve worked with your kind of packaging format—bottles, pouches, boxes, etc.
2. Hiring Overseas: Budget-Friendly, But With Strings Attached
It’s tempting, especially when you’re watching startup costs closely. Designers from overseas, especially through platforms like Fiverr, 99designs, or Upwork often offer eye-catching portfolios at wallet-friendly prices. But make sure you know what you’re getting into.
Pros of Hiring Overseas:
- Lower upfront costs: Overseas designers can charge 50–70% less than North American counterparts.
- Access to a global talent pool: Want a Japanese-inspired label or a Scandinavian minimalist touch? Overseas marketplaces are full of diverse styles and cultural aesthetics.
- Fast turnaround: In some cases, overseas teams work while you sleep. If managed properly, this can mean quicker timelines.
Cons:
- Cultural disconnects: A designer based in another continent may not understand Canadian food labelling laws, metric vs. imperial sizing, bilingual packaging requirements (hello, French!), or even key trends in your local market.
- Communication hurdles: Misunderstandings can easily arise due to language barriers or vague feedback. Plus, the time difference can slow down revisions.
- Generic templates: Some budget designers reuse the same layout across brands, which can lead to packaging that feels impersonal or even worse copied.
Actionable Tip: When going overseas, be ultra-clear with your brand brief. Include mood boards, local competitor examples, and regulatory specs. And ask up front: “Is this design 100% original?”
3. Hybrid Model: The Sweet Spot for Savvy Brands
Here’s a hot tip we love sharing with our clients: you don’t always have to choose just one. The smartest brands often combine forces.
What’s the hybrid model?
It’s when you work with a local creative agency (like us at NOVO MxC) to shape your strategy, brand story, and packaging architecture and then use overseas resources for production extensions like alternate SKUs, size variations, or small seasonal runs.
Pros:
- Best of both worlds: You get local insight, oversight, and strategy plus budget-friendly execution.
- Fewer mistakes: Your local team acts as quality control and translator, bridging the cultural and technical gaps.
- Scalability: As your product line grows, you already have systems in place to scale packaging across multiple markets.
Cons:
- More project management: Juggling two teams requires clear communication and timelines.
- May cost more upfront: You’re paying a local team to supervise overseas production, but it usually pays off in quality and consistency.
Actionable Tip: When using a hybrid approach, ensure you have brand guidelines and dieline templates clearly documented. These will become your North Star for all design work, local or global.
4. Key Questions to Ask Before Hiring Any Designer
Before you send that deposit or sign that contract, here are questions we suggest every food or beverage founder asks:
- Have you designed food or beverage packaging before?
- Do you understand Canadian or North American packaging laws?
- Can you create production-ready dielines?
- Do you work directly with printers or co-packers?
- How many rounds of revisions are included?
- Can you suggest sustainable or compostable packaging options?
- Can I see real-life examples of your work on shelves?
Actionable Tip: If the designer says “no” to even two of the above, they may not be the best fit for your product. Packaging isn’t just art it’s a business tool, and it needs to perform.
5. Final Thoughts: Design That Sizzles Should Also Sell
Your packaging is more than a pretty face, it’s the first moment of trust with your customer. Whether you’re creating packaging for frozen pierogies, adaptogenic beverages, spicy dips, or gluten-free brownies, the key is finding a design partner who understands your product, your market, and your long-term goals.
If budget is your main concern, overseas might work, if you’re clear, strategic, and prepared to invest time in feedback loops. But if you’re looking to launch in retail, pitch to investors, or elevate your brand’s presence, local design or agency support will give you the ROI you’re craving.
Need Packaging That Pops (and Performs)?
At NOVO MxC, we work with ambitious food and beverage brands across Canada and beyond to bring their vision to life through unforgettable, scroll-stopping, shelf-hopping design. Our team blends strategy with creativity, and we go beyond the pretty pixels, we dig into market trends, shopper behaviour, printing logistics, and more.
Whether you’re just getting started or scaling fast, let’s chat about how we can bring your packaging dreams to life with:
- ✅ Strategy
- ✅ Branding
- ✅ Packaging Design
- ✅ Website Design
- ✅ Food Photography
- ✅ Video Production
- ✅ Animation
We’ve worked with award-winning brands, up-and-coming disruptors, and passionate founders with a dream. We’d love to work with you too.
Please give us a call at 416-892-2471 or reach out to us using the contact form at the bottom of this page.
