What if a packaging challenge
actually taught you something useful?
Most design challenges focus on how packaging looks. The Summer Packaging Challenge™ helps you think through packaging the way experienced packaging professionals do.
Designed for people with some design experience who want to better understand how packaging moves from concept to production.
You don't need to be a packaging expert to participate. Register today and you'll immediately receive your Welcome Email, Challenge Schedule, and first Resource Pack before the Kickoff Session.
There are a lot of design challenges out there. This isn't quite like any of them.
Most packaging challenges ask you to design something that looks compelling and present it. That part is important — but it's only half the picture. The other half is understanding whether what you've designed can actually be made, how much it might cost, and whether it makes sense from a production standpoint.
Over the years, I've had a front-row seat to the conversations that happen between designers, printers, converters, paper mills, and brand teams. I've seen beautiful ideas become successful packaging — and I've also seen small decisions create unexpected production challenges. Those experiences inspired this Challenge.
That's the gap I wanted to close. The Summer Packaging Challenge™ gives you real briefs, real dielines, and real production context — so you can experience the kinds of decisions that happen long before a package reaches the shelf.
The result is work that feels more considered. Work you can genuinely learn from. Work that tells a different story in your portfolio than a standard design exercise.
This is a learning experience first
The structure is built around education, not evaluation. You'll leave with more insight into how packaging decisions connect to production reality — regardless of where you are in your career.
Real production context matters
Packaging doesn't exist in a vacuum. Knowing how a folding carton gets built, how a flexible pouch behaves on press, or how a dieline shapes your layout decisions — that knowledge shows up in your work.
You'll work with actual brand briefs
Five fictional premium brands. Five distinct briefs. Each one designed to reflect the kinds of conversations that actually happen in professional packaging environments.
Different perspectives make it better
Seeing how other designers approach the same brief — from completely different directions — is one of the most useful things that can happen during two weeks of creative work.
"Most design challenges focus on creating packaging that looks good.— Summer Packaging Challenge™ · PackagingChic
This Challenge helps you think through packaging the way experienced packaging professionals do."
It's built around how packaging actually works in the real world.
The Summer Packaging Challenge™ is designed to help you think beyond the graphics. You'll work through the kinds of creative, technical, and production decisions that happen on real packaging projects — building skills you can carry into future work long after the Challenge ends.
- Dieline-Based WorkflowsYou'll design within real packaging structures, learning how layout, hierarchy, and production requirements influence the final package from the very beginning.
- Production AwarenessEach brief introduces the real-world considerations that bridge the gap between design and production, helping you understand how creative decisions affect manufacturing.
- Strategic BriefsThe brand briefs reflect real positioning, real constraints, and real brand thinking — not vague prompts.
- Live Educational SessionsJoin four live sessions focused on practical packaging insights, production thinking, submission guidance, and lessons you can apply to future projects.
- Professional ReviewEvery submission receives a professional review. Not a score. An actual look at what's working and what the work is communicating.
- Portfolio-Quality OutputFinish with a portfolio piece that demonstrates more than creative ability. Show how you think through packaging decisions — not just how you design them.
- Shared ExperienceYou'll be working through the same briefs alongside packaging students, designers, marketers, and creatives — all starting from the same place and going in different directions.
- No Jargon, No FluffThe sessions, briefs, and resources are written to be clear and direct. If you don't know something yet, this experience is designed to help with that.
If you work with packaging — or want to — this is for you.
The Summer Packaging Challenge™ is designed for people with some design experience who want to build practical packaging skills. You don't need to know everything about packaging before you begin. If you're comfortable working in a design environment and want to better understand how packaging moves from concept to production, you'll fit right in.
It's a great fit if you:
- Want stronger portfolio work that demonstrates real packaging thinking.
- Have designed packaging but want to better understand production.
- Wonder what happens after the artwork is approved.
- Enjoy solving creative problems within real-world constraints.
Illustrator is the industry standard for print production and packaging work. Dielines are vector files, and production-ready packaging design lives in Illustrator. If you're coming from another program, this is a good moment to get comfortable in the right environment.
Two weeks. Five brand options. One educational experience you can build on.
The structure is straightforward, but the experience goes beyond completing a project. Each step is designed to help you build practical packaging knowledge you can apply long after the Challenge is over.
- 1
Register and get started
After you register, you'll immediately receive your Welcome Email, Challenge Schedule, and the first part of your Resource Pack so you can begin exploring the five brands before the Kickoff Session.
On the morning of the Kickoff Call, you'll receive the remaining Challenge materials, including the dielines and additional resources you'll use throughout the two weeks.
- 2
Choose up to two brand projects
You can submit up to two entries, each for a different brand. Choose the briefs that interest you most, or challenge yourself with formats you haven't worked in before.
- 3
Join the Kickoff Session on July 13 — this is the main one
This is where we open the challenge together. I'll walk through all five briefs, explain the production context for each format, and answer questions before the work begins. If you can only make one live session, this is it.
- 4
Work through the two-week challenge period
The challenge runs July 13–26. Two additional live sessions give you direct access to me mid-challenge — one focused on production insights, one on submission readiness.
- 5
Submit by July 26
All submissions are due by the end of the challenge period. Every entry receives a professional review from the PackagingChic review panel.
- 6
Join the Featured Entry Showcase on July 31
Selected entries are featured in the live Showcase. This is the part where seeing how others interpreted the same brief becomes one of the most educational moments of the whole experience.
Five fictional brands. Five distinct formats. One consistent standard.
Each brand project comes with a full brief, brand kit, and dieline. They're designed to feel like real professional packaging assignments — because that's the point.
Clean, coastal positioning with room for strong typographic and structural thinking. The folding carton format rewards hierarchy decisions and a working understanding of how print production constraints shape design.
This brief introduces the unique challenges of designing a digitally printed e-commerce mailer that protects the product, creates a memorable unboxing experience, and extends the brand beyond the retail shelf.
Tea is a category where brand personality and shelf presence are often decided by packaging. The carton/sleeve format creates specific opportunities for storytelling, texture, and consumer connection.
The can carrier format brings a different set of challenges — you're designing packaging that holds packaging. This brief asks you to think about the full product presentation, not just a single surface.
Rigid box construction is where structure and luxury meet. This brief is for designers who want to explore how packaging becomes part of the product experience — not just a container for it.
Everything you need to work through the challenge is included.
Everything in the Summer Packaging Challenge™ is designed to work together — from the brand briefs and dielines to the live sessions and resource materials — so you can focus on learning how packaging moves from concept to production.
Five Brand Briefs
One for each brand. Written to reflect professional packaging assignments with positioning, tone, and production context included.
Brand Kits
Color, typography, and visual direction for each brand — so you can focus on packaging decisions, not building a brand identity from scratch.
Dielines
Structural templates for each format. These are what you design into — the same way production-ready packaging work actually begins in the industry.
Resource Pack
Supporting materials that give context for production, format-specific considerations, and how packaging decisions connect to manufacturing reality.
Four Live Sessions
Four live sessions designed to help you think through packaging decisions, answer questions, and build confidence as you work through the Challenge.
Session Replays
Every session is recorded. If you can't attend live, the replay is yours. Watch once, watch three times — whatever you need.
Professional Review
Every submission receives a professional review from the PackagingChic review panel — looking at how your work functions, not just how it looks.
Shared Experience
You'll be part of a group going through the same briefs at the same time. Live Zoom sessions are where that community comes together.
Recognition Opportunities
Selected entries may be featured during the July 31 Showcase. Every participant who completes the Challenge and submits a project is recognized for taking part in the experience.
Four Zoom sessions across two weeks — each one with a specific purpose.
Each session is designed to support you at a different stage of the Challenge — from getting started and asking questions to preparing your submission and learning from the Showcase. All sessions are held live on Zoom at 10:00 AM Pacific Time, are approximately one hour long, and are recorded, so you can attend live or watch the replay whenever it works best for you.
- July13Kickoff — Don't Miss This One
Kickoff Session
This is where we open the challenge together. I'll walk through all five briefs in detail, cover the production context for each format, and make sure everyone has what they need to get started.
- July17Live Access to Sharon
Packaging Tips & Production Insights
Mid-challenge. By now you're into the work — and this session is your chance to bring your questions directly to me.
- July24Live Access to Sharon
Challenge Clinic & Submission Readiness
Two days before submissions close. This is your pre-submission check-in — bring your work and make sure you're submitting with confidence.
- July31Featured Entry Showcase
Featured Entry Showcase & Wrap-Up
Selected entries are shared and discussed. Seeing how different people interpreted the same brief from completely different starting points is educational, genuinely interesting, and a fitting close to two weeks of real work.
The work deserves to be seen. Here's how we do that.
This isn't a ranked event, so the recognition here works a little differently. The review panel looks at the full scope of what each submission demonstrates — the thinking behind it, the technical execution, and how well the work serves the brief.
Featured Entries
Selected submissions that demonstrate strong creative and production thinking are featured and discussed in the July 31 Showcase session.
Production Excellence
Recognized for submissions that show exceptional awareness of how structure, material, and format constraints should inform design decisions.
Creative Problem Solving
Recognized for work that finds smart, considered solutions within the constraints of the brief — not just visually compelling, but strategically sound.
Outstanding Brand Expression
Recognized for submissions that bring the fictional brand to life in a way that feels cohesive, credible, and genuinely shelf-ready.
Emerging Packaging Talent
Recognized for participants early in their career who demonstrate a strong grasp of packaging as a discipline — not just a design exercise.
Participant Recognition
Every participant who submits work is acknowledged. Completing a structured, production-aware packaging experience is worth noting.
The review panel is drawn from PackagingChic's professional network. All featured entries are selected based on the work.
You won't be working through this alone.
One of the things I find most valuable about experiences like this one — and I've been involved in many over the years — is what happens when a group of people with different backgrounds all sit down with the same brief.
A packaging student and a freelance designer and a product developer can look at the exact same brief, the exact same dieline, and come back with three completely different approaches. All three might be right. All three might teach you something the other two didn't think of.
During the Summer Packaging Challenge™, you'll be working at the same time as other packaging students, graphic design students, junior designers, production artists, marketers, and industry professionals — all working through the same five brand briefs from their own perspective.
The live Zoom sessions are where that shared experience happens. Bring questions. Pay attention to what other participants are asking. Notice where your thinking lines up with others — and where it diverges. That's where a lot of the real learning is.
Packaging is more interesting when you can see how other people think about it.
A few things people usually want to know.
What design software do I need?
Adobe Illustrator is required. Illustrator is the industry standard for print production and packaging work, and the dielines provided are vector files built for it. This isn't a software preference — it's how packaging production actually works, and using the right tool is part of what this challenge is designed to teach.
Do I have to choose just one brand, or can I work on all five?
You can submit up to two entries — each for a different brand project. Choosing two is completely optional. One well-executed brief is more valuable than two rushed ones.
Which session is most important to attend live?
The July 13 Kickoff Session is the one to prioritize. That's where I walk through all five briefs in detail, explain the production context for each format, and answer questions before the work begins. All sessions are recorded.
What does the professional review actually look like?
Every submission is reviewed by the PackagingChic review panel — looking at how the work responds to the brief, how design decisions interact with the format's structural and production realities, and how clearly the brand is communicated. It's not a score. It's a thoughtful look at the work through the lens of production experience.
Can I participate if I've never worked with a dieline before?
If dielines are new to you, that's okay — the Resource Pack and Kickoff Session both cover how to work within them. That said, some design experience is expected coming in.
What if I can't attend the live sessions?
All four sessions are recorded and replays are included with your registration. You won't miss the content — though attending the Kickoff live gives you the chance to ask questions before you start the work.
Is this open to participants outside the US?
Yes. The challenge is fully online and open to participants anywhere. Live sessions will be held in a US time zone — exact times will be confirmed closer to the start date — and replays are available if the timing doesn't work for you.
What format do I submit my work in?
Submission format details are included in the Resource Pack and covered in the Kickoff Session. Generally, you'll be submitting Illustrator files and/or high-quality mockup presentations.
Is $27 the total cost, or are there additional purchases?
$27 is the full registration. Everything described on this page — all five briefs, brand kits, dielines, resource materials, all four live Zoom sessions, session replays, and professional review — is included. There are no additional tiers or upsells.
I'm a marketer or product developer, not a designer. Is this relevant for me?
It can be. Marketers and product developers who want to understand how packaging decisions get made often find this kind of experience genuinely useful. That said, Adobe Illustrator is required for submission.
What time are the calls?
All live Zoom sessions are held at 10:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00 p.m. Eastern. Session replays are included with your registration if you can't attend live.
Will my work be shared publicly?
Participants retain ownership of their original work.
By submitting an entry to the Summer Packaging Challenge™, participants grant PackagingChic permission to:
- review submissions
- display submitted work during live sessions
- feature selected entries on social media, websites, presentations, or promotional materials related to the challenge
- showcase entries for educational or promotional purposes connected to the Summer Packaging Challenge™
Whenever possible, participant credit and attribution will be included when work is shared.
Two weeks of structured packaging education, professional review, and live access — for $27.
The Summer Packaging Challenge™ is designed to be accessible. That's an intentional part of what PackagingChic is about — making professional packaging knowledge available to people who want it.
- Five fictional brand briefs
- Brand kits for all five projects
- Dielines for all five formats (Adobe Illustrator files)
- Full Resource Pack
- July 13 Kickoff Session (live Zoom)
- July 17 Packaging Tips & Production Insights (live Zoom)
- July 24 Challenge Clinic & Submission Readiness (live Zoom)
- July 31 Featured Entry Showcase (live Zoom)
- All four session replays
- Professional review of your submission(s)
- Recognition opportunities in the Featured Entry Showcase
Challenge: July 13–26, 2026 · Showcase: July 31, 2026
Registration closes when the challenge opens or at capacity.
If you've ever wanted to think through packaging the way experienced packaging professionals do, this is a great place to start.
Two weeks. Five briefs. Real dielines, real production context, and a group of people who find this stuff as interesting as you do.
Summer Packaging Challenge™ · July 13–26, 2026 · Presented by PackagingChic