The foundation and the brief are best done by you – nobody knows your why better. But the logo, the label and the graphic form are a craft, and here it's often wise to bring in a professional. This part is about doing that without it getting expensive, wrong, or both.
Do you really need help?
Managing on your own works – simple tools and AI go a long way for a first year. But bring in help when the packaging is going to print in volume, when you notice you're redoing the logo every six months, or when you're heading into shops and the shelf becomes your arena. A well-crafted identity lasts ten years – spread the cost over that and it's cheap.
What does it cost – honest benchmarks
- Experienced freelancer: logo from about 10,000–30,000 kr; a small package (logo, colours, typefaces, label base) about 25,000–50,000 kr.
- Smaller agency: graphic profile with a simple manual about 50,000–80,000 kr.
- Established agency with a strategy process: 80,000–150,000 kr and up – rarely the right level to start at for a small producer.
- Hourly rates run roughly 400–1,000 kr/hour depending on experience. Stockholm prices often sit 20–40% higher.
For most small food producers, an experienced freelancer with a feel for food is the best start: the right level, direct contact, and the money goes into the craft.
Finding the right person
- Start at the shelf. See a package you like from a small producer? Ask who made it. Recommendations from fellow producers beat everything.
- Look at the portfolio, not just the style. Look for someone who has done food and drink before – packaging and labels are a craft of their own, with print technique, materials and rules (ingredient lists, labelling).
- Talk to two or three. Describe your situation, send the brief, ask for a price picture and way of working. How they ask questions says more than their portfolio – a good designer asks about your customers, not your favourite colours.
- Watch out for: prices that feel too good (a 990 kr logo = a template), promises without questions, and agreements where you don't own the result.
The brief is your most important tool
Send your brand brief from step 2 before the first meeting. It saves hours (that you'd otherwise pay for), steers the work towards your why instead of the designer's taste, and makes the quote accurate. A good sequence: kick-off from the brief → sketches (2–3 directions) → you react with the brief in hand ("direction B feels most like our why") → finalisation.
What you should walk away with
Don't approve the final delivery until you have:
- The logo in the right formats: SVG or EPS (scalable for print) and PNG with transparent background – in colour, black and white.
- The colour codes: for print (CMYK/PMS) and screen (HEX/RGB).
- The typefaces: which they are, and what the licence allows (web? print?).
- A simple manual: one or two pages on how it all is used – logo, colours, type, spacing.
- The ownership: in writing, that you own the result and can use it freely. The source files should be yours.
Keep everything in one place you can find again – and share the folder with everyone who makes anything outward for you, from the print shop to whoever builds the website.
When you're done: a brand with a form
What you should have in place: a decision on DIY or help, a feel for reasonable cost, two or three candidates to talk to – and once the work is done: the files, the codes and the rights in your own folder.
The circle is closed
Pause for a moment and look at what you've actually built through this module:
- Your why, how and what – and who you exist for. The foundation everything else rests on.
- Your brand brief – your master reference for everything outward, in your own words.
- What makes you special – and the courage to show it, like Näsungs' seal and Ö-Chips' antics.
- The knowledge about packaging – what sells on the shelf and what the law requires.
- The decision about design help – DIY or professional, and what you should own when the work is done.
These are not small things. Most companies – big and small – have never done this work. You now know who you are, what you stand for and how it should look. The job is done.
And that is exactly the foundation the next steps need: in Marketing your why and your customer segments become visibility, in Sales your story becomes a premium you dare to charge – and when it's time to design the packaging for real, the brief is ready to send. Choose the path that feels most important right now. You're equipped for all three.