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Budgeting Bliss: Package Design Students Prepare Estimates

A successful package is more than just a snazzy design, a whole lot more, but even the best design won’t make it to the shelf if it costs too much to make.

After a semester of helping students craft packages for design competitions, I ask them to create a budget for their package.
After a semester of helping students craft packages for design competitions, I ask them to create a budget for their package.

After a semester of helping students craft packages for design competitions, I ask them to do something that never fails to generate a lot of blank stares: create a budget for their package. Before I give them any direction on how to create a budget, I assign homework that asks, “How much will it cost to manufacture your package design?” If there are 10 teams in the class, this is what generally happens:

1.    Three teams will be unable to deliver anything but a random guess. While some will stumble upon accurate predictions, others come up with mind-boggling calculations using numbers from goodness-knows-where.

2.     Three teams will review the cost of similar products on Uline to approximate the cost of their projects.

3.     Three teams will find similar stock packaging and determine the cost-weight ratio or cost-volume ratio and multiply to arrive at their final figure.

4.     One team (usually the team struggling the most with their design) will act like a buyer, calling a supplier and convincing a kind salesperson to deliver a quote. Many of these teams have learned to divide and conquer, with each calling a different supplier, resulting in multiple quotes. It’s an impressive boost for their morale and smiles abound on presentation day.

The students report their budget estimates alongside their designs. The standard distribution is high, from beautifully complex packages that cost $15 a unit to the efficient standard design coming in under a dollar. 

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