The price bands by project type
These are the bands we see across the Australian market and the ones we quote against. They assume a professional studio with retail experience, strategy included where noted, and finished artwork delivered. Freelance and micro-studio prices sit below them; large agency prices sit above.
| Project | Typical range (AUD, ex GST) | What is inside |
|---|---|---|
| Single-SKU pack refresh | $8,000 to $15,000 | Existing brand. New pack design, one format, finished artwork to printer spec. |
| Small range, existing brand (3 to 5 SKUs) | $15,000 to $30,000 | Range system, variant coding, finished artwork for each SKU. |
| New brand plus packaging (5 to 10 SKUs) | $30,000 to $60,000 | Strategy and positioning, identity, packaging system, guidelines, finished artwork. |
| Category-leader rebrand (20+ SKUs) | $60,000 to $150,000+ | Full brand system, range architecture across tiers, rollout across formats, retailer sales materials. |
| Private label range for a retailer | $40,000 to $120,000 | Depends heavily on SKU count and how much of the design system the retailer supplies. |
The price bands by who does the work
The Australian market has three broad tiers. Each serves a different problem at a different price, with different trade-offs. None is wrong; they are calibrated to different jobs.
| Tier | Typical fee | What you get | The trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freelance and micro-studios | $3,000 to $15,000 for a single SKU, more for ranges | A designer and a design. You bring the strategy, the retailer relationships and the production wrangling. | Strategic depth and retailer experience vary widely. Cheap at the design fee, expensive if it misses the shelf. |
| Independent boutique studios | $15,000 to $60,000 for a rebrand or range | Strategy, design and production-aware artwork with retailer experience built in. The senior person on every project. | Capacity is limited. Briefs are selective. |
| Large multi-discipline agencies | $60,000 upwards, often six figures | Scale, breadth, global process. Right when the scope genuinely needs it. | Overhead in the fee. Senior talent spread across many accounts; mid-level teams do most of the work. |
Morice&Co. sits in the middle tier. We say that plainly because it is the useful information: if your brief is a single SKU with clear direction, the first tier may serve you well; if you are rolling out across four continents, the third tier exists for a reason.
What moves the number
- Number of SKUs. A single pack is one problem. A range of eight is ten problems, because the system has to hold as well as the individual designs. Beyond twelve SKUs, range architecture becomes its own stage of work.
- Whether the brand is included. A pure packaging refresh is one fee. Rebrand plus packaging is a different fee. Strategy and identity take weeks that pack design alone does not need.
- Whether finished art and production are included. Concept work ends at sign-off. Getting to the print floor requires dielines aligned to the printer, spot colour and finish callouts, regulatory copy checked, and pre-press supervision. A pack signed off in concept is not a pack ready to print.
- Number of formats. A pouch, a carton and a label for the same product are three sets of artwork and three dielines, even with one design.
- Rounds of review. Two to three rounds is standard. Unlimited rounds is expensive, and if nobody agrees the scope of feedback up front both sides discover it in month four.
- Retailer requirements. Coles and Woolworths compliance, shelf-ready packaging and carton artwork add work that a direct-to-consumer brand never needs.
What is almost never in the design fee
First-timers budget for design and are surprised by the rest. These are the line items to add before you compare quotes.
| Item | Why it is separate | Rough Australian cost |
|---|---|---|
| Printing | The printer's fee, not the designer's. Depends on process, run length and substrate. | From a few thousand dollars for a short digital run to tens of thousands for gravure. See our print cost guide. |
| Photography and renders | Product and lifestyle imagery for the pack, retailer listings and marketing. | $2,000 to $15,000 depending on scope. |
| Regulatory and legal review | Nutrition panels, claims substantiation, allergen statements, TGA or cosmetics compliance. Not the designer's role, but it must be in the timeline. | $1,500 to $8,000 for a consultant, more for therapeutic goods. |
| Barcodes | GS1 Australia membership and GTIN allocation, plus verification. | GS1 fees scale with turnover; verification a few hundred dollars per symbol. |
| Dielines and pre-press | The studio prepares, the printer confirms. Small back-and-forth at the end of a job is normal. | Usually inside the design fee; printer proofing charged by the printer. |
| Print supervision | Press checks and physical proof review. Some studios include it, some bill by the hour. | Ask. |
| Multi-market versions | New Zealand, US, UK and other markets each need their own compliant variant. | 20 to 40 percent of the base artwork fee per market, typically. |
What a proper proposal contains
A quote is a number. A proposal is a scope. The difference is what protects you when the project runs into month four. A proposal worth signing has:
- The deliverables, listed. SKUs, formats, files, guidelines, retailer materials.
- The stages and what each one produces. At Morice&Co. that is Listen, Sharpen, Make, Ship, with what you receive at the end of each.
- The number of review rounds and what happens beyond them.
- What is excluded, named. Print, photography, regulatory, extra formats, extra markets.
- The timeline, tied to your retailer dates rather than the studio's convenience.
- The fee, fixed, and the trigger for a change of scope.
How to tell value from cheap
Two signals matter more than the fee.
Who touches the work. If the person you brief is the person shipping the artwork, you are paying for craft. If there are three handovers between brief and pack, you are paying for coordination. Neither is wrong, but only one moves the needle on your shelf.
What the studio can show from its own retail past. Case studies on category leaders. Named brands on Coles, Woolworths, Chemist Warehouse and Priceline shelves. Awards are a proxy for craft; retail history is a proxy for outcome.
The cheapest packaging design is expensive. The right packaging design pays for itself in the first six months of sell-through.
How long it takes, because time is money too
Most projects run eight to sixteen weeks from brief to production-ready artwork. Discovery and strategy one to two weeks, creative routes two to four, full suite and guidelines four to eight, then production files. Range depth and printer lead times move those numbers more than anything else. A fee that looks high for a four-week job and a fee that looks low for a sixteen-week job may be the same rate; ask for the timeline with the number.
Questions people ask
From an independent studio, a single-SKU pack refresh typically costs $8,000 to $15,000 ex GST. A new brand with packaging across five to ten SKUs is $30,000 to $60,000. A large rebrand across twenty or more SKUs runs $60,000 to $150,000 and beyond. Freelancers charge less, large agencies more.
In Australia, roughly $3,000 to $15,000 for a single-SKU pack, and more for ranges. You typically supply the strategy, retailer relationships and production management yourself.
No. Printing is the printer's fee and depends on process, run length and substrate. Photography, regulatory review, barcodes and extra market versions are also usually separate.
Either can be fair. A fixed fee against a written scope makes both sides agree what the job is before it starts and removes surprises. If you are quoted hourly, ask for an estimate with a cap and a defined number of review rounds.
Eight to sixteen weeks from brief to production-ready artwork for most projects. Large ranges and printer lead times extend that.
Sources
- FMCG branding: a complete guide for Australian brands (Morice&Co.)
- GS1 Australia membership and barcode fees
Published . Last reviewed . Next scheduled review . Regulatory content is re-checked against the primary sources above at each review. See our editorial standards.
