Packaging Design and Business Focus

A camera films a person holding a box around a pineapplem, as another person looks on. — (From left) Host Cassie Stephens talks with senior Zachary Weston on the set of “Pack It!” Photo courtesy of The Paper and Packaging Board.

Packaging design is classified into two main categories: structural and graphical design. Both areas are pillars in the knowledge of packaging designers. In the Packaging major, students will learn about a series of design software programs, such as Computer-Aided Design in Packaging (ArtiosCAD), Adobe Illustrator, and Photoshop.

A student holds a metal frame while another turns a screw.

Investigating the hazards of grocery delivery

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Courses in this track lead the students to understand a system that includes the creation of a product, the structural design for security and protection in transit, and graphical design elements for communication with consumers. The packaging program at Virginia Tech offers a series of courses covering the fundamental design principles to the advanced experiential design studio course. To meet with the societal demand about sustainability, each course focuses on the connection of individual packaging component.

Course projects are hands-on experiences focused on solving industrial packaging problems and are often sponsored by major packaging companies.

Virginia Tech packaging graduates have been successful within a broad base of business sectors as packaging structural or graphic designers. It includes companies providing consumer packaged goods, packaging converters, and packaging suppliers.

In this area, the average starting salary of a new graduate may be $60 to $65,000, based on the recent alumni salary survey.

Transfer Credits:

The Packaging Systems and Design degree offers a lot of flexibility to transfer students to tailor their education and also to allow them to graduate on time. Our 32 free elective credits allow you to transfer classes that you already took and count it towards your graduation progress. This allows many students to graduate on time even after changing their major.