Brand & Packaging Designer in Chiswick

About Barlow & Co.

Barlow & Co. is a boutique design agency based in West London. We specialise in packaging design within the drinks industry, with a particular focus on wine and work with some of the UK's leading drinks retailers.

Culture is extremely important to us, it's as much about talent as it is about how we work together as a team. We're a nimble group of wine, food and music-loving people who genuinely enjoy spending time together.

We work full-time from our design studio in Chiswick, London and we're looking for an experienced Brand & Packaging Designer to join us. Our preference is for a full-time designer working five days a week in our studio. However, we recognise that experienced designers may be looking for a different balance in their working lives.

Whether you're interested in a four-day week, part-time hours or another flexible arrangement, we're open to a conversation. Finding someone with the right experience, creative ability and approach matters more to us.

About the Role.
This is a fantastic opportunity for an established designer with a proven track record of creating commercially produced wine and spirits packaging.

Working closely with our team, you'll help create distinctive and memorable brands and packaging for the wine and spirits industry. You'll have the opportunity to contribute throughout the creative process, from understanding a brand and identifying its potential through to developing the finished packaging.

Your work may involve:

• Exploring brand positioning, audiences, competitors and market opportunities to inform the creative direction.
• Developing compelling brand stories, creative concepts and distinctive visual identities.
• Designing wine and spirits labels, secondary packaging and supporting brand assets.
• Creating cohesive design systems that work across product ranges, formats and markets.
• Exploring materials, substrates, embellishments and specialist print techniques to enhance the finished product.
• Collaborating with printers, suppliers and production specialists to ensure the creative vision is realised.
• Producing accurate, production-ready artwork and overseeing the finer details of the production process.

We value designers who are curious, thoughtful and confident in their creative judgement. People who enjoy sharing ideas, working collaboratively and continually pushing for a better result.

About You.

We're particularly interested in designers who can demonstrate:

• A genuine knowledge and understanding of wine, including the category, its conventions, market positioning and consumer expectations.
• The ability to develop compelling brand stories, distinctive identities and cohesive packaging systems across ranges, formats and markets.
• Exceptional typography, composition, colour and art-direction skills, with meticulous attention to detail.
• Experience taking projects from initial thinking and creative development through to finished, production-ready artwork.
• The confidence to challenge a brief constructively, communicate creative thinking clearly and collaborate with colleagues, clients and production partners.
• Strong commercial judgement and the ability to balance creative ambition with production requirements, budgets and practical constraints.
  

Nice to have.

• A thorough understanding of packaging production, including substrates, label construction, bottle formats, print processes, foils, embossing, debossing and specialist finishes.
• An understanding of the practical and regulatory requirements associated with wine and spirits packaging.

More about us and what we offer.

• We like to work with a sense of humour and purpose. We’re a family-style studio where we encourage individuals to grow within their roles, develop their skills, and share their ideas.
• On Wine Wednesdays, we share a bottle to learn a bit more about the good stuff, and we have team lunch one day a week so we can sit down together, eat and catch up.
• We will offer tailored professional development conversations and plans and a competitive salary.
• Regular wine tastings and opportunities to discover new wines.
• Ongoing wine education and development.
• 23 days annual leave, including 3 days to be taken during the Christmas shutdown, plus 8 bank holidays.
• Statutory pension scheme.

If you’re passionate about design we’d love to hear from you. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application and perform at your best, please do not hesitate to contact us to make a request.