CORRPRO Design & 3D CAD

Packaging Design

The rise of online retail and marketing has created a demand for skilled individuals that are familiar with graphic design, consumer experience, and structural design for product packaging and displays. Virtually every business that has a product to sell has the need for packaging. In the United States alone, the packaging industry generates more than one billion dollars of revenue each year. If you are interested in starting a challenging and fast paced career in a high-demand industry, the Art & Art History Department at UTA offers an educational path that leads graduates directly into the economically viable packaging industry.

Career Opportunities in Packaging Design

Visual Communication Design graduates who take courses in packaging design leave UTA prepared to work in a variety of packaging and display fields – from corrugated to folding carton, point of purchase displays, food and beverage product packaging, retail and more. Our graduates are currently working for Frito-Lay Corporation, Mary-Kay Cosmetics, Harris Packaging Corporation, Green Bay Packaging, Southern Champion Tray, and American Carton Company. Other companies that we have placed packaging interns at include Performance POP, Bioworld, and Smurfit Kappa Bates. To view a selection of current job openings in the packaging industry, please refer to the ICPF career portal found at careers.icpfbox.org

CORRPRO Design Lab at UTA

Through a partnership with the International Corrugated Packaging Foundation that began in 2012, UTA received a packaging software and equipment donation that is valued at more than one million dollars. This generous donation allowed the Art & Art History Department to establish the Corrugated Production Lab (CORRPRO) at UTA. This unique production space provides our students with access to state-of-the-art packaging structure design software and a computer-aided design table to produce boxes and displays that simulate real-world design solutions. In 2018, UTA was awarded $150,000 to enhance the CORRPRO design lab. These funds, made possible through ICPF, brought an industry quality flatbed printer, new computers, and an upgrade in furniture to the packaging design computer lab in the Art & Art History Department. As the only university in Texas with access to this equipment, UTA students create packaging designs and develop professional portfolios that stand out from the competition. The number of national and regional awards received for packaging since 2012 are a powerful indication of our strength in packaging design.

Packaging Curriculum Expansion

What began as a one course in packaging design has developed into a four-course sequence in Packaging Graphics and Structure Design... and it is expected to grow into an eight-course sequence with an available Minor in Packaging Design. The minor will complement the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Bachelor of Arts (BA) degrees that the department currently has in place. Interested BFA students can also enroll in the additional packaging courses to receive specialized training in packaging structure and graphics.

Competition and Recognition

Students enrolled in packaging design courses at UTA participate in a variety of national and international competitions each year. Since 2013, UTA students have received more than 40 awards for their packaging design solutions (including several first-place awards in both the AICC National Design Student Competition and the ICPF “Best of the Best” competition at their annual teleconference). This recognition has led to an increase in program support from local packaging companies, internships and full-time jobs for graduates, and an increased national ranking for the Visual Communication Design area.

Additional Information

To learn more about Packaging Design course options at UTA or to discover what our students, faculty, and alumni are accomplishing in the field, please contact Professor Ben Dolezal at dolezal@uta.edu.. We look forward to seeing you on campus!