When I first launched DIELINE 17 years ago, I really just wanted to share my love of packaging design and the designers who dream up some of my favorite brands.
Admittedly, most people thought it was weird for me to start a blog dedicated to packaging back in 2007. But I would argue we found an audience—and a very dedicated one at that—that’s passionate about consumer brands, plastic-free alternatives, drool-worthy packaging structures, and the latest brand refreshes we love (and even love to hate).
The one constant in those 17 years has been you, our loyal readership. In that time, we were able to support the site with advertising revenue thanks to all of our past and current advertisers. And we’re immensely grateful to them for helping us to deliver free news, interviews, and in-depth reporting on packaging, branding, and sustainability.
However, in the last few years, digital advertising has proven difficult, especially when it comes to running banner ads. Once the lifeblood of the site, we’ve lost well over half of our advertisers. Data from MonetizeMore reveals that industry-wide ad revenue has hit a five-year low, surpassing even the pandemic’s worst impacts and underscoring the deep challenges within the ad-tech sector. Additionally, Influencer Marketing Hub notes a surge in default browser ad-blocking, with 586 million users on ad-blocking browsers, adding to the complexities of our digital landscape.
Unfortunately, we can no longer support the site with advertising revenue alone. To continue our mission of delivering the world of packaging design with fresh and innovative content to creatives, DIELINE will shift towards a subscription-based model.
Starting on April 17th, DIELINE will no longer be free for all. When you visit the site next week, a free account will come with five free articles a month. DIELINE Pro Subscribers will be able to access everything for just $2.99 per month, or $29.99 for the year. We will also have team and Enterprise rates with group discounts.
Of course, we’re not just slapping a price tag on the site and calling it a day.
Here’s what else you get:
For starters, we’ve completely redesigned and rebuilt the site from the ground up. We’ve been working with the WordPress Special Projects team for the past year to bring you the DIELINE of our dreams. We think it’s our best DIELINE yet, and we can’t wait for you to see it when it launches on April 17th.
Not only do we have a new online directory and a completely overhauled and improved search function, but subscribers will get unlimited job listings to help them find the best designer talent on the market.
As always, you’ll be able to access our deep, deep archives of packaging projects—remarkably, over 17 years, we have compiled one of the internet’s largest collections of packaging design inspiration expertly curated by our editorial team. With your DIELINE Pro subscription, you can discover over 27,000 projects and articles. And—because we know so many designers use DIELINE as a reference point in their own work—you’ll now be able to bookmark projects and articles for easy reference.
What’s more, designers will be able to claim credits on projects and have them featured on their profiles. We do our absolute best to find out what agencies worked on a project, but every so often, it’s hard to track down the folks who worked on it—no more. Now, with your DIELINE Pro account you can claim credit for any project ever posted on DIELINE, and have them listed on your DIELINE Pro profile page.
We’re also putting a renewed emphasis on our community, and we’re bringing back the comments section. Your DIELINE Pro subscription lets you comment to your heart’s delight. Additionally, we’re bringing back our directory, a resource featuring package designers, agencies, and packaging suppliers catering to the diverse branding and design needs within the industry. With your DIELINE Pro subscription, you can now add your company to the directory.
So, Why Should You Do This?
We understand you already have subscriptions. You have so many subscriptions. To streamers for music and TV, your favorite substacks and news sites, or even the design tools you use every day. You may even have subscription fatigue. We get it. That’s why we genuinely want to keep the cost to our readers as low as possible, and we’ve priced it so it won’t set you back more than a few dollars a month.
But, here’s the thing—by becoming a subscriber, you’re not just supporting independent journalism, you’re helping us funnel that money back into editorial so we can bring you even better content from new voices with more in-depth pieces on some of the world’s best designers or deep dives into the latest creative trends. By going subscription, you enable us to double down on our content. Speaking for myself, in recent years, nearly 50-70% of my day was spent chasing down advertising and sponsorships—now, that time goes back into building up and supporting the DIELINE of the future. Plus, this is only PHASE 1; we have plenty of surprises in store for our valued readers as we expand DIELINE’s reach into new avenues.
Ultimately, by sustaining DIELINE, you’re ensuring that we can keep producing the stories you love—and not just for you, but the entire packaging and design community.
We hope you’ll come along for the ride.
So thanks for sticking with us. You’ve made DIELINE an essential read for designers the world over and we look forward to bringing you even more stories and projects you’ll love.
We can’t wait for the next 17 years.
