About Caroline Hagen

I’m a woman on a mission: to shake up the way branding and packaging design gets done, and to help more brand owners get packs that really shine on shelf.

I founded Reach to deliver brilliant packaging design in an innovative way. Over the last thirty years or so of working in branding and packaging design I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. Not only in terms of getting brilliant packaging onto shelves, but also in terms of how the design process between clients and agencies is handled. My respect for clients and their knowledge has grown.

The Client Democracy™ approach we’ve developed empowers our clients and delivers outstanding results.

Work with Reach, and you’ll work with me as the lead consultant and workshop leader.

Collaboration helps clients

It’s just not true that when it comes to packaging design, the design agency always knows best. The best results stem from a true collaboration between client and designer.

So I’ve developed a way to nurture collaborative working – a methodology that helps clients input effectively into the packaging design process so that they enjoy it as much as possible, and so that their products enjoy the most profitable shelf-life.

For this next phase of my working life, I’m devoted to creating a new model agency that delivers a brilliant packaging design service to clients, and to building a community of designers who want to do fantastic work on their own terms.

Amplifying reach to help brands large and small

I also want to widen the reach of people that I serve. It’s not right that only big brands have access to the best design and advice. So I’m using the power of packaging design to give a ‘leg up’ to food and drink entrepreneurs whose values match my own, and I’m exploring ways of using my skills and experience to help people in developing countries launch new products.

Giving something back to the world matters to me.

I’m currently on the board of St George’s concert hall in Bristol, advising on branding and design.  It’s really rewarding to be able to use my skills and experience to help a charitable cause that I care about work through a major rebranding exercise.

I spent several years on the board of the DBA, the design industry’s trade body, and recognise how important it is to nurture the people in the design industry. The DBA champions the transformative power of design, promoting its strategic and economic value to business and government. We all need to help each other.

I also represented the design sector on the board of Bristol Media for three years. Bristol Media is one of the biggest creative networks in the UK. It is an industry-led organisation, whose primary role is to facilitate collaboration and growth within the region, delivering projects, events and opportunities for its membership.