Sarah Carter

Lead Packaging Designer

Graduated in 2009

Sarah Carter is the Lead Packaging Designer for prestigious department store Harrods in London. Her role involves leading a team of five, creating concepts, artwork and producing packaging for various ranges.

After graduating from Birmingham City University in 2009, Sarah worked for the University as a designer, and then moved to a design company in Redditch where she worked on various projects with clients including BMW and Rolls Royce. It was from here she decided to move to London, landing a role as part of the design team at Harrods.

She was employed as an all-round designer at first, working on various brochures, campaigns and signage, all under the Harrods brand. She also got to work on a number of packaging projects, and it was here that she excelled as the work was so varied and creative. She worked on various ranges including Christmas, The Candy Store, Easter, Valentine’s and various tourist ranges, learning about various specialist print processes, notably how to work with design on tin. Within a year, she was promoted to Lead Packaging Designer where she manages a team of five.

Sarah said: “My role at Harrods is all about branding. It’s about working with the brand, helping it grow and pushing boundaries and perceptions. I specialised in brand and identity design in my final year and I have been fortunate enough to build on these skills since I left the University. The best part is generating new creative concepts that come alive in packaging on the shop floor – to see the final product on sale and customers interacting with it and buying it.

“Inspiration and direction from my tutor at BCU really helped shape me as a creative, and that has helped me move forward to where I want to be and believe in myself.”