What Dieline does

Dieline is a privately held, founder-led media company operating since 2007 as a vertical content platform dedicated to packaging design for consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, independent designers, design agencies, and packaging suppliers. The company is domiciled as Dieline Media, LLC in California, headquartered in Los Angeles, and run by founder Andrew Gibbs with a lean team of 1–10 employees. Its core product is thedieline.com, a WordPress-based editorial site hosting 27,000+ articles and 1,365+ archive pages covering packaging news, redesigns, interviews, and case studies across verticals including beauty, beverage, food, spirits, wine, sustainable, and cannabis packaging.

Dieline's product surface combines editorial, community, and commerce features: the DIELINE Awards (an annual packaging design competition with paid entries processed via a dedicated submission platform), DIELINE PRO (a paid subscription product with Pro Solo at $2.99/month or $29.99/year and Pro Team starting at $11.99/month for 2–100 users, unlocking the archive, designer/agency directory, job board, and project credit claiming), the Shelf Life and Side Salad newsletters delivered via Substack, a searchable directory of packaging suppliers and design agencies, an industry job board, the DIELINE Annual publication, a podcast, and periodic trend reports (most recently the 2026 Trend Report). Technology infrastructure is intentionally lean and outsourced, relying on Substack for newsletter delivery and Stripe for payment processing, with no proprietary API, SDK, or developer platform.

The business model is a hybrid of subscription recurring revenue (DIELINE PRO), one-time transactional revenue (DIELINE Awards entry fees), and advertising/sponsorships (third-party ad serving and sponsored editorial). The company serves a horizontally segmented audience without disclosed enterprise contracts or named customer logos, monetizing a fragmented long tail of individual professionals, agencies, brands, and suppliers. Geographic reach is global via digital channels, and distribution extends across Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok, and a Spotify-hosted podcast. There are no disclosed funding rounds, parent companies, or institutional investors.

Name

Dieline

Legal name

Dieline Media, LLC

Website

https://thedieline.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Dieline is a privately held packaging design media platform founded in 2007, serving CPG brands, packaging designers, and design agencies with editorial coverage, an industry directory, job board, annual awards, and a paid PRO subscription.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. DIELINE PRO Subscriptions: Paid subscription tiers providing access to archive content, directory, job board, and premium features. Pro Solo at $2.99/month or $29.99/year for individuals; Pro Team starting at $11.99/month or $119/year for 2-100 users.
2. DIELINE Awards Entry Fees: Annual packaging design competition with entry fees. Entry fees are non-refundable except as expressly stated in Awards Rules.
3. Advertising & Sponsorships: The platform contains sponsored content, advertising, partner promotions, and sponsored editorial features. The site works with third-party advertising companies for ad serving.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Dieline is a media and content platform that publishes editorial coverage of packaging design via thedieline.com, including news, trend analyses, interviews, redesigns, and case studies across CPG verticals. It monetizes its content through the DIELINE PRO paid subscription (Solo and Team tiers), annual DIELINE Awards entry fees, advertising, and sponsorships, while also offering a packaging supplier directory and industry job board.

Product overview

Dieline is a media and content platform serving as the world's leading resource for packaging design innovation. The core offering is the Dieline Website (thedieline.com), a comprehensive editorial platform publishing news, articles, interviews, and redesign showcases. Supporting products include the annual DIELINE Awards competition, the DIELINE PRO paid subscription tier for expanded archive and directory access, weekly newsletters (Shelf Life and Side Salad) delivered via Substack, a directory of packaging suppliers and design agencies, and a job board. The platform also publishes periodic trend reports, with the 2026 Trend Report covering emerging packaging design trends. Dieline operates multiple digital touchpoints including podcasts and maintains partnerships with Substack for newsletter delivery and Stripe for payment processing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• DIELINE Awards: Annual packaging design competition recognizing excellence in packaging design globally.
• DIELINE PRO
• Shelf Life
• Side Salad

Products and services

• DIELINE Website The primary editorial web platform publishing packaging design news, articles, interviews, redesign showcases, and a directory of packaging suppliers and design agencies for CPG brands, designers, and agencies globally.
• DIELINE Awards Annual packaging design competition recognizing excellence across multiple categories, with paid entries submitted via dieline.awardsplatform.com and winners featured on the platform.
• DIELINE PRO Subscription Paid subscription tier offering unlimited access to the Dieline archive, the designer and agency directory, the job board, project credit claiming, commenting, and business listing creation; available as Pro Solo ($2.99/month or $29.99/year) or Pro Team (starting at $11.99/month or $119/year for 2-100 users).
• Shelf Life Newsletter Weekly trends newsletter delivered via Substack covering packaging design news, industry analysis, and trend commentary for packaging design professionals.
• Side Salad Newsletter Editorial newsletter publication from Dieline covering packaging design news and feature stories, delivered via Substack.
• Packaging Suppliers & Agencies Directory Searchable directory of packaging suppliers, design agencies, and material providers across categories such as sustainable packaging, bioplastics, and recycled materials, accessible via Dieline PRO.
• Packaging Design Job Board Employment listings service connecting packaging designers with job opportunities across CPG brands and design agencies.
• DIELINE Annual Publication Annual publication featuring packaging design trends, award winners, and industry insights for the packaging design community.
• DIELINE Podcast Podcast series covering packaging design topics, industry interviews, and design discussions distributed on audio platforms.
• DIELINE 2026 Trend Report Annual trend report identifying emerging packaging design trends and analyzing industry direction for CPG brands and designers.

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Substack Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationSubstack provides the newsletter delivery platform for DIELINE's Shelf Life and other newsletter publications. While DIELINE owns editorial content and subscriber relationships, Substack's platform mechanics and payment processing for subscriptions fall under Substack's Terms of Use.
• Stripe, Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationStripe handles payment processing for DIELINE PRO subscriptions and DIELINE Awards entries. Stripe's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy apply to payment transactions processed through their platform.
• AdobeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDIELINE and Adobe are conducting a joint AI Designer Survey titled 'Co-Created: A Designer-Focused Survey on the Current State of AI' to understand designers' experiences with AI tools.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Packaging Digest: B2B trade media brand covering packaging design, materials, and manufacturing news. Operates as the most direct category competitor to Dieline, serving packaging engineers, designers, and CPG brands with editorial, newsletters, and awards.
• Packaging World: Long-running packaging industry publication covering design, machinery, and supply chain. Competes for the same CPG, designer, and supplier audience via news, trend coverage, and an industry awards program (Package of the Year).
• Brand New (underconsideration): Specialist design publication tracking corporate and consumer brand identity and packaging redesigns. Direct substitute for Dieline's redesign coverage and similar community-led, opinion-driven editorial model.
• Core77: Industrial and packaging design publication with deep archives of design work, news, and community discussion. Shares Dieline's vertical design-media DNA and audience of professional designers and agencies.
• The Dieline Awards competitors: Pentawards: The leading global packaging design awards competition. Directly competes with the DIELINE Awards for entrants, jury prestige, and brand-side sponsorship in the packaging design community.

Broad incumbents

• Dezeen: One of the world's most widely read design publications with deep coverage of packaging, branding, and product design. Broader design lens than Dieline, but overlaps on packaging case studies, awards, and newsletter-driven audience monetization.
• It's Nice That: Design-led editorial brand covering branding, illustration, and packaging design. Competes for designer attention and brand-side marketing budgets via editorial, features, and awards (The Nice That Awards / The Graduates).
• Eye on Design (AIGA): AIGA's design publication covering branding, packaging, and visual culture. Operates a similar editorial-plus-community model and competes for branding and packaging design readership.

Emerging players

• Springwise: Innovation-spotting media platform covering new consumer products, materials, and sustainability — areas closely adjacent to Dieline's sustainable packaging and CPG trend coverage. Comparable subscription/community-driven model.
• Print Magazine: Long-running print and design publication covering graphic design, branding, and packaging. Overlaps with Dieline on print/packaging design coverage and on design-industry awards and trend commentary.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/TheDieline
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC6nfHQa69YlycmlRG3lU-8w
• Facebookfacebook.com/thedieline
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-dieline
• Instagraminstagram.com/thedieline
• Pinterestpinterest.com/thedieline
• TikTokvm.tiktok.com/TTPdM4RHvC

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Dieline