Frederic Carpenter, Packaging/Display Designer & Illustrator
Frederic Carpenter is a packaging designer and 3D-visualization specialist who turns product concepts into production-ready packaging and shelf-ready visuals. Combining agency-level packaging engineering with a designer’s eye, he uses modern 3D workflows to help brands in health, beauty and food communicate with clarity and visual impact.
Tell us a little bit about yourself, where are you from, and where are you now?
I now work for a health and wellness brand that is doing record new business in the US and Europe, handling packaging design, visualization and production artwork.
Who are your creative influences?
My influences are really diverse, but in terms of a designer that I admire it would be Stefan Sagmeister. I’m also a painter, so I think about color and texture in ways that many designers might not. Neo Rausch has had a huge impact on my work as well.
How’d you get into 3D design?
3D design is really a necessity now in many areas of design, but especially in packaging where you have to tell a visual story in multiple views in addition to considering the product on a shelf. I wasn’t sure I could learn how to make products look exciting, but once I started getting into it, I knew I had to keep going. It’s been seven years now and I’m still going!
Could you share a few client projects that stand out to you—any favorites?
Client projects kind of blur together after awhile – the ice cream project was fun. Everyone loves ice cream!
What does your creative workflow usually look like?
My creative workflow often begins with visual research and sketches. I’m kind of old school when it comes to that, but I can very quickly decide if a design will work or not through a simple sketch. I will often times create the model and then start adding to the base design until I have something that looks fresh. That’s the beauty of being able to work in Illustrator and then keep refreshing the render view. No other 3D program that I know of allows this illustrator-native approach.
If you could give one piece of advice to someone getting started in 3D design, what would it be?
My advice to someone getting started is simply this: keep going! It’s difficult at first, but like anything worthwhile it takes time and effort. I could have quit so many times, but I knew that if I just kept at it, I would be able to imagine a visual and know what paths must be taken to get there. Chris Tyler’s tutorials are really good – no matter which tutorial you decide to venture into, he’s like the sensei of 3D when it comes to procedures and methodologies.
