Shown above: 3D Cardboard Bakeshop for Target's Mondo Llama Christmas line. I collaborated as a freelance designer for the concept, 3D structure design, dielines, technical specifications, and flat line art.
My favorite niche area of design is creating 3D products from flat materials. I have done products like this made from foam, cardboard, chipboard, felt, paper, wood, plastic and other materials. This is also a skillset that translates into pattern work for fashion design and sewn soft goods. My brain thrives when it gets to think and problem solve in 3D. I have done freelance design for a number of company's doing concepting and technical specifications for flat pack craft and activity building kit products. These products have made it into several retail stores including Target, Walmart, Michael's and more. These projects are some of my favorites to work on. I enjoy the challenge of creating dielines that are functional and easy to assemble for 3-D structures made from flat materials.
3D Wood Building Kit for Michael's Creatology Harvest line. I collaborated with internal teams at the manufacturer as a freelance designer for the concept, 3D structure design, dielines, technical specifications, and artwork.
When designing a product like this, I am typically given a rough pencil sketch or inspiration images for the structure, and a style guide to follow for the characters, theme and colors that the retailer wants. I then imagine the 3-D structure in my head and how it will puzzle together. I then translates it to flat die-lines in illustrator without having any physical materials in front of me. I have a way of figuring it out in my head and putting it right onto the computer screen. This allows me to work at a productive pace while maintaining accuracy. I then do a 3-D rendering in Illustrator and send it for acceptance or approval. Once the design is approved, technical specifications for the factory are made, and product assembly directions for the consumer.
One of the projects I am most proud of and had the privilege to design many years in a row was the Christmas train building structure for Michael's Creatology brand. On the first one I did, which was made of EVA foam, I came up with the locking tab design so that no glue would be needed to hold the structure together. The wheels function so that the child can actually play with the train after they create it. I was told that this was the #2 best seller in the Michael's Christmas set for that year, and the design was recolored and re-sold for following years. I worked on the recolored version for the next season as well.
Here is the 3-D computer rendering I did of the original design
An early in-house prototype of the first two cars on the train design is shown to the left. The final product in packaging at Michael's is shown on right. As you can see, there is excellent continuity between concept and final product at retail.
The re-styled and colored version for the next year's season.
The final product in packaging at Michael's.
Below are some other examples of product renderings and final products in packaging that I have worked on over the years.
Below is an example of the word free instructions for assembly that I have created for one of these kits. I was limited to only a few steps and a small area on the packaging to show the assembly directions. If given more space, breaking these down into individual steps or creating a video for assembly showing each piece, would be ideal and my preference as a design that appreciates a good user experience.
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