A branding agency. Visual identity, digital, and packaging that moves business forward.

Sean Carter

Principal / Director of Design

A kid graduates from a dumpster-fire design program and starts shopping his portfolio. Big design houses laugh. He considers professional cycling. But designing is so easy, and it pays mad stacks!

He lives on Ichiban.

Then he opens his own design shop at 22. It does okay, but he wants more, so he co-founds Hangar 18 Creative. It takes off. So does he, in 2011, to start Carter Hales Design Lab.

Meantime, he also founds The Pink Door Paper Company, an award-winning line of luxury stationery and spa products. But his Uncle Lenny tells him, “Kid, ya can’t ride two horses with one ass. Commit to something.” So he sells Pink Door to go all-in on Carter Hales, a brand-focused studio with clients in every corner of the globe and with exclusively-senior-level talent among its design team.

Turns out, that was a good idea. One Show, Lüerzer’s Archive, Pentawards, Applied Arts, ADCC, and Communication Arts agree, about 300 —and counting — times over.

P.S. If you want to see what Sean does when nobody’s watching, click here. Seriously. Just click it. It’s like, totally SFW. Depending where you work.