This month, we’re musing on the ways we integrate tech in different parts of life, whether it’s software to help doctors navigate increasing administrative workloads or an animated cartoon chicken that makes your kid giggle for a photo.

WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT

Skills Needed To Be In Demand As a Producer

Luisa Murray, Managing Executive Producer at BUCK, sat down with Little Black Book to discuss her vast career in production and what skills the next generation of producers should hone.

NEW WORK SPOTLIGHT

Microsoft + Intel Global B2B Campaign

With Windows 10 End of Support fast approaching, Microsoft and Intel partnered with us to launch a comprehensive, global marketing campaign.

The work spanned across more than 12,000 assets and was localized in 14 languages (😮‍💨), driving millions of new device activations. See how we did it.

IN THE NEWS

Nick Petley on the Role of AI in Motion Design

Nick Petley, 2D Animation Director, spoke about his relationship to integrating AI tools into his workflow for Brands in Motion’s Motion x AI: Part III. Read about how Nick’s approach to using AI has changed, along with the benefits and challenges of the growing popularity of these tools.

MORE NEW WORK

Suki Brand Strategy + Identity

A new brand strategy and identity launch for Suki, whose focus is on alleviating paperwork from doctors so they can focus on staying present with patients.

Google Pixel 9 Fold: Made You Look

Forced smiles for photos? Not anymore. We made some pretty adorable new “Made You Look” features for the Google Pixel 9 Fold.

Samsung “All About Galaxy”

A mixed-media extravaganza for Samsung, bringing their features to life in a YouTube series for “All About Galaxy” season 4.

ICYMI

BUCK is part of Residence, a network of independent creative companies. Residence just released its 2025 Impact Report, and it’s chock full of ways we’re showing up for the community and world around us.

The BUCK Highlights:

• Booked 2,012 freelance assignments in 2025

• 358 BUCKers on staff

• Piloted mentorship circles to connect experienced leaders with junior staff and expand shared learning

• Created AI workshops for BUCKers to new approaches to craft and storytelling

• Collaborated with other Residence companies at Part and Sum, Wild, and ACRONYM

And so much more! Have a look at the full report.

WHAT WE’RE INTO

We’re leaning on cool people to share what they’re into right now. This month, Seth Wiles-Young, Production Coordinator at BUCK Los Angeles, is here to tell us what he’s loving recently.

• Reading: Hurricaine Season by Fernanda Melchor

• Listening: Laughing Stock by Talk Talk

• Watching: God’s Own Country

Thanks for reading! If you like what you see here, don’t forget to subscribe, and we’ll see you next time.

Everything we read about surviving as a creative in the age of AI tells us the same thing: the one strength we have over the models is our taste.

But taste isn’t innate; it’s a reflection of what we consume. And right now, we’re all consuming the same thing: whatever the algorithm decides to serve us today.

“Algorithmic recommendations push us toward passivity in which we are fed culture like foie-gras ducks, with more regard for volume than quality.”

Kyle Chayka

So how do we develop and maintain our taste in a world built for optimization? That was the question at the center of BUCK’s Salon on the Evolution of Taste — a panel discussion I moderated with four creatives across fashion, music, photography, and brand strategy.

Taste Is a Practice, Not a Personality

Like most things, taste requires upkeep. It’s not something you wake up with one day and never have to worry about again. It’s something you build, and something you can lose.

Our panelists shared the core elements of their personal practices for developing and maintaining their taste:

1. Retreat deliberately.

“I always retreat and find a way to go back into the shadows…”

Sussivision, Creative Consultant and Drag Performer

Walking away is essential to developing your own sense of self and taste. It’s not contrarianism. It’s a way of staying honest about what you actually believe versus what you’ve been told to believe.

As Michaela Coel put it: “Do not be afraid to disappear and see what comes to you in the silence.”

2. Get off the screen.

“When we remove ourselves and go into the real world and be with other artists, you really do get recharged on so many different levels.”

Julia Johnson, Photographer and Director

Julia spoke about her years making prints in a darkroom — not just looking at images, but physically being with other artists in a shared space.

Color in a parking lot. Torn posters layered on a wall. The lighting in a room. Taste gets developed in the world, not on the feed.

3. Stay hungry, not full.

“Sometimes we are overserved and overfed, and the portions are too big to digest.”

Sussivision

When we’re chronically overfed by the algorithm, we lose the ability to actually taste what we’re consuming. Protecting your hunger — your genuine appetite for something new — is inseparable from having taste at all.

Coming Together to Push Back

At BUCK, we’re not immune to any of this. Algorithms shape our clients’ briefs as much as they shape our feeds.

So we built Playground, an internal platform where our creative staff shares what they’re making outside of client work. The images in this piece are examples of what BUCKers have been creating in Playground. Whether it’s experiments, obsessions, or half-baked ideas, the goal is purely to keep their taste sharp and their instincts honest. No briefs. No metrics. Just making.

In a world of increasing creative ease, the ability to make something has never been more accessible, but the ability to make something worth caring about still comes down to taste. That’s still our advantage over the models. But only if we practice.

How do you step away from the algorithm to develop and maintain your own sense of taste? Let us know in the comments — and don’t forget to subscribe for more!

Welcome to the February 2026 edition of the Pencils Down Roundup! We hit the ground running this year — check out this selection of our latest work and musings.

WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT

The Future Belongs to the Creative Generalists

Michelle Higa Fox, Group Creative Director of Experience, writes about how adopting a generalist set of skills can help keep creatives afloat in the age of AI and an ever-changing industry.

Read Michelle’s piece and more in It’s Nice That’s “Forward Thinking” series.

ICYMI

2026 Calendar

We made a 2026 Calendar fully designed in Cavalry! 22 BUCKers contributed designs, giving both experts and novices an opportunity to experiment with the software. Check out how we made it 👇

100% of sales price (minus government tax) goes to No Kid Hungry. Due to high international shipping costs, shipping is only available in the continental U.S.

Get a calendar

NEW WORK SPOTLIGHT

Kia AI Assistant

In a world increasingly congested with chattering AI assistants, it takes a distinct design language and sharp functionality to stand out.

We partnered with the Kia brand team to build the identity of the AI assistant for their latest lineup of vehicles, channeling Kia’s new identity, values, and vision.

IN THE NEWS

Camille Chu on Crafting Distinct Brand Identities

Camille Chu, Group Creative Director, spoke with The Subthread about her approach to crafting wide-scale systems for brands, from building true chemistry with brand partners to leveraging AI in the exploration phase.

MORE NEW WORK

WHAT WE’RE INTO

We’re leaning on cool people to share what they’re into right now. This month, Esther Beije, Junior 3D Designer + Animator at BUCK Amsterdam, is here to tell us what she’s loving recently.

• Playing: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

• Reading: The Wall by Marlen Haushofer

• Listening: Solitude by Billie Holiday

Thanks for reading! If you like what you see here, don’t forget to subscribe, and we’ll see you next time.

BUCK is ringing in the new year with a 365-day tear-away calendar!

Not just any calendar, this was entirely designed in Cavalry, with 22 BUCKers across departments contributing to the number and layout designs. This project was a playful experiment encouraging Cavalry experts and novices alike to see what’s possible with the software.

100% of the sales price (minus government tax) will be donated to No Kid Hungry, and Cavalry will match our donation.

Calendars are only available for shipping within the continental USA due to high international shipping costs. Sorry ☹️. They’re limited edition, so head over to GOODS by BUCK to grab yours while they’re available!

Get your calendar

“David Hobizal [2D Animation Director] and I developed an internal brief to create a 365-day tearaway calendar as a way to encourage more people to pick up Cavalry. While the program is traditionally used as an animation tool, we wanted to approach it from a different angle – leveraging it from a procedural design POV, allowing us to create the many, many pages a daily calendar requires.

The goal of the brief was to remove the intimidation of learning a new tool by framing it as play. We created a sandbox where people could experiment freely, with a single guardrail: use Cavalry to build a system that could generate any number from 1 to 31. From there, artists were encouraged to go wild.

Beyond the numbers themselves, Cavalry was also used to procedurally generate every page layout. A large spreadsheet of data – fun facts, holidays, moon phases, and Easter eggs – was dynamically fed into an overarching system, allowing all 379 pages to be output completely procedurally.”

-Joyce N. Ho, Creative Director

Get yours today

See More

Visit GOODS by BUCK

We can’t say for sure everything that’s going to take the industry by storm in 2026, but we leaned on our tastemakers at BUCK to tell us what’s catching their eye. Take a peek into our crystal ball and read what we’re anticipating for the emerging trends of 2026.

Mascots! Mascots! Mascots!

After years of the influencer taking over the role of brand spokesperson alongside increasingly bland logos, we’re seeing a swing back towards the good ol’ fashioned mascot. Companies are centering their brand identities around characters, making them the emotional anchor of modern systems: flexible, expressive, and memorable.

Especially in the age of AI assistants, these characters inject personality into technology. With more mascots at the forefront, we’ll see more brands offer up their IP to platforms, giving users the opportunity to remix and play with these characters.

What BUCK’s saying:

“Mascots carry the energy and mantra of a community or brand while allowing for re-interpretation in the mind’s eye of the consumer. It lets brands expand their presence without seeming intrusive. The mascot becomes almost an anti-brand. It’s more about emotional resonance than legacy stewardship.”
— Gosha Kuznetsov, Creative Director

“Mascots will be supercharged by AI, offering a way for brands to market themselves in a world of infinite content, as they can move through different surfaces and be easily remixed by end-users.”
— Kevin Walker, Chief Creative Officer

The Human-Made Rebound

After a few years of AI tools taking center stage as the tech du jour, 2026 will see a swing back toward work that looks unmistakably human. Process will be front and center: behind-the-scenes clips, hand-drawn frames, stop-motion details, imperfect materials, and anything that shows the craft rather than shying away from it.

We’re going to see this celebration of human craft and creativity everywhere across illustration, animation, typography, and design at large. Imperfection is the signal, not the flaw.

What BUCK’s saying:

“As things move faster, we’ll start to value what takes time again.”
— Mandy Smith, Creative Director

“It’s forcing us to rethink what craft really means when tools are getting faster and cheaper.”
— Thomas Schmid, Group Creative Director

“Visual artifacts that were inevitable, like low frame rates, painterly boil, and halftones, can now be deliberate creative signals. The audience gets it; they can feel the nods, the aesthetic decision-making.”
— Alex Dingfelder, Head of 3D

Motion as Default

Motion-first identity has been growing for years, but 2026 is when it becomes the norm. Brands now design for a world of moving surfaces — apps, feeds, interfaces — where static logos and layouts simply won’t do.

This shift is reshaping full design systems, not just logos. Teams are building flexible systems with motion at their core, where clear principles replace rigid instructions, helping teams work faster across handcrafted, programmatic, or AI-assisted output.

Tools like Cavalry are leading the charge, scaling motion in smarter ways that allow brands to evolve what they have instead of rebuilding everything from zero.

What BUCK’s Saying:

“Static wordmarks are the new dinosaurs.”
— Justin Cone, Executive Director of Communications

“Nothing vivifies a brand quite like making it move, and animation allows both stronger brand personality and clearer communication. We have yet to really see motion-centric branding emerge.”
— Marla Moore, Head of Strategy

Texture, Noise & Attitude

After years of hyper-smooth, ultra-clean design, creatives are embracing work that feels louder, rougher, and more expressive. It’s about breaking away from the sea of sameness that’s become even more saturated with the rise of AI.

Expect to see more bold type, high contrast, and maximalist, layered compositions where impact outweighs legibility. Across branding and motion, we’ll see more analog textures to disrupt that frictionless digital sheen.

What BUCK’s Saying:

“Neo-brutalism brings back personality through bold type, rough edges, high contrast, and a ‘don’t overthink it’ vibe.”
— Janice Ahn, Creative Director

“Like the online creative space, visual maximalism mirrors what our digital brain looks like: overstimulated, layered, loud. Compositions packed with signals that feel meaningful but mostly serve as noise, decorative chaos masking minimal intent.”
— Yker Moreno, Creative Director

So there we are.

We’re excited for the year ahead, exploring these shifts as they unfold and sharing what we learn along the way. Let us know how you’re feeling about these predictions in the comments, and we’ll see you next time!

As we come to the end of 2025, we’re proud of what we accomplished this year — from taking on exciting new initiatives and reviving old ones, all while continuing to create work we love. Before we jump into what’s next, take a look back with us on the year in BUCK.

BIG MOVES

SuprOrdinary

What started as a passion project from BUCK art director Devin Mathews to fill his daily life with creativity has expanded into a sometimes-weird, always-fascinating series. Watch the first season now on YouTube!

BUCK Games

BUCK Games is here! We introduced our games studio a few months back, in tandem with the launch of The Electric State: Kid Cosmo. Stay tuned for all the fun BUCK Games has in store for 2026.

OUR STANDOUT

Airbnb Experiences & Services

Step into the heart of Paris, Seoul, Mexico City, and more in a new set of spots to celebrate the relaunch of Airbnb’s Experiences and Services, including the hero film, “The Grand Adventure.”

THE YEAR IN NEW WORK

Netflix’s Love, Death + Robots “Close Encounters of the Mini Kind”

Eventbrite Rebrand

Oura: Ring True to You

Nothing: Playground

We loved working across all of our projects this year. Some more highlights were Coinbase: System Update, Riot Games, LinkedIn Celebrations, and Dunkin’® MUNCHKINS® Holiday Campaign.

ICYMI

Buck.U.Back Is Back

Buck.u.back is back and better than ever, with a fresh brand identity and a slick new reel to prove it. Submit your best work now — weekly selections will begin in 2026!

What a year! And lest we forget that 2025 also marked the launch of this newsletter, which we can’t wait to share more of in 2026. Let us know in the comments what you’d like to see from us. Thank you for being here! ❤️

The One-Third Rule

One of the things that keeps me grounded is having non-screen-based hobbies outside of work. One of my favorites is tennis. What I love about tennis is that it’s not about perfection; it’s about showing up.

There’s a principle I learned from the game called the one-third rule. In an ideal scenario, a third of the time you play amazingly well, a third of the time you’re just OK, and a third of the time you’re struggling. That balance is actually the sweet spot.

If you’re winning all the time, you’re not stretching your capabilities.

If you’re losing every single time, you’ve probably signed up for hard mode unnecessarily.

But if you’re somewhere in the middle, fluctuating between both experiences, you’re probably growing.

That idea has followed me back into the studio. Because if you are approaching creative work as a long game, you get better by staying in the game long enough to learn how to adjust. Match after match, no matter what kind of serve, or brief, or client call comes your way. The challenging days feel like part of being in the game, and less like personal failings. The good days are easier to celebrate. And you learn to appreciate those “middle third days” for their contributions as well, rather than taking them for granted.

One for the Meal, One for the Reel, One for the Feels

If the rule of thirds can guide how we approach the long game, it can also shape how we think about our creative practice. You may have heard the industry phrase when taking on new work, “one for the reel and one for the meal.” This idea doesn’t always work for me, because it implies that your portfolio piece (the “reel”) is the most fulfilling to you as a creative. But, in fact, that may trap us into feeling confused or empty when our “reel” piece still isn’t fulfilling.

So I’d like to propose expanding this idea into “one for the meal, one for the reel, and one for the feels,” inspired by my colleagues Jeff Boddy and Hannah Graf.

One for the meal keeps the lights on. It’s the client work, the pitch, the project that might not be your dream brief, but still sharpens your craft. There’s value in the repetition, testing your workflow and teamwork, the small moments of precision that make you better.

One for the reel builds your voice. It’s the work that challenges you, the kind that defines your point of view. These are the projects where you stretch creatively and show your peers and clients what you’re capable of.

And one for the feels is the work that feeds your soul. It might be small or personal. It’s the thing that exists for no one but you. You make it just because you wanted to see what happens when it gets out of your head and into the real world.

Floating between these three isn’t about balance so much as calibration and awareness. It’s how I remind myself that creative stamina isn’t about chasing highs. It’s about pacing your energy, giving yourself room to breathe, recovering, and rediscovering what you love about the work.

Staying in the Game

The truth is, we’re all playing our own version of the one-third rule. Some days you’re on fire. Some days you’re fine. Some days you’re flailing.

But if you can see each of those states as part of the process, it gets easier to see yourself staying in motion. Because you’re not judging yourself for the bad days, you’re learning from them.

That’s what stamina really is: not endurance for its own sake, but a system that lets you keep showing up with your imagination intact.

So I keep playing. I keep showing up for the meal, the reel, and the feels. And I try to remember that a creative life, like tennis, isn’t about never missing the shot. It’s about loving the game enough to play it all over again tomorrow.

Watch Michelle’s full Dash Bash talk on sustaining a creative career below.

Thank you to Mack Garrison, Meryn Hayes, and the team at dash for making this talk possible.

Welcome to the Pencils Down Roundup! We’ve been up to a lot lately, so here’s a quick peek at the latest announcements and new work we’re loving.

ICYMI

SuprOrdinary

Devin Mathews is putting the ordinary in extraordinary. Devin, an art director at BUCK, is embarking on a passion project to harness creativity in his everyday life. The first four episodes of SuprOrdinary are live now on YouTube! Don’t forget to subscribe.

NEW WORK SPOTLIGHT

Oura: Ring True to You

Oura Ring in color? Yes, please! We teamed up with Oura to create a campaign for their first-ever ring in colorful ceramic — Oura Ring 4 Ceramic.

Ring true to you celebrates the new rings by hero’ing the colorful characters who give them life. Check out our full case study for more.

WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT

How to Humanize Tech-Driven Finance Brands

Finance is built on trust, but how do you translate trustworthiness via a design system? Justin Cone, Executive Director of Communications, breaks down how BUCK uses human-centric design to convey trust in financial institutions. Check it out.

IN THE NEWS

Celebrating 40 years of Mario

Michael Highland, Creative Director at BUCK Games, spoke with It’s Nice That about Mario’s enduring legacy and player-centric, craft-first approach to game development. Check out the story here.

New BUCKer Rebecca Dell’s passion for creativity

Roast Brief interviewed Rebecca Dell, Executive Producer based in London, about her career and leadership philosophy, as well as BUCK’s growing presence in Europe. Read the full interview here.

MORE NEW WORK

That’s all, folks! Thanks for reading. In case you missed it, check out our first edition of Pencils Down here.

Leave a comment to let us know what you’d like to see more of from us.

Since speaking at D&AD this year, I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes us love certain brands, not just like them.

It’s rarely the big idea alone. More often, it’s the quiet signals of care, the choices that show someone thought deeply about how it would feel on the other end.

Details are how brands say: We see you. We get you. We made this better so you don’t have to think about it.

That’s the difference between something that’s functional and something that feels alive.

The Bridge Between Brand and Audience

Recently, we worked on an animated piece for Airbnb featuring a chef making ramen from scratch. On paper, it might seem like a standard food shot. But it became a deep dive into how specificity and craft can unlock emotion and trust.

Our research showed that travelers aren’t just looking for things to do. They’re looking for meaningful connection, for experiences that feel rooted in real people, real places, and real culture.

The ramen scene worked not because it looked great, but because it felt true. It tapped into that human urge to go deeper, to connect with tradition and skill.

Crafting With Intention

Here’s how Kien Hoang, one of our 3D leads, described it:

“The ramen shot was one of those deceptively simple challenges. To get it right, we studied real bowls obsessively, how broth clings to noodles, how translucent perfectly cooked noodles should be, and how oil catches light.

But it wasn't just about getting the look right, it was about making every detail feel considered. We spent time choreographing how the noodles drape from the chopsticks, how they fold back into the bowl with weight and rhythm. Every element was tuned to evoke care and competency, the things that quietly build trust with the viewer.

“The goal wasn't photorealism, it was to make something that felt delicious, intentional, and full of life.”

Ramen might not seem like a typical hero moment, but with care and specificity, it becomes something unforgettable.

Why the Small Stuff Matters

This thinking extends far beyond food.

Take Airbnb’s app. Every touchpoint feels simple, human. You glide from browsing to booking without friction. And when those same visual cues appear in their billboards or app, it fortifies a sense of trust.

Compare that to a typical hotel site. You’re bombarded with options, filters, fees. It’s the same service-a place to stay-but the feeling is completely different.

Or think about Apple. Most people can’t point out every design decision, but they feel them. How many old iPhone boxes do you still have in a drawer somewhere? We don’t keep them because they’re useful, but because they’re too nice to throw away.

From Functional to Feel-Good

Design, at its core, is a way to show people you understand them. And when done well, it builds trust, sometimes without a single word.

The real skill is knowing which details matter. And which ones don’t.

Because in a world full of choice, the things we love are rarely louder. They’re just made with more care.

Ben Langsfeld, Chief Design Officer, BUCK

Ben builds the conditions for crafting work that can’t be ignored. As Chief Design Officer at BUCK, he works between strategy and craft to design systems that let creativity scale. His partnerships span companies such as Google, Apple, Microsoft, and OpenAI, along with direct collaborations for Notion, Sherwin-Williams, IBM, and Nike.

Check out The Psychology of Craft D&AD panel below 👇

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