January in Motion

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Favourite Projects

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BUCK x Google Gemini - Motion Design System

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It’s hard to have a month go by without featuring a project from the legendary BUCK. This month, we saw the craft behind the visual design system they helped create for Google’s Gemini platform. 

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As we’ve discussed before on our episode with How&How, many AI brands can feel very ‘samey’ and often robotic. 

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With a large lack of trust and poor sentiment from the general public towards  AI, brands need to look at how they can create more emotion-led visual systems. 

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This isn’t just built into a brand's static identity, but more importantly through its motion language and microinteractions - particularly with an AI platform.

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At the same time, for a tool like Gemini that is aimed at general users as well as businesses, it needed to feel friendly and approachable while still maintaining a level of sleek professionalism.

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The BUCK team has done a stellar job at finding the balance between the two in this project. Check out the full case study here.

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BBC x NOMINT - Winter Olympic Games

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To celebrate the winter coming together of athletic talent, BBC Creative approached NOMINT to create a distinctly unique film that they describe as a ‘visual experience unlike anything seen before’.

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And, we have to agree. Using stop motion with real sparks and flames, NOMINT paired craft with unpredictability and created something entirely new.

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Projects like this prove that creativity really still is alive, and that human craft is imperative to creating unique standout work.

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Studio Updates

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It’s been a busy start to the year at the studio with plenty of exciting new projects kicking off. With a lot of new partnerships sparking, we’re already extremely excited about what 2026 holds.

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Jack and Jimmy kicked the year off with a visit to New York to continue growing our network in the US. The two fortunately arrived just ahead of the city’s craziest blizzard in a decade and spent the week connecting with faces old and new. 

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They kicked the week off visiting our friends over at COLLINS, spending some time in their Brooklyn-based studio. 

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A stroke of good timing also allowed the two to attend Uncommon & OFFF’s mixer, hosted by Lisa Smith and Alex Center, as well as the annual Young Guns awards show with The One Club for Creativity and ADC. 

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Some other highlights included visiting PepsiCo’s design studio and the Reddit HQ.

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Of course, the two also found time to squeeze in plenty of slices & sandwiches.

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Lots of exciting news to come off the back of this trip so keep your eyes peeled for more updates from us this year!

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We’re also looking to hire a new motion designer for our team, details can be found here.

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OpenAI & Instagram: Secrets of Global Brand Design with Studio DUMBAR/DEPT

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Motion should no longer be an afterthought, in the digital age, movement bleeds into a brands identity.

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In this month’s episode of Months in Motion, Jack and Jimmy sat down with Liza Enebeis and Wouter Dirks from the legendary Studio DUMBAR/DEPT to discuss how they approach brand design and integrate sound and motion. Working with the likes of OpenAI, Instagram and Google. 

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Whether you're building brand systems for startups or global tech giants, Liza and Wouter share how to balance experimental design with functional branding that survives in the real world. We also touch on the "addictive" world of vibe coding and why your next big tool might just be Excel or Keynote.

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