BUCK is a creative company that makes art, design and technology with you and for you.

Sometimes it’s the smallest victories that make the biggest difference.  

From script to render, BUCK crafted six charming short films for Mailchimp Presents, an entertainment platform celebrating the entrepreneurial spirit.

Mailchimp "All In a Day's Work"

The 2020 New Yorker Festival was virtual for the first time this year and we were given the honor of whipping up a design system worthy of this storied institution. This included an anthem film to kickoff the event as well as a graphics package used during the livestream. 

The New Yorker Festival

Hulu Featured

To all you quality-family time watching, cozy couples chilling, in-the-shower-streaming, multi-tasker meeting, or doing the dishes peeping, type people out there--Hulu’s got your back. 

Hulu

Thorne, maker of health supplements and at-home testing kits, came to us for a brand film. They walked out with an entire motion system and an expansive toolkit that could carry them into the future.

Thorne

“When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it’s wrong.”

- R. Buckminster Fuller

BUCK Rebrand

Otis Redding sang, “You don’t miss your water till your well runs dry.” Aint that the truth.  

We teamed up with Sydney Water and Host Havas to raise awareness about water wastage and encourage conservation and responsible use. Along with air, water is Earth’s most valuable resource. And we have to make sure our well never runs dry.

Sydney Water PSA Campaign

2020 has been rough on all of us. It’s hard to focus on tasks. It’s hard to focus, period. And if you’re a small business owner struggling to survive in the era of Covid, it can feel like quicksand. We partnered with R/GA to create an anthem film for Mailchimp that pays respect to the resilient small business owners who are out there fighting through this madness and trying to keep their heads above water. 

Mailchimp Momentum

When Wealthsimple challenged us to create a spot for their new Zero Fee Trade App we got inspired. The result is  this catchy, tongue-twisting ode to investing. The stock on this has gone way up since this went viral and started racking up millions of views. Just another 3.706 billion more views and we got Gangnam Style by the balls.

Wealth Simple Trade App

A new style guide, illustration and animation system for the entire Facebook ecosystem. There’s many imitators, but there’s only one Alegria.

Facebook Alegria

World War Zero is an initiative spearheaded by Secretary John Kerry that brings people from all sectors and walks of life together to address the climate crisis. This coalition of unlikely allies breaks boundaries and crosses the political aisle to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The future is watching. Let’s meet the challenge. 


World War Zero

We came groovin’ up slowly with monkey fingers, joo joo eyeballs and a slightly different approach to this Amazon Music spot. 

Amazon Beatles

What started as a simple design-exploration evolved into a comprehensive visual system for the Pixel 4 launch. Inspired by the Bauhaus school’s elegant modernism, Pixel 4 is an exercise in playful simplicity.   

Google Pixel 4

A project packed with smiles for Starlight, a non-profit foundation whose mission is "To brighten the lives of seriously ill children and their families".

Our goal: To spread smiles through animated gifs and a film that shows the power of a simple smile.

Starlight Spread The Smile

TAXI asked us to help them redefine the iconic Canadian brand, and we were pumped to craft an exciting new direction over the course of this year-long campaign.

Canadian Tire 

A tale of grit, determination, teamwork, and anti-litter bugs.

Coke Sustainability

Partnering with Superunion on this historic network rebrand, we were tasked with bringing a new layer of narrative storytelling to a category of BBC content they coined Maverick.

BBC2 

In the winter of 2019, Sonos launched their first mobile, cordless, take-it-anywhere speaker. Sonos quality with total freedom of movement. Music around the campfire? Check. Watching movies on the back patio? Check. Podcasts in the shower? Check. Radio in the bathtub? What have you got, a death wish?!

Sonos

Facebook asked us to develop a graphics and animation package for their annual developers conference. We took their brand identity and created a motion language that would translate across every screen at the event.

F8 2019

IBM’s Design ethos advocates for partnerships and embraces dualities: Mankind and machine. Fixed and flexible. Natural and engineered. And now...IBM and BUCK.

Together with the IBM Design Team, we’ve produced an ongoing series of shorts that demonstrate the use, usefulness, and deeper thinking behind elements of their new design language.

IBM Design Language 

Abra Abracadabra...BUCK designed and animated the opening title sequence and graphics package for David Blaine’s 2016 ABC special, “Beyond Magic,” and his subsequent live tour.

2016 Emmy Winner for Outstanding Motion Design.

Beyond Magic

Apple approached BUCK to create an art film with the theme of ‘power’ to promote their super-powerful, new iMac Pro. We met the challenge with a simple direction that went out to our entire corps of artists and designers: go BUCK wild. The result is this stunning ‘eyegasm’--a thrilling showcase for our in-house talent.  

Apple Power to the Pro

Instagram wanted to get into the AR space as this exciting, new technology was breaking out. They fancied their own flashy, fun, and freaky effects but they didn’t know how to get in the game. 

That’s where we come in. (cracks knuckles)

Instagram Face Filters

Tinder is down for some casual fun and so are we! The result of our steamy hookup is a humorous spot which shifts the focus from the tech-driven app to our Darwianian need for human connection. For maximum tactility we use 3-D characters and practical sets. The result is a world you want to roll around in, in the buff.

Tinder Invention Of Together

Featured

BUCK Gallery

Slapstick In-House App

BuckyWall

Quarantine-Zine 

Women's Herstory Month

F5 Opening Titles

Buck

FPO: BUCK is dedicated to works for social good. This is a selection of recent projects that we hope made a difference.

Charity Water

Tony's Chocolonely 

DOH How's Your Head?

Humane Society

Apeel

Drink Up 

Changing The Game

MTV Elect This

The Breathe Easies

Alcoholics Anonymous

Goodbooks

Department of Social Services

Facebook IWD

No Kid Hungry

Cliff Bar Family Foundation Seed Matters

Social Good

Creative technology is a broadly interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary field combining computing, design, art and the humanities.

IBM More than the Score

Facebook Portal Launch

Facebook Dynamic Content Films

Oculus PAX AR

WebAR Poster

Facebook Messenger

Twitter Cannes

Oculus Horizon

Verizon/NFL AR Experience

Snap Partner Summit

Hermès

Google Pixel Wall

NIKS 

Creative Technology

Pepsi Black

Bankwest Campaign

Oculus 

Citrix

GoDaddy 

Google Pixel 4a

Facebook AKA Portal

Facebook NPE

Sunbites Hail the Sun

Asana Brand Film

Branding/Systems

Miniatures

AMP Awards Opening Film

TEDxSydney

Twin Peaks

Microsoft Hololens

Shroom

Immersive

BUCK Artist Spotlight

RBG Microsite

AGDA Awards

Design Institute of New Zealand Awards

BUCK x CommArts 

Speaking Engagement

@buck.u.back

How deep is your love?

Home

Research

For most, time away from work is an opportunity to escape — to dismount the workspace and shoot straight to the beach, the trees, or the mountains. But for BUCK designer Pierre-Nicolas Riou, that meant trading in client calls for sabbatical time, and in the process conjuring up this hypnotic, beautifully crafted music video that captures the sometimes-dramatic effect of sudden change ↓

Pierre-Nicolas Riou 

In response to the very real concerns about the spread of COVID-19, we want to provide an update on the steps we are taking to ensure the health and safety of our staff and our community while remaining fully operational to serve new and existing clients.

BUCK is following the guidance of the World Health Organization (WHO), and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on preventing the spread of the COVID-19 Virus.

Effective Monday March 16th, all staff in our US offices have moved into mandatory work from home environments. By Friday March 20th, our entire global workforce is working from home. A week ago, we had 3 offices. Now we have over 300. The era of the home office is here.

BUCK is a global company by nature and we were able to make the WFH transition with minimal disruption to our productivity. We moved quickly to implement the latest technology to remotely connect our artists to their office machines, we continue to use video conferencing and instant messaging technology extensively to remain in continuous contact with our clients and each other, and our team remains mindful to ensure the security and confidentiality required by our clients. We have pressure tested all of these systems with complete success.

COVID-19 is, undoubtedly, a challenging situation for us all, however we are committed to doing our part to help resolve this crisis. We promise to keep you updated on any new developments as they arise.

In the meantime, stay safe, #flattenthecurve, and for Pete’s sake, stop touching your face.

COVID-19 Announcement

Racial inequality is endemic in every aspect of American society, from healthcare and education to housing and employment. As our industry grapples with its own complicity in the problem, we, at BUCK, are looking inward. We recognize that the process of rooting out systemic racism within our industry must include substantive change and we must start with educating ourselves and scrutinizing our practices.

BUCK’s lack of diversity, especially in leadership, is a problem we need to rectify. Since our founding, we have relied on art schools and our jobs page as our main recruitment tools, but we realize now that those tools alone are inadequate. We are committed to enacting change in our recruiting, mentoring, and hiring practices.

Below are the immediate actions we are taking across our entire organization to fight racism and increase equality and diversity at BUCK.

Working with third-party partner Paradigm we are analyzing the makeup of our staff with a quantitative and qualitative study. We know that effective D&I programs require change at a structural and systemic level, and will use this data to understand where to focus, and how to prioritize our efforts. We will publish key findings in the coming weeks and will evaluate ourselves annually.

Gathering EEOC data on our staff in order to continuously monitor our diversity hiring and retention goals.

Unconscious Bias training for all global staff - Research indicates that compliance-oriented unconscious bias training doesn’t make a difference. Our third-party partners at Paradigm studied what really drives change, and designed a new approach that actually works. This training helps people understand how unconscious bias undermines diversity and inclusion, effective decision-making, collaboration, and management, and motivates them to engage in specific, effective behaviors that create more effective leaders, more productive teams, and a more inclusive organizational culture.

All employees will attend a harassment virtual training course designed to prevent employees from engaging in harassment and abusive conduct at work. With an emphasis on civility and bystander responsibility, we will educate BUCK staff on the laws prohibiting sexual harassment and the harassment of persons belonging to protected classes -- from gender to race to the disabled. For supervisory employees, we will train on properly and thoroughly investigating complaints of harassment, disciplining employees who have engaged in harassment, and protecting the employer from claims of harassment. 17 of our staff members including all of the executive team attended the 3% Conference, a two-day virtual conference dedicated to gender, age, and racial equality.

Ongoing diversity and inclusion education will occur consistently and indefinitely.

We created a committee with representation from BIPOC, women, and our LGBTQ+ community to create initiatives for the immediate future as well as a long-term strategy. We have committed a substantial budget to drive their efforts. Our collective goal is to create meaningful initiatives, ensuring anyone who works with BUCK feels confident knowing we will continuously hold space to listen while amplifying voices within our creative community.

In order to guarantee pay equality and equity, we scrutinized the salary and promotion rationale for every role in the organization, ensuring that every position has a clearly defined job description, salary band and growth strategy, and course-corrected any inconsistencies.

We developed a performance review system that allows all team members the ability to celebrate their achievements and define their growth opportunities.

We are implementing an anonymous feedback system for employees to safely, securely, and openly give feedback to management without fear, which is supported by our non-retaliation policy.

After a thorough audit of our company materials like the employee policies and procedures, we are revising to use more inclusive language including but not limited to how we refer to our caregivers.

We have designated gender-neutral bathrooms in our physical office spaces.

We are creating a system, facilitating and encouraging employees to set up internal representation groups.

The talent team is going to expand relationships with more schools throughout the US, including HBCUs, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and local Community Colleges that have Design and Animation programs. We are connecting with Department Heads, Career Placement Offices, and Student Groups. We are also looking at a global strategy to establish new relationships with top schools throughout the world to ensure a diverse pipeline of candidates from all different cultures and backgrounds.

We are evaluating our current internship program at BUCK to see how we can be more inclusive and provide inspiration and opportunities to underrepresented artists. We will also be hosting portfolio reviews to lend support and advice on how to break into the industry.

We are partnering with social institutions that foster interdisciplinary innovation at the intersections of art, design, technology, Black culture, activism, environmentalism and sustainability. Our initial partnership will consist of equipment donations while we develop additional opportunities to help support the cause.

We are matching all employee and freelance donations to organizations that are fighting for the rights and protection of the Black community.

We are reviewing the procurement of all of our business needs with an effort to source products and services only from vendors who are more representative of BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and Womxn communities.

We have committed to an annual budget that will ensure every employee has ongoing education in diversity and inclusion. We do this in order to create an environment where everyone feels comfortable to be themselves, use their voice and their talent without hesitation, and all team members have equal opportunities to succeed.

This is only the beginning of what will be an ongoing effort to affect tangible changes in ourselves and our industry. We’re committed to this long term and will be transparent and accountable as we work to achieve these goals. We welcome feedback and ideas from anyone who would like to help us move forward.

Anti-Racist Action & Accountability at BUCK →

GS&P came to us to make some sensational short films that capture the breadth of flavors and experience of drinking a Truly Hard Seltzer. 

We wanted to give this a visceral feel and communicate through a fun, visual language the refreshing, joyful vibes associated with Truly Hard Seltzer. 

Truly 

Mr. Peanut is back, baby. And he’s dropping the Planters Super Bowl Budget on ‘A Nut Above’ — a campaign to recognize and reward others for extraordinary acts.  

Planters

Squeeze into those lycra pants, slide into the saddle, clip in your cleats, and pay for a piccolo with a fist bump the next time you stop at the cafe. What started with Brenton the MAMIL (middle-aged man in lycra) quickly turned into a successful system including multiple deliveries across a range of platforms.

This ongoing portrait series honors the historic women who’ve influenced our lives and impacted our culture. BUCK artists illustrating the women who inspire them most—the rest is herstory.

We partnered with AJF in Melbourne to evolve a series of fun stories for Yoplait that saw a cunning crew of fruity creatures get in all sorts of mischief. 

Yoplait

60 seconds could change the world (of chocolate). This animated explainer shows why the time is now for a revolution in the cocoa farming industry. 

CLIENT: (coming to us the week before Thanksgiving) Hi. Can you design and execute a beautifully rendered, graphic novel-esque, cel animated, short film about the history of our company and deliver it before Christmas?
US: (casually filing nails and chewing on a long blade of grass) Is that it?

Airbnb 

As Microsoft is pivoting to industrial applications for its Hololens AR technology, they wanted to demonstrate their technological capabilities in a series of case studies. We came on board to transform what could have been dry explainer videos into some visually-exciting eye candy. 

Helping Microsoft 365 reach a new generation of creators. 

Microsoft 365

Meditation is rarely sold as a “fun” activity. It’s seriously serene. Intensely intentional. Right?  

Nope, not for Headspace and its millions of practitioners. Their mantra? Keep it simple. Keep it fun. So that’s exactly what we did for this spot. 


Headspace

To promote HBO’s adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ acclaimed memoir, “Between the World & Me,” BUCK condensed the author’s pride, grief, and empowerment into a potent trailer. 

Facebook Messenger asked us to create a 360 degree background and corresponding AR effect to promote mental health awareness for World Mental Health Day with the modest, yet crucial goal of getting people to slow it down and breathe. 
 
Whew....sometimes that’s easier said than done. 

When Citrix, the O.G. of inter-office communication, and Athletics in Brooklyn came to us to do a stake-in-the-ground launch film for their rebrand, we jumped at the opportunity. 

What has six animations, four colorways, 1,152 individually carved pieces, and an unnecessarily complicated output process? Our 2020 Holiday Gift!

BUCK Holiday Gift

We took Portal’s 2D illustration system (designed by yours truly) and transformed it into their first 3D animated spot to highlight the ways Portal keeps loved ones connected — especially during these difficult times. 

Slack allows companies—like BUCK ;)—to function at full capacity from millions of micro-offices worldwide. In turn, we help Slack distill their value for teams of every shape and size. 

Slack

It’s not everyday when we get asked to make a prequel to a BUCK favorite but when we got the offer to expand the Sunbite Cinematic Universe, we jumped at the chance. 

Mental health is frequently ignored and mental health problems often go unchecked. This is often because it’s scary to admit to yourself and others that you’re having trouble. So what can we do about that?

The Department of Health created a simple tool that allows Australians to check in with themselves and the people they care about in an effort to address this problem. We were happy to lend a hand to help them introduce it to the world. 


We created Web AR Poster to push the limits of how we can create AR applications in the browser, with a trippy portal that sucks you into a technicolor world.

The Mailchimp approach to philanthropy is all about flipping the script. They’re not down with top down models, choosing instead to invest in bottom up. We partnered with the good people at Kin to explain—in the most surreal manner we could muster—how Mailchimp is putting the people who know their communities best in charge. 

Mailchimp Big Change Starts Small

We help Amazon unveil their revolutionary new technology designed to harness “The Power of You” with a couple introductory videos.  I know we were promised jetpacks and flying cars, but this is the next best thing.

Amazon One

It Comes Naturally” gives a soulful nod to SheaMoisture’s roots, celebrating the strength and resilience of black women from yesterday to today.

Shea Moisture

We tag-teamed with DDB in Sydney to deliver some fun, funny, and funky UGC for Westpac so they can bring in some new young customers. 

Westpac 3%

Verizon needed a hype film to set the tone for their 5G Edge Keynote. They were announcing a partnering with Amazon Web Services to take 5G to the next level and they wanted a film equal to the task. We partnered up with them in a fluid collaboration and created something truly unexpected. 

Verizon 5G Edge Keynote

In celebration of the NFL’s 100th season, we collaborated with our pals at Momentum to deliver the speed and power of Verizon’s 5G network to fans around the league. We created a multi-player game with real time tracking on a super-sized throne for 10 select teams, bringing our complete toolkit to the project and utilizing everything from our UX crew to cel animation and 3D, to code.

Creamy, airy 3D goodness set to a pulsing beat helps SK-II launch SKINPOWER in Japan and China.

SK-II 

We were asked to create a brand film that educated people on the benefits of Asana project management software while also helping them stand out in a crowded and competitive field.  An audit of the landscape quickly revealed to us what not to do — the project management space was chock full of quirky. We were going to need a very different flavor of jerky. 

With schools closed and lunch programs shutdown, 1 in 4 kids in the United States face hunger this year due to the coronavirus. A child can’t expect to learn, focus, and thrive when their most basic needs aren’t being met.  This is a cause that is near and dear to our hearts and we wanted to help make a difference. 

The number of people reaching out for help after incidents of domestic violence in New South Wales has surged during the Coronavirus pandemic. We are proud to put our skills to work for this cause, partnering with BMF on this campaign to reach people in need.  

Waze rolled up on us with a simple direction: take us on a trip that highlights everything we accomplished in 2019, and where we’re going in 2020. We did this video to help chart that course for their users, their team members, and their collaborators. Let’s go!

Waze

Art made by BUCK artists during a strange time.

A campaign for Seek which encourages us to change the way we look at careers. Set to the playful, “That’s About the Size” by Bud Luckey (an OG Sesame Street song), this is about people at an employment crossroads who use Seek’s ‘know how’, to navigate through their career confusion.
“Ohhhh that's about the size, where you put your eyes, that's about the size of it...”


Seek

We believe in the power of image-making here at BUCK. From the artsy to the fartsy, we relish any opportunity we get to create beautiful images that can stand on their own.

Enjoy a gallery tour of some of our favorites over the years...

A series of eye-catching animations heralding the arrival of Microsoft’s mobile-friendly, unified, office app to a global audience. 


Microsoft

Hello Australia, meet Osko. We kicked off their debut appearance in the Land Down Under with a witty, emoji-driven, animated campaign.  