Buck agency brought me in to join their team on the Google Pixel “Made You Look” project.
For context: the new Google Pixel smartphone has an external screen that displays “Made You Look” animations. Their purpose is to create a direct interaction with whoever is being photographed, sparking smiles and a moment of complicity.
When I arrived on the project, the team was already working on sketches of a curious cat facing a fishbowl.
So my mission? Take over the creative lead and transform the concept into a micro-comedy that loops perfectly. A challenge I love!
I helped refine the cat’s final design, and worked mainly on its pose and expressions as it gets stuck inside the bowl.
That simultaneously trapped and ridiculous position is what gives the scene all its flavor. But my creativity was called upon elsewhere too…
For the little bowl resident, the team had already tested several animals.
After sketching out a few poses for a fish, I tried a starfish.
Its super simple, malleable shape was exactly what was needed to express a whole range of emotions.
Starting out stretched and relaxed, it ends up launched into the air like a projectile.
I drew a whole set of expressions (calm, worry, surprise, dizziness, contentment, etc.), then developed the idea of the parachute return — which the team immediately loved. An unexpected touch that makes you smile, releases the tension, and rounds out the loop.
Ultimately the only real constraint of this project, beyond making people smile, was to follow the idle-hint-surprise-reset structure. Which I’d translate as: dead calm / slight ripple / tension / back to the initial state.
This structure is the foundation of countless sketches and jokes: you set the scene, build tension through surprise, then release it with laughter.
Once the characters and storyline were approved, it was time to find the right color mood. One key constraint: staying compatible with Google’s brand universe.
The vivid orange cat, the bright yellow starfish, the blue of the water… they all came quite naturally. The goal was to keep bold tones that catch the eye while staying within Google’s visual codes. Mission accomplished!
The daily check-ins with Simon Buijs (Head of Design) and Ellen Turnill Montoya (Associate Creative Director) were genuinely smooth and energizing. The entire Buck team — Vincent Lammers (Executive Creative Director), Chance Woodward (Executive Producer), Bénédicte Gold-Dalg (Producer) — contributed to a great dynamic where everything flowed and the best ideas came naturally.
The project wrapped faster than expected — proof that the creative proposals hit the mark!
