Ben Langsfeld is chief design officer at BUCK, a world inventive firm merging artwork, design, and expertise to deliver manufacturers to life. Formed by visible storytelling, Ben works in a wide range of disciplines to push the boundaries of inventive innovation. Throughout his profession, he has labored with iconic manufacturers corresponding to BBC, Pepsi, Apple and Google, alongside visitor lecturing at D&AD and Future London Academy’s Way forward for Branding.Forward of the Model Affect Awards, I caught up with Ben to debate life at BUCK, lifting the curtain to find what goes into creating standout branding. Diving into a few of Ben’s current initiatives, we uncovered the worth of recent pondering and the significance of the finer particulars on the subject of constructing iconic manufacturers.(Picture credit score: BUCK)Why are particulars necessary within the craft of design and branding?Particulars sign real care and concern for the individuals experiencing your work. Particulars are how manufacturers construct worlds that really feel genuine and price exploring.Design is how manufacturers reveal they perceive, pay attention, and supply actual worth to their prospects. The small print in design create the feel that makes experiences really feel actual quite than manufactured. Like several well-crafted product—furnishings, journal, web site—it is the small issues that remodel practical interactions into moments of real connection and surprise.Are you able to give me an instance the place you assume particulars have made a distinction to model or marketing campaign outcomes?Airbnb is an ideal instance. Their app creates virtually no friction between looking and reserving—each interplay feels easy. While you see those self same acquainted visible indicators throughout their billboards and commercials, there’s a right away sense of belief and belonging that makes you determine with the model and its values.Evaluate that to reserving a typical lodge: a number of web sites—their very own and third-party reserving websites, a number of charges, totally different room classes, add-ons, member or unique reductions or perks. It will get complicated quick. Airbnb’s consideration to element removes that cognitive load totally.(Picture credit score: BUCK)Inform me extra about your mission for AirbnbBUCK’s current work for Airbnb, launching Airbnb Experiences, is an instance of one thing we’re seeing as important to efficient model constructing: the power to create a world stuffed with surprise that positions your model as a portal to experiences individuals genuinely crave.For this marketing campaign, we created an animated sequence that includes ramen-making with an award-winning chef. The analysis revealed that individuals do not simply need entry to actions, they need to uncover worlds that exist past the standard paths. The ramen scene works as a result of it represents genuine craftsmanship and cultural engagement in a method that feels each aspirational and achievable.The animation model lets us construct a fascinating world quite than simply present a service. We’re positioning Airbnb not as one other reserving platform, however as a gateway to native mastery and hands-on cultural experiences. It is the distinction between promoting transactions and promoting transformation.
Journey: The Grand Journey | Airbnb Experiences – YouTube
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How did you create that ramen?Hah! I like that shot too. We found that persons are hungry for entry to genuine craftsmanship and native experience. The ramen scene works as a result of it represents one thing common: the will to transcend surface-level tourism and interact with actual ability and custom. The important thing perception was positioning these experiences as portals to surprise.Each aspect was tuned to evoke care and competencyBut I am unable to take credit score for the execution—that is all our crew of unimaginable artists. This is what BUCK’s 3D Lead, Kien Hoang, needed to say about it:
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“The ramen shot was a type of deceptively easy challenges. To get it proper, we studied actual bowls obsessively—how broth clings to noodles, how translucent completely cooked noodles needs to be, and the way oil catches gentle. BUCK’s LA studio is within the coronary heart of Little Tokyo, so grabbing an actual reference was as simple as stepping out the door.However it wasn’t nearly getting the look proper—it was about making each element really feel thought-about. We frolicked choreographing how the noodles drape from the chopsticks, how they fold again into the bowl with weight and rhythm. Each aspect was tuned to evoke care and competency—the issues that quietly construct belief with the viewer. The purpose wasn’t photorealism—it was to make one thing that felt scrumptious, intentional, and lively. We used Maya for format, Houdini for the noodle and broth sims, and V-Ray for rendering.”That is precisely what I imply about placing craft entrance and centre. Most manufacturers would draw back from a close-up ramen shot as their flagship second, however whenever you execute with that stage of care and intention, specificity turns into your power.(Picture credit score: BUCK)Do you assume it is higher to take a singular or trend-based strategy to branding?Chasing tendencies will get you nowhere. You possibly can draw inspiration from rising visible languages, however unique pondering and distinct selections are required for design to really feel distinctive and create real differentiation.The issue is everybody’s wanting in the identical locations for solutions—learning the identical rivals, analysing the identical trade patterns. We have developed a scientific cross-domain analysis strategy: Cultural, Psychological, Behavioural, adjoining industries. The breakthrough insights come from intersections the place nobody else is wanting.I counsel my groups and companions to search for common truths with actual roots inside the model itself; legacy, historical past, nostalgia, craftsmanship particulars that create insights and construct genuine structure. Then we use cross-domain pondering to unlock recent views on these truths. Netflix did not research tv—they utilized gaming psychology to leisure. Uber did not enhance taxis—they created a brand new mannequin borrowed from luxurious hospitality.The purpose is creating worlds that really feel distinctive and price exploring, locations individuals need to uncover quite than simply recognise.(Picture credit score: BUCK)Do shoppers actually discover particulars? Does it matter in the event that they solely do subconsciously?Completely. Have a look at Apple’s iOS dominance—there’s unimaginable element and high quality in each pixel, creating loyal prospects who cannot think about switching. However the larger sample is how particulars create worlds value inhabiting.Particulars do not simply deliver consolation—they construct the feel that makes experiences really feel genuine and price exploring. They’re indicators that there is real care and deeper which means behind what you are encountering.It is like discovering a rigorously curated house—whenever you discover considerate touches, you sense there’s an entire world of intention behind them. That is design’s function: creating portals to surprise that individuals need to step by, not simply practical interactions they should full.(Picture credit score: BUCK)How does good design make life higher?Good design makes life higher by making higher selections really feel apparent. The very best designers spot patterns in human behaviour that make advanced issues really feel easy—how individuals truly transfer by areas, what creates belief, the place friction lives.In a world of infinite potentialities, the true ability is figuring out which particulars matter and which do not. Nice design eliminates the cognitive load of dangerous selections. It guides you towards what you truly need with out you having to consider it.
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What’s your design pet peeve? My greatest design pet peeve? ChatGPT killing the em sprint. It turns each lovely—rigorously thought-about—thoughtfully positioned—em sprint into boring parentheses or commas. The em sprint has rhythm—pause—emphasis—it is a typographic device with actual persona that will get steamrolled by algorithmic effectivity. RIP my beloved em sprint.(Picture credit score: BUCK)How does being a B Corp-certified inventive firm affect BUCK?Essentially the most telling factor about BUCK receiving B Corp certification? After we requested who wished to create a model of our B Corp brand, the response was overwhelming (utterly voluntary, utterly genuine).B Corp certification is not only a badge of delight or coverage adjustments—it is develop into bottom-up inventive inspiration that reveals what our tradition truly values.One individual captured it completely: “It is the embodiment of the values we have all the time held to deal with one another and our planet the best way we need to be handled.” One other BUCKer talked about how “we’re all collectively in the identical route,” whereas another person mirrored on how “we’re meant to co-exist… to make the world a greater place.”Every day design information, critiques, how-tos and extra, as picked by the editors.When your crew voluntarily creates one thing significant and speaks authentically about your goal, you recognize B Corp values aren’t simply altering enterprise selections—they’ve develop into a part of how individuals outline their work and id.We have observed vital shifts since certification. We take ESG commitments extra critically. There are particular consumer sectors we merely will not work with anymore, and we create impression experiences that scrutinise the whole lot we do.However this inventive response reveals one thing deeper. B Corp certification is not only a badge of delight or coverage adjustments—it is develop into bottom-up inventive inspiration that reveals what our tradition truly values.The B Corp neighborhood is close-knit, and we have had nice discussions with different licensed corporations about future collaborations.How do you envision BUCK evolving over the following 5 years?As we have grown, we have developed a number of enterprise fashions. We function concurrently as a super-premium manufacturing firm, a model and design studio, and a product visioning consultancy.However the larger evolution is positioning ourselves between technique and craft—the one two issues that basically matter anymore. We’re targeted on serving to our companions construct inventive confidence and judgment within the AI period.As a substitute of simply making nice work, we’re changing into the crew that helps you see alternatives earlier than your rivals do. We have develop into consultants at recognizing patterns throughout utterly totally different industries. What’s working in gaming that might remodel healthcare? What luxurious manufacturers perceive about want that B2B corporations are lacking?(Picture credit score: BUCK)Each mission teaches us one thing new, and that information makes us higher on the subsequent one. We’re constructing on 21 years of sample recognition.We have additionally constructed a status of pioneering new methods and novel storytelling practices. In a world the place issues are getting recycled so shortly, we’ll proceed pushing ahead (exploring new methods to speak on the surfaces of as we speak and tomorrow). That experimental edge, mixed with strategic pondering, is what retains work feeling recent.We’re a part of Residence, a community of like-minded corporations working in several inventive spheres. The community is changing into extra seen to purchasers, letting us service them in methods we by no means imagined earlier than. We’re an ultra-curious bunch, all the time searching for new avenues to specific our design expertise.The actual alternative is that inventive era is getting simpler, however inventive judgment is changing into extra worthwhile. We’re not simply reacting to what purchasers ask for—we’re serving to them uncover potentialities they did not know existed and make higher selections when it issues most.Uncover extra about BUCK.
