Inside Google Creative Lab: how a small team helps to invent the future

Information about Google Creative Lab is scarce. The team of designers, writers, programmers, filmmakers and producers spends, by its own estimate, 99.9% of its time making, but rarely shows the work behind it. This conversation is a rare look inside the small team that builds everything from ad campaigns to foundational design languages and interactive experiments. Design Leads Khyati Trehan and Donica Ida describe a place where roles blur – a graphic designer becomes a motion director, product thinker and tinkerer. Creative Director Matthew Carey breaks the process into two movements, playing and engineering, while Talent Lead Sheila Larkin explains why character matters more than craft when casting collaborators. Design Lead José Guizar makes the case for simplicity, and Brand Creative Director Steve Rura for putting humanity first, not just technology. One principle is consistent across the team: good work, even when shelved, rarely dies. TBI: Hi team! Could you please give us an introduction to your roles at Google Creative Lab? JG: I’m a design generalist. Product design meets brand meets all the small little details that make something be loved by humans – be it motion, sound, storytelling or silly drawings. I’ve always been interested in too many things to focus on only one, and I’ve been lucky enough to have found a gig that values that.