SF on-site 2026: on four walls and invisible momentum

Recently, we invited two teammates to join the rest of us in San Francisco for a one-week on-site gathering. Quite common, most studios are fully remote, and we run a hybrid setup. If you live in the Bay Area, we have an HQ location where we show up three times a week. So a full week of everyone in one room doesn't happen often and here's what we learned from it.

When our first design hire, Stephanie, asked for a physical studio space as part of her offer, I was hesitant at first, especially because we ran multiple projects at once without a physical office for over two years. But this little four wall studio made us stronger than ever. I am not talking about team bonds, it is more about the invisible momentum, the improv ideas that were never typed into Slack, or the "what if?" turned into a billable project for a client, or the accuracy of the design outputs when we can print and cut.

After a long break from work traveling for the tour, we decided it's time for us, including our summer interns, to come face to face. Not only to get to know each other, but to work together in a tiny small space, overlooking the SF fog and hills in the middle of the Mission, and create design momentum together. We also shared over 14 meals together in one week. Maybe we overate, but nothing builds teamwork faster than a group vote on where to eat.

This summer, we added two new interns, Keikei and Boning, who joined us in June and jumped on all kinds of client work with us. Keikei, our 2D intern, joined us on site in SF. Boning works remote from Atlanta. I love the energy they brought to the studio, they have exactly the traits we look for: open to technology, curious about making, willing to dive into the unfamiliar.

Spoiler, one of the projects we've been wanting to make happen is finally in motion, a limited set of products that represent the design community in the Bay Area. We know this will be a great project for the interns to help ideate and make happen with us.

For a few days, both of our interns collaborated on a set of illustrations. There was lots of back and forth to make sure the set felt cohesive, texture, color, drawing technique, composition. It would simply take weeks to finalize if they weren't sitting next to each other.

When the interns are on site, mentorship looks completely different. It's not tasks handed out and comments left on a file, it's asking the "dumb" questions, using a ruler, mocking up prototypes by hand, brainstorming names freely in a room instead of a thread. As a multidisciplinary studio, we work across mediums that resist clear feedback in writing, a sound design pass, a motion piece. It's not about one frame, it's a feeling you have to watch or listen to together, reading each other's reactions and building from there.

We've had clients visiting the studio too. What could just be a Zoom call turns into a coffee chat that turns into a real project. Maybe it's the coffee, or maybe being in the same room just builds better chemistry and trust.

Designers are getting more siloed everywhere, as creative roles shrink and automation spreads across every industry. As a creative lead, I want the team looking outside the scroll, not at what's already been done, but at what hasn't been done yet. Originality doesn't come from a chatbot, it comes from intellectual curiosity, the unfamiliar walk, the question you're too afraid to ask.

If you're building something, get everyone together face to face. Maybe what comes next will surprise you.