Google Pixel 9

Working in a team of four motion designers at Google Creative Lab, I helped shape the motion language and 3D look-development for the global launch of the Google Pixel 9 family.

With a completely redesigned hardware silhouette across the Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel Watch 3, and Pixel Buds Pro 2, our goal was to celebrate the physical craft of the devices while visualising the arrival of Gemini built directly into the hardware.

Role: Motion Direction & 3D Look-Development (in a 4-person motion team at Google Creative Lab).

01. Sculpted Metal & The Gemini Shimmer

The defining feature of the Pixel 9 generation is the new stadium-shaped camera bar: a precision-milled island of matte glass and polished aluminium rising cleanly from the back of the phone.

Rather than layering external particle effects on top of the device, we integrated the magic of Gemini directly into the studio lighting rig. As the camera orbits the phone, a four-colour spectral shimmer travels along the chamfered metal edges and lens rings, turning a physical reflection into a living AI signature.

02. Global DOOH: Built for Every Screen Shape

A global hardware launch has to work everywhere at once: from towering 9:16 vertical monoliths at bus stops and train stations to ultra-wide landscape billboards and retail walls.

We designed a modular choreography system where the camera moves, specular highlights, and typographic lockups adapt cleanly between portrait and landscape ratios without ever losing the macro focus on the hardware contours.

03. Choreographing the Pixel 9 Pro Fold

For the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, the motion language shifts from monolithic solidity to ultra-thin mechanical precision. In both Obsidian and Porcelain, the choreography plays with extreme silhouette angles, rotating the device onto its razor-thin profile before unfolding into the full inner display illuminated by the “Oh hi, AI” gradient.

04. The Connected Hardware Family

Beyond the phones, the motion system unites the entire 2024 hardware ecosystem: Pixel Buds Pro 2, Pixel Watch 3, and Pixel 9 Pro. Using shared orbital momentum and matching studio reflections, each object hands the motion off to the next before locking into the final family portrait.

05. Broadcast & Live-Action Integration

For the broadcast companion spots, the studio 3D motion language bridges directly into live-action photography, matching the exact scale and position of the physical phone in hand before resolving into the 3D Gemini hardware endframe.