Part traffic controller, part diplomat, part therapist, and part fortune teller. Read more about Senior Producer Lindsey Andon's perspectives on the nuanced role of Producer, and the challenges of explaining it to her parents.

Explaining What I Do to My Parents

Design moments inside and outside the city. For this week's #NineFrames Designer+Animator Kasella Acain shares inspiration from her trip to Copenhagen and Amsterdam.

Nine Frames: Kasella Acain 

Summer Fridays are back. From Choco Taco to Strawberry Shortcake, Riis Park to the Jersey Shore, here are the team's top picks for how to do summer right in (mostly) NYC. 

Hello Summer Fridays!

Creative Director Josh Lynne shares what he’s learned about listening and how designing with empathy achieves different, more considered results.

Through empathetic listening, you’ll find connective themes that will help create project alignment.

Beyond the RFP

Cooking without recipes isn't just a process, it's a mindset. Designer + Animator Kasella Acain writes about experimentation in the kitchen and in design.

“Cooking is just as creative and imaginative an activity as drawing, or wood carving, or music. And cooking draws upon your every talent—science, mathematics, energy, history, experience—and the more experience you have, the less likely are your experiments to end in drivel and disaster. The more you know, the more you can create.” 

Cooking + Creativity

Before transitioning into animation and design, Jr. Animator and Designer Tyler Rispoli started as a film student at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Here are 5 technical aspects of filmmaking that deeply inform his intentional approach to animation.

“Film school provided a strong foundation of motion techniques that aided my progression in design and animation.” 




Thinking like a Filmmaker in Animation 

Vote for your favorite Trollbäck surfboard design in our collab with Kings Surfboard Glassing

"Surfboard building on the East Coast is 50 years behind the West Coast, so it’s a perfect time to experiment. We want to reach into the communities that have not had access to surfing and then one day there is that little girl out in the Rockaways who wants to be a shaper."

"With this collaboration, we hope to bring awareness to the thriving and unique East Coast surf scene, create new possibilities, and amplify the presence of some of the key people in the NYC surf community."

We're making a surfboard and we need your vote

“One of the things I love most about traveling is being immersed in new color schemes. I love associating colors with places.” For this week’s #NineFrames,  Writer/Strategist Jo Beck shares pictures from the Pacific island of Palau.

Nine Frames: Jo Beck

Trollbäck + Company isn’t exactly a small family business, but Director of Client Partnerships Ryan McRee writes about why the “+ Company” in our name defines a studio culture that feels that way. 

Small Family Business

Muse by Clio: 2 Minutes With Executive Creative Director Rosie Garschina

Senior Animator Marcelo Meneses writes about the sometimes-overlooked world of video games when it comes to finding inspiration for motion graphics. 

Finding Motion Graphics Inspiration in Gaming

Building brands has a lot in common with making movies – they both require emotional, evocative, compelling stories to succeed. Executive Director of Creative Strategy Bo Bishop writes about how having a background in filmmaking is his “secret sauce” for articulating strategy.

Five Films That Inspire Me as a Strategist 

Junior Designer + Animator Krysta Coates on what it’s like to start your first job remotely, and some tips for young designers doing the same. 

Navigating a First (Remote) Job

Abstract Rorschach images made with smoke and mirrors

Smoke + Mirrors

Trollbäck's Executive Creative Director Elliott Chaffer shares his Nine Frames, taken with a triple-lens 3D film camera. 

Nine Frames: Elliott Chaffer

Sarah Cortese, Senior Animator+Designer at Trollbäck+Company, writes about the creative joys of parenthood and finding inspiration in her kids. 

“Art resides in the quality of doing. Process is not magic.”



“I have never expected anything from my work but the satisfaction I could get from it by the very fact of painting and saying what I couldn’t say otherwise.”

“Your eye is a muscle, you have to keep it in shape and the more you draw, the more you see.”


Motherhood by Design: Creative Lessons I Have Learned From Parenting

Senior Designer Diksha Watwani has taught at SVA since 2016. She's found a balance being both a teacher and a perpetual student. Read her essay on our website.

“There is only one way to eat an elephant: one bite at a time.”

Diksha Watwani on Teaching at School while Learning on the Job

Our design interns Jo Iijima, Mel Petzoldt and Yunjia Yuan chat studio life, work styles and reflect on their time at Trollbäck.

"I've learned to pay better attention to the outside world and find inspiration everywhere."

"It’s really important to think about things from a higher level and know that things can keep evolving."

Q&A: Summer Internship Wrap-Up

We’ve got a new Trollbäck+Company website and we’re very (very) excited that you’re here to check it out.

Check out all the new features of our new website

From March 18-20, we're tabling digitally at the Savannah College of Art and Design, with an eye out for design/animation/3D interns.

CoMotion 2021: Going Virtual at SCAD's Annual Design Conference

It's March again. How are you coping? One year into our all-remote workflow, Trollbäck staffers share their inspirations and insights on how to create in the "new normal."

Creative Review: Finding Purpose in 2021

This week, dozens of agencies, studios, and creators are going dark to help amplify the voices and demands of people of color. Here’s an evolving list of how you can pitch in.

#BlackLivesMatter: A List of Resources for the Creative Community to Fight Back

For our latest design list, we’ve outlined a list of resources and ways you can help fight the effects of COVID-19.

Design List: How To Help Fight the Impacts of COVID-19

As hundreds of studios around the world transition over to remote, flex, and socially-distanced schedules, it’s no surprise that many of us are turning to the internet for tips and tricks on how to cope.

Creative Review: Designing the Perfect Work From Home Experience

From taking more risks to making a typeface, these are the goals our studio creatives are setting for 2020.

Creative Review: Trollbäck's 2020 Resolutions

This month, meet producer Natalie Studdert.

20+ Questions: Natalie Studdert

This month, meet designer + animator Koda Ko.

20+ Questions: Koda Ko

In advance of my final year of design school, I got to team up with some of the top talent here at Trollbäck to gather their best advice on graduating and getting a job.

Design List: Seven Tips for Landing (and Surviving) Your First Design Job

This month, meet director of client partnerships David Edelstein.

20+ Questions: David Edelstein

In an industry where exceptionally creative work is expected under tight project teams, tight budgets, and even tighter deadlines, it takes more than just good ideas alone to save you.

Design List: 4 Tips for Producing Great Creative Work

This month, meet executive producer Erica Schrager.

20+ Questions: Erica Schrager

As Oscar night approaches, Trollbäck+Company’s top creatives took some time out of their busy schedules to give us some thoughts on their favorite films (both nominated and unnominated) of the 2018-2019 season.

Creative Review: Trollbäck+Company’s Favorite Films of the Season

As the year draws to a close, Trollbäck+Company’s top creatives took some time out of their daily practice to give us their thoughts on the work we’ve done over the past year.

Creative Review: Trollbäck+Company’s Top Projects of 2018

We’re pledging alongside more than 200 other organizations to celebrate our civic duty.

#VoteTogether: Taking the Pledge to Increase Voter Turnout in 2018

This month, meet operations manager + master crafter Nicole Willis.

20+ Questions: Nicole Willis

This month, meet our producer + karaoke queen Betsy Jones.

20+ Questions: Betsy Jones

This month, meet our account manager Kevin "Kev" Anderson.

20+ Questions: Kevin Anderson

Nineteen years ago today, our founder Jakob Trollbäck took his vision for the world and put it into motion. Today, we celebrate 19 years of innovation in the design and creative communities.

A Look Back at April 11, 1999: Trollbäck+Company Celebrates Its 19th Anniversary

A follow-up to AIGA/NY’s January panel discussion on gender equality and female representation in the workplace.

One in Ten, Part II: Gender Equality in Design

This month, meet video editor + Pacific Northwest hippie September Raines.

20+ Questions: September Raines

As Oscar Season swiftly approaches, Trollbäck+Company’s top creatives took some time out of their busy schedules to give us some thoughts on their favorite Academy Award-nominated (and snubbed) films of the year.

Spring Review: Trollbäck+Company’s Favorite Films of the Year

Women make up just 11% of creative directors in this industry. We should talk about that.

One in Ten: Gender Equality in Design

As the year draws to a close, Trollbäck + Company’s top creatives took some time out of their daily design, strategy, and content innovations to give us their thoughts on the work we’ve done over the past year.

Year in Review: Trollbäck + Company’s Top Projects of 2017

The +Company: Alex Moulton

The +Company: Elliott Chaffer

Latest posts

How do you build a brand to last? It's about evolution, not revolution. This week in Fast Company, CCO Alex Moulton on why the era of the big rebrand needs to end. 

Fast Company: How do you build a brand to last? It's about evolution, not revolution.

Featured

Signal to Noise: Alex Moulton on Designing for Longevity

Graphic Design USA: An Interview with Alex Moulton and Rosie Garschina 

"Brand strategy is about codifying a client’s gut feeling. You do the due diligence to explore relevant positioning so that when you arrive at the final product the client says: ‘this is it.’"


Insights and inspirations from our studio