BluBlu Studios Builds Story-Driven Animation for Brands and Publishers

BluBlu Studios’ work sits where illustration, motion and clear explanation meet. The Warsaw and Tokyo studio produces animated explainers, ads, series, shorts and illustrations for clients ranging from start-ups to international companies and publishers. Its portfolio includes work for Nickelodeon, IKEA, Forbes, Microsoft, Subaru, TEDx and European Athletics. A newly completed animation for Sensei, a US start-up, offers a glimpse of how the studio turns a product story into moving images.

That range reflects a shift in the studio’s practice. BluBlu began with animated explainer videos, then expanded into short films, advertising and series. Founder Jacob Kurek describes the guiding question as how to communicate a client’s message through animation. The answer changes with each brief: a product explanation, a commercial and educational content for young viewers each call for a different approach to story and style.

A studio shaped around collaboration

Kurek is BluBlu’s founder, executive producer, creative director and CEO. He says he has overseen more than 300 video and animation productions for international brands, non-profits, production houses and advertising agencies. His current focus is premium explainers and animated ads for audiences in the Americas, Australia, Asia and Europe.

For Kurek, a project’s appeal isn’t simply a matter of complexity. He points to the energy clients bring to the work and the exchange of ideas during production. Some clients arrive without a clear picture of the process or the finished piece; part of the studio’s role is to help them shape that vision. Creative agencies may bring a more developed direction and want to build on it together. In both cases, the collaboration is part of the work, from early discussion through to the finished animation.

That emphasis has a practical consequence for creative teams: the brief can develop as the people making the work learn more about the story. Kurek describes a process that includes working out what the client needs to communicate, exploring ideas together and refining the animation’s style. The source doesn’t outline a fixed production method, but his account makes clear that the studio treats client participation as an active part of shaping the result.

Sensei and the moving image portfolio

When the interview was published, BluBlu had just completed an animation for Sensei. The article presents the piece as a project about the future of retail and includes it alongside examples titled “Aviation services – Our Secret Job,” “Fiber Sustainable Solutions Promotional Video,” “Skirmish” and a video about Monetha’s approach to trust in online purchases. The portfolio spans commercial and explanatory subjects, giving potential clients a sense of the studio’s range without suggesting that one visual formula suits every brief.

Kurek also described work then in progress: a series of nature and science animations for partners in Sweden and a commercial for a fragrance producer. For another commercial, the team travelled to Bangkok to take part in the production being animated. Kurek said that being on set gave the team a chance to exchange ideas directly and develop the animation style in context. That kind of involvement can help an animation respond to the source material and the wider production around it.

The studio also makes explainers for businesses and animated series for clients including Macmillan Publishers. Kurek frames each project as distinct, whether the goal is to clarify how a service works or to educate young viewers. For designers, that range is a useful reminder that animation’s visual language needs to serve the subject and audience: the pacing, imagery and tone that help explain a product may not fit a series for children.

Illustration as part of the wider practice

The article’s illustration samples include images titled “Sensei: The Future of Retail,” “Virtuant Helps You With Disaster Recovery: Easy and Fast,” “Fisherman” and “Alone in the Woods: No Signal.” Presented together, the examples connect the studio’s illustrative work to its broader interest in telling stories across subjects and formats. The portfolio link provides a route to explore more of the studio’s work, while the featured videos show how its images move through a sequence.

BluBlu’s profile in the Directory of Illustration brings its still and moving work into the same view. That combination matters for teams commissioning visual storytelling: a studio working across illustration and animation can carry a visual idea between formats, while tailoring the treatment to a particular project. The useful takeaway from BluBlu’s practice is to begin with the message, audience and collaboration, then let those decisions guide the animation’s style.

BluBlu Studios portfolio

BluBlu Studios