Creatives don’t want to be told how to be creative. But a free practical reference, something they can return to as different challenges, questions, and moments arise? That’s an inspiring idea.
And that’s what the 2026 RECESS Creative Playbook is – a 200+ page open-source resource built from conversations with 48 creatives across 20 countries. Contributors span advertising and design, with voices from brands such as Adobe, TikTok, Spotify, Liquid Death, LEGO Group, and Polaroid, and agencies such as Wieden+Kennedy, Interbrand, Mother, TBWA, and BBDO, representing creative markets across five continents.
Moreover, This year’s edition captures how creative work is actually happening in 2026:
- The rise of intentional, analogue and screen-free creative practices
- Repeatable systems and low-glamour routines that support better work
- The tools, hacks, and organisational methods creatives rely on daily
- How creatives are using AI, and where they’re choosing not to
- What inspires creative thinking today, across cultures and continents
Published annually by RECESS, the global creative inspiration platform founded by freelance experiential creative director Jody Orsborn Medina. The 2026 RECESS Creative Playbook is available to download for free at www.cometorecess.com.
AI is one of several major themes explored in this year’s Playbook, documenting where creatives are using it, where they’re choosing not to, and the emotional realities behind those decisions. It sits alongside a broader set of practices shaping creative work today. Across contributions, a broader pattern emerges. Creatives are designing more intentional ways of working, balancing new tools with analogue practices, screen-free thinking and systems that protect focus, energy and craft.
“AI is a powerful addition to the creative toolkit, but it’s not the whole picture,” stated Jody Orsborn Medina. “What we’re seeing is a dual movement: deeper exploration of AI’s speed and scale, alongside a rise in slow, analogue and screen-free creativity as a counterbalance. The Playbook captures how modern creatives are navigating both.”
New for 2026 is the RECESS Creativity Workbook, a companion PDF with prompts and challenges designed to encourage experimentation, reflection and intentional creative growth throughout the year.
The 2026 Playbook features agency leaders, including Ariba Jahan (Anomaly), Mel Daniels (TBWA\Asia), Rahman Yıldız (MullenLowe) and Lauren Austin (MKG), sharing how teams are navigating changing creative expectations; brand voices such as Andy Pearson (Liquid Death), Bianca Lubbers (Lego Group) and Ryan Esquivel (Polaroid), reflecting on taste, craft and human judgment; industry thinkers, including Mark Pollard (Sweathead), Janelle Wallace (Wieden+Kennedy / Witcha Black Ads), Helena Way (IBM) and Vikki Ross, exploring creativity at the intersection of culture, strategy and technology; and artists and technologists whose practices blend traditional craft with evolving tools.
Selected Quotes From the 2026 RECESS Creative Playbook:
“The process of creation matters just as much as the idea that started it.”
Andy Pearson, VP Creative, Liquid Death (USA)
“The best thing you can do is stay curious. Keep adding tools to your toolbox—the more you know, the more doors you can open for yourself.”
Bianca Lubbers, Art Director, The LEGO Group (Denmark)
“We will always have value as long as we retain the ability to move people.”
JC Aujero, Senior Art Director, BLKJ Havas (Singapore)
“Your taste, experiences, and perspective are unique attributes that nothing can take away or replicate.”
Maya Iwata, Senior Creative, TBWA\Media Arts Lab (Japan)
“I’m so into imperfection and the human mistake right now. Saying yes to things and seeing if they work—or don’t. I’m always craving that mistake.”
Gustavo “Gus” Solis, Associate Creative Director, Spotify (USA)
“The only constant in our world is change. Even if we resist it, it will come. We can choose to evolve with it and shape it into something we can embrace, or spend our energy resisting its inevitable arrival.”
Roo Yeshpaul Johnson, Senior Manager, Social, Adobe (USA)
