May, 2026.- In the 2026 digital ecosystem, where interfaces are beginning to disappear to make way for pure intent, a brand’s relevance is no longer measured by its ability to shout, but by its ability to respond. Rich Foster, leading the creative direction at Left Field Labs, spearheads this transformation under a fundamental premise: digital design must stop being a tool and become a sensory and emotional experience. For Foster, excellence is not born from a forced balance between technology and style, but from their natural harmony guided by culture. In a world saturated with templates and automated processes, Rich defends digital craft as an act of human judgment; a constant search for that “unexpected moment” in a transition or a detail that manages to make the user stop scrolling and feel they are interacting with something with a soul, not just a system.
In this exclusive interview with Roastbrief, Rich Foster breaks down the challenges of being an ECD in an era where AI redefines the workflow. For him, technology is not the end, but the means to remove friction and build brand personalities that express themselves through behavior and conversation. From typographic animation with meaning to intelligent assistants that anticipate needs in real-time, Foster explores how designers must evolve from giving messages to shaping living systems. Discover why, in the face of channel fragmentation, future success belongs to brands that use cutting-edge tools not to be “new,” but to be consistent, meaningful, and, above all, incredibly memorable.
1. The Intersection of Lifestyle, Creativity, Design, Culture, and Tech: You live at this intersection, particularly focused on the experiences people have inside websites, platforms, and apps. How do you balance these five forces when leading a digital project? Is one ever more important than the others, or does true excellence require all five in harmony?
I don’t tend to think of these as separate things to balance. The best work happens when they naturally come together. Technology enables, design shapes, creativity gives it character, culture keeps it relevant, and lifestyle grounds it in how people actually live. Generally speaking, if one takes over, the work usually becomes one-dimensional. Too much tech and it feels like a demo. Too much design and it becomes surface-level. If anything leads, it’s culture. If the work doesn’t connect to how people live and think right now, it’s hard for anything else to land.
2. What Makes Digital Work Incredible and Memorable: You’re serious about what makes creative and digital work incredible and memorable. In a digital landscape where most experiences are forgettable the moment you close the tab, what separates the work that sticks from the work that vanishes?
A lot of digital work is predictable. You know how it’s going to behave before you even touch it. What makes something incredible is a break in that pattern. An unexpected moment in how it moves, transitions, tells a story, or integrates technology in a way that feels more natural, like a conversation instead of a system. Something that makes you pause, even briefly. It doesn’t have to be a big feature. Often it’s just one really well considered, well-executed detail. That’s usually enough to shift an experience from pedestrian to something that feels magical and considered.
A couple of examples come to mind.
The DixonBaxi rebrand for History Channel used the cadence of a voiceover to drive the typography animation. It was a small detail, but incredibly considered. Motion wasn’t decorative, it had meaning. That project came out in 2017 and still feels fresh.
Another example was a recent demo from Google showing how an AI assistant could sit inside the shopping experience. Instead of navigating product decisions alone, the user could simply ask for guidance.
In the example, the assistant used live video to identify plants and recognized that the customer had the wrong products in their cart. It recommended swapping standard potting soil and fertilizer. It also went further by coordinating landscaping services, checking availability, and negotiating a price match. The interesting part wasn’t the AI itself. It was how naturally it removed friction and made the interaction feel more personal and useful.
Neither example relies on a huge feature. They work because there’s a genuine attention to detail that feels thoughtful and in Google’s example, genuinely useful.
3. Craft in the Age of Templates and AI: With the rise of no-code tools, templates, and AI-generated design, craft risks being commoditized. How do you defend and elevate craft in digital experiences today? What can designers do that machines and templates cannot replicate?
We have more tools than ever, and the speed is completely different now. You can generate something in minutes that used to take days and multiple people. That’s powerful, but it doesn’t automatically lead to better work. It just gives you more options, faster. Craft is still about judgment, knowing what to pursue, what to ignore, and when something is done. The real opportunity is using that speed to explore more. Try directions you would have dropped before because of time or cost, then push the right one further than most people would. AI is a new tool that we can use in our workflow. The difference comes down to how you use it and the level of care you bring to the outcome.
4. The ECD Role in Digital-First Work: As an Executive Creative Director focused on digital experiences, how does your role differ from an ECD at a traditional broadcast-focused agency? What skills or sensibilities are essential for leading digital creative that might be less emphasized in other disciplines?
In a more traditional sense, the role is often about shaping a message. In digital, it’s more about shaping a system. How something behaves, how it evolves, and how it responds over time. You’re much closer to the product and the experience. You’re thinking beyond the launch to what happens after. It requires a mix of creative thinking, systems thinking, and a working understanding of technology. Regardless of the industry, it’s an ECD’s responsibility to create the conditions for the team to do their best work, to inspire and motivate teams and to constantly look ahead.
5. The User Experience of Emotion: Beyond usability and functionality, how do you design for emotion? Can a website or app make someone feel something the way a film or a physical space can? What techniques do you use to build emotional resonance into digital environments?
Digital can create emotion, but it usually does it in subtle ways. It’s less about big moments and more about how something responds to you. Timing, feedback, small details that feel intentional. What’s changed recently is the ability to build personality into the experience. With AI and conversational interfaces, interactions feel more natural. The difference is whether you feel like you’re navigating a system or if you’re really engaging with something that has a tone and point of view. That’s a big shift. Brands can now express themselves through behavior, not just visuals or copy. And that’s only going to accelerate. Interactions will feel more natural, more human, and more responsive over time. When it works, it feels considered. Less like a tool and more like something you’re interacting with.
6. The Future of Digital Craft: Looking ahead 2-3 years, what emerging trends, technologies, or approaches in digital design are you most excited about? Where do you see the biggest opportunity for brands to create truly memorable digital experiences that haven’t been fully explored yet?
I don’t spend too much time on trends. They can feel reactive and often don’t hold up. What matters more is keeping a clear point of view. Technology is moving quickly, but it’s easy to get carried away and lose sight of what a brand actually stands for. The shift happening now is real. Interfaces are starting to disappear. We’re moving from navigation to intent, from fixed pages to dynamic responses. Systems are adapting in real time, and AI is becoming part of the experience itself. But none of that works if the brand behind it isn’t clear. People are more selective than ever. They choose where to spend their time and money, and they’ll ignore brands that don’t align with their values. The opportunity is to use these new tools to express something consistent and meaningful, not just something new.
