In an industry increasingly defined by algorithms, deadlines, and uncertainty, We Are Versus is a reminder of what truly drives creativity: people.
The new dual release, a film and companion book from New York–based creative studio Versus, is both a manifesto and a mirror, reflecting over a decade of experimentation, community, and care.
Rather than turning the camera inward to showcase their own work, founding partners Justin Barnes, Samantha Louise, and Rob Meyers turned it outward, toward the collaborators, clients, and artists who’ve shaped their story.
“We’ve always said Versus isn’t just a name, it’s a mindset,” Justin says. “So instead of talking about ourselves, we wanted to listen. To let the industry, our community, speak back to us.”
The result is a deeply human time capsule: hundreds of unfiltered messages layered into an audiovisual portrait of an industry built on collaboration, imperfection, and the shared belief that creativity still matters.
The Spark
Amid headlines about AI, layoffs, and the fear of creative obsolescence, We Are Versus was born as an act of resistance, not through defiance, but through empathy.
“We could’ve made a big, flashy AI project,” Justin admits. “We use those tools every day, and they’re powerful. But this wasn’t about proving what tech can do. It was about reminding ourselves what we can do, together, by hand, by heart.”
The team installed a vintage answering machine inside their studio’s phone booth and invited collaborators, clients, and friends to call and leave messages about what creativity meant to them. Hundreds did, from agency partners to production crew, from rising artists to old friends.
Some left spontaneous reflections. Others wrote notes and read them aloud, trembling slightly as they hit “record.” One was from an editor’s mother, calling just to say how proud she was of her son.
“Only a few people left their names,” Justin says. “Most were anonymous, and that made it real. You could hear their honesty. Their exhaustion. Their hope.”
Those anonymous recordings became the emotional core of the project, an anthem of shared humanity that transcends studio walls.
The Film
Directed by Versus and scored by Pull Music and Mitch Davis, the We Are Versus film unfolds as a collage of voices, motion, and emotion. It blends live-action footage, photography, behind-the-scenes printing and binding, and fragments from the studio’s archives.
Each message builds into a layered chorus:
“Creativity is about building worlds.”
“Good creative rises to the top.”
“Nothing happens without community.”
“We are all Versus.”
“The repetition of the process, that constant rhythm of making, became the heartbeat of the score,” Justin says. “It’s the sound of what we do every day: the repetition, the pressure, the hum of work turning into art.”
The visuals mirror that rhythm: tactile textures, ink on paper, hands at work.
The analog world of process colliding with the digital one of storytelling.
The Book
If the film is the spirit, the book is the body.
A 400-page object that feels more like an heirloom than a product.
Printed on 80 lb Pacesetter Silk Cover with a Brillianta cloth case wrap, silver satin inlay, and Smyth-sewn binding, it’s as much an artifact as an archive, a love letter to making things that last.
“It’s heavy and expensive,” Justin laughs, “but it needed to be. We wanted the weight of it to reflect the weight of what it represents, twelve years of people, projects, and belief.”
Curated by the Versus partners themselves, the book features imagery spanning the studio’s history, from early Nike and Uniqlo campaigns to cinematic collaborations with Coachella, Microsoft, and Grimes. There are no captions, no promotional language. Just work, rhythm, and silence.
“The film tells the story,” Justin says. “The book lets you feel it. It’s not meant to explain, it’s meant to exist. You sit with it and see what comes up.”
For Samantha Louise, who helped shape Versus from its earliest days, the book carries a deeper emotional resonance:
“It’s more than a record of what we’ve made, it’s proof of who we are. Every person who flips through it can see a piece of themselves. That’s the most powerful part.”
And for Rob Meyers, the book symbolizes the evolution of collaboration itself:
“Our partnership has always been built on interpretive dissent,” he says. “We don’t always agree, but we fight for what matters. This project embodies that, a creative argument that turns into harmony.”
The Process
Every detail of We Are Versus was handled the hard way, deliberately analog, defiantly human.
The team recorded every voicemail through multiple microphones, re-amplified the sound into space, and treated each imperfection as part of the texture.
“When you come to a fork in the road, go the hard way,” Justin recalls quoting Richard Serra. “That’s where the meaning lives.”
Even the book’s binding became a metaphor, stitching together hundreds of fragments, voices, and images into a single, cohesive form.
The Spirit of Versus
In a creative world obsessed with speed and efficiency, We Are Versus reminds us that the real craft lies in care.
“We’ve built this place around people,” Justin says. “We’re not trying to be the biggest studio. We’re trying to be the most human one.”
That spirit runs through every page and every frame, the laughter echoing in the studio, the late nights, the phone ringing in the booth.
“Being Versus means refusing to do bad work,” Justin continues. “It’s that collective urge to do better, for yourself, for your team, for the community.”
This isn’t a brand piece. It’s a heartbeat.
Looking Forward
When asked if We Are Versus is a one-time release or the start of something larger, Justin doesn’t hesitate.
“We’ll keep doing it,” he says. “Maybe every year, maybe in a new form. But documenting creative culture, that’s part of who we are now.”
And if he could call the answering machine again today?
“I’d say thank you,” Justin says quietly. “To everyone who’s trusted us, believed in us, and kept showing up. This thing only works because people still care. So yeah, thank you, and let’s keep going.”
The Collective Message
The film ends with voices rising into a chorus, the sound of an industry reminding itself what it’s made of.
“We are all Versus.”
Not a slogan, but a truth.
A declaration that the art of making is still, above all, human.