When you tell people you work with your partner, reactions tend to be mixed. Some people envy you, while others wonder how you can possibly spend that much time together without going crazy.

And yet, for us, working together has become the most natural thing in the world. Here's how it happened, why we chose this path, and what it brings to our everyday work.

We don't work together because we're a couple. We became a work couple because we realized we work really well together.

A natural complementarity

It all started in 2012, when we met while studying multimedia and communication. A little later, we both chose the same audiovisual program for our final year of studies — in another city, far from home — and that’s when we moved in together.

At first, it seemed obvious that we should keep our studies and our relationship separate. So we decided it would be smarter to join different groups for our school projects. And… guess what? We obviously ended up working together anyway. We quickly realized that we approached projects in a very similar way and, more importantly, that we understood each other really well.

Then came our final-year internships. We applied to the same agencies — not because we wanted to work together, but because we were both aiming for the same ones (the best agencies in town, obviously). You can probably guess what happened next. We both got hired by the same agency. And somehow, we even ended up sitting at the same table, working on the same projects. Together 24/7. Our colleagues eventually started calling us Tic & Tac (Chip n' Dale).

After our internship, we went our separate ways professionally: Emeline became a freelance motion designer, while Victor started a communication agency with three friends. During that time, we occasionally worked together on projects that needed both design and animation.

Then, in 2018, Victor became a freelancer too. He was particularly interested in animation and art direction, and started working with different designers and illustrators. More and more often, he would ask Emeline to take care of the design on his projects.

And, once again, we ended up working together. At some point, we simply thought: why not make it official? That’s how Complement Studio was born.

Our complementarity became the foundation of the studio. We each focus on what we enjoy and do best, while constantly anticipating the other person's needs and constraints. We’ve also had years to learn how the other person works. We know how we think, how we approach a project, what we’re good at, and where we might get stuck. With more than 12 years of experience each, we’ve learned how to combine our strengths to create projects that feel coherent from the very beginning to the final animation.

The advantages of working as a couple

Smooth communication: Being in a relationship also means knowing each other very well. Over the years, we’ve learned how to communicate efficiently, share ideas and doubts, and challenge each other without needing too many filters. It makes decision-making much faster and helps avoid a lot of unnecessary misunderstandings.

A shared vision: Being a couple also means sharing a lot of values and goals. For the studio, this means we naturally have a similar vision of the kind of work we want to make, the kind of clients we want to work with, and the way we want to work.

Flexibility: Working together gives us a lot of flexibility. We can adapt our schedules, help each other out when needed, and make room for personal life when necessary. We also know when the other person needs a hand — or simply needs to step away from a project for a while.

Constant support: When a project gets stressful, we always have someone who understands exactly what we're going through. After all, who understands the ups and downs of being a motion designer better than another motion designer?

The challenges

Of course, it’s not always perfect. Working as a couple comes with its own challenges.

The blurry line between work and personal life: We often have to remind ourselves to switch off. Otherwise, work conversations can easily find their way into dinner, weekends… or even bedtime. Yes, we have definitely discussed work in bed when we really should have been sleeping.

Creative disagreements: We don't always agree, of course. Sometimes we have completely different ideas about how a project should go. But over time, we’ve learned to turn those disagreements into something useful. We can challenge each other without taking it personally, and sometimes the other person sees something we simply didn't see. And quite often, when we look back at a finished project with fresh eyes, we realize that we actually made the right decisions — and that the other person helped us get there.

Double the emotions: When one of us is having a difficult time, it can affect the other person, both personally and professionally. It requires patience, empathy, and sometimes knowing when to leave work alone. Being two means twice as many emotions — both the good ones and the bad ones!

What does this mean for our clients?

For our clients, working with us means having a reliable, experienced and closely connected team with a shared vision of the project. They don't have a designer working on one side and an animator coming in later to make everything move. We design and develop the project together from the very beginning.

Working with someone you’re close to also means constantly challenging each other. We know each other well enough to say when we think the other person could do something better, without it turning into an ego battle. And somehow, it works.

Emeline doesn't simply create the visuals and hand them over to Victor to animate. Because she has been working in motion design for more than 12 years, she can think about the design with movement already in mind: transitions, rhythm, how elements are built, technical constraints, readability in motion… And Victor can anticipate very early on what will work in animation and what might cause problems later. He can also help Emeline when she’s stuck on a design phase, or identify when the design can be improved.

The result is a project where design and animation are considered as one single process, rather than two separate stages.

It also means having two creative minds involved throughout the project — challenging ideas, spotting potential problems early, and making sure the concept works both as a visual and as an animation.

Why it still works for us

Our story is a good example of how sometimes, the thing you’re trying to avoid ends up becoming your biggest strength. During our studies and at the beginning of our careers, we actually did everything we could to work separately. But life clearly had other plans.

Same school projects, same internships, freelance collaborations… somehow, our paths kept crossing. And today, Complement Studio is simply the result of that journey.

Working as a couple is, above all, a human adventure. It requires communication, flexibility, patience, and a good sense of humor.

But for us, it’s also a huge source of creativity and fulfillment — both professionally and personally.

So, yeah. Don't be afraid to work with your partner. We promise, it’s a pretty great adventure.