Year in Review: 2020

Welcome!

PORTO ROCHA Year in Review: 2020

PORTO ROCHA launched in Fall of 2019 with the goal of producing meaningful, impactful and far-reaching design work that reflects and expands a culturally aware perspective of the world. Well, that world changed forever in Spring 2020 and so did we, but our goal stays the same. As PORTO ROCHA approaches 2021, we’ll rise to meet that new world as it comes, but first, we want to express our gratitude by sharing the accomplishments, the challenges and the enduring beauty of our first year! And then we’ll get back to work...

jan

Behind the scenes

PORTO ROCHA Kicks Off 2020

We start the year by signing 100+ NDAs for a top-secret Apple project. We can’t tell you anything about it, but it’s really good. Shhh!

Projects

Chani Nicholas Releases Her First Book

The synergy of launching our studio along with an astrology book we designed called You Were Born For This is too perfect. We thank the universe.

Behind the scenes

We Start Work With One of Our Favorite Brands

A big opportunity for us, we begin work on two big projects with Airbnb.

The New York Times features Chani Nicholas and her new book, NYT bestseller You Were Born for This. We worked with Chani to design the cover. that became an instant NYT best-seller (selling 30,000 copies in three months).

feb

Behind the scenes

Hyejin Joins Our Team as Design Intern!

mar

Projects

Nike Launches New Editorial Series, "From The Grounds Up"

We designed a dynamic system for Nike's new series featuring stories about how soccer has profoundly and positively impacted communities, clubs, players and coaches from all over the world.

Behind the scenes

Lockdown Hits

Adapting to strict COVID-19 protocol, we say goodbye to our office space in Williamsburg and hello to working remotely.

The Brand Identity speaks to Leo and Felipe about launching the studio, and the challenges of working and managing remotely.

apr

The coronavirus outbreak has many people, designers and non-designers, working remotely and housebound. We were invited by Live! to share our favorite projects and creative process while quarantining from home. Live! is a series of live talks on Instagram with a focus on the creative industry. The idea was to fight quarantine, boredom and, most importantly, to instill hope.

may

Projects

Milk Bar Releases Holiday Campaign For Mother's Day in Early Pandemic

In the midst of all the uncertainty, we build a comforting campaign surrounding moms and cakes. It features videos and social assets airing on OTV and digital channels. We flex the tagline, MOM WANTS CAKE. We also eat too much cake in the process.

jun

Projects

Museu Nacional Rebrands

We partnered with Manufatura to design the new brand identity of Oscar Neimeyer’s iconic, dome-shaped museum in Brasilia. With a holistic perspective, Museu Nacional’s graphic identity and communication strategy considers every step of the visitor’s journey from digital and web applications, to the physical experience inside the dome itself. The new design system integrates a wide breadth of touchpoints including signage direction, printed materials, uniforms, stationery, merchandise and packaging, among others.

Brand New invites PORTO ROCHA and Manufatura onto their podcast The Follow-Up to talk about the rebrand of Museu Nacional.

Behind the scenes

Portorocha.com Goes Live!

We used the lockdown to its fullest potential, spending our quarantine designing and refining our new website. The site gets 7,312 hits on the first day.

Creative Boom features PORTO ROCHA and our work on Samba, the Brazilian queer-focused magazine.

Leo and Felipe host 15 portfolio reviews in partnership with Espaço.cc. Half of the participants came from underrepresented communities and were reviewed free of charge. All of our proceeds were donated to Casa Chama, a cultural association dedicated towards helping the trans community in Brazil.

It's Nice That features PORTO ROCHA and the identity we designed for Museu Nacional.

Leo and Felipe are interviewed by Communication Arts about the studio and their creative influences.

jul

Projects

New Design System for Milk Supply

We designed the new identity system and packaging for Milk Supply, the minimalist brand with the perfect cotton t-shirt (not the one with the yummy cakes).

Projects

Montefiore: COVID-19 Care

In partnership with Alto, we’re offered the opportunity to create new graphics and signage for one of the largest hospitals in NY during the pandemic, providing information for patients about COVID-19 prevention and a little peace of mind in the hospital itself.

aug

Projects

Republic Records Launches Grammy Awards Campaign

We take over 10 pages of Rolling Stone and Billboard Magazine with a campaign promoting Taylor Swift, Pop Smoke, Drake, Justin Beiber, The Weeknd and Post Malone for Grammy nominations. Billboard sells out so fast, we have to buy a copy on Ebay for $150. The massive campaign sparks Reddit forums with rave reviews and in-depth analysis of our work! The campaign is a success ... but shockingly The Weeknd is not nominated?!

Projects

Universal Music: Vote 2020 Campaign

During the most pivotal election of our lifetime, we work on a vote campaign that spans topics from registration, state-specific election information to voter suppression. Universal partners with When We All Vote to draw in 200,000 potential voters to a virtual canvassing event called Hour of Action. We funnel our emotions for 75 whole days leading up to the election, into a passionate campaign which included the support of artists like Loren Gray, Hailee Steinfeld, Jonas Brothers and Idina Menzel.

Behind the scenes

Leo and Felipe get an invitation

Third Eye Collective, an online community for South Asian creatives, invites Leo and Felipe to be advisors in their fellowship program Studio3. Leo and Felipe mentor Shujaat Syed, a designer working on the branding for his new line of functional products. Look out for Shujaat.

sep

Projects

BRAIN Magazine Cover

We illustrated the cover for one of Japan's top advertising magazines endorsing their month’s theme of “creative addiction.” That describes us perfectly.

oct

Projects

We Launch Tyrus for Airbnb

Tyrus is a digital toolkit for professional illustrators to help strengthen their workflow, creativity and grow their business to empower a more diverse industry. The toolkit walks the talk by championing the work of self-identified female illustrators, including Sarula Bao, Manshen Lo and Molly Mendoza.

Behind the scenes

Ramya Joins as Project Management Intern

Projects

Netflix unleashes free copies of Almanaque Tudum to all fans!

Leading up to the second live Tudum event, we work with Netflix to create a 120-page almanac featuring the shows most loved by Gen Z. In all the craziness of 2020, Netflix sends 200,000 hard copies of the book to Brazilian fans… For free!

Behind the scenes

Joseph Joins From London as Senior Designer

Behind the scenes

Natalia Joins as Associate Designer

nov

Projects

Netflix Hosts Second Tudum Event

The massive success of the first Tudum event early this year is revived, but this time, as a virtual event. We design the stage and visuals. Maisa hosts the event viewed by over 1,000,000 fans, featuring actors from the most popular productions of 2020 including Noah Centineo, Ashley Park, Lucas Bravo and Joel Courtney, and artists such as Anitta, Pabllo Vittar and Emicida. We're honored to work with Netflix and TM1 to make this beloved event feel as special, as if you were really there.

dec

The Brand Identity features PORTO ROCHA in an article titled "Do Good Ideas Have Requirements?" as part of their series The Anatomy of Creativity.