TheBoldWay
TheBoldWay
Adrien Garcia
#553 The Designers Behind Nike Run and Gemini | PORTO ROCHA (Design and strategy agency)
1 hour 28 minutes Posted Sep 4, 2026 at 3:00 am.
— Felipe Rocha and Leo Porto, the two halves of PORTO ROCHA
— Bringing design and strategy into the same team
— Nike Run: the project that changed their scale
— Returning to Nike’s unique legacy
— When the best solution makes the designer invisible
— From immersion to the final system: their method
— Building the identity of Google Gemini
— Two Brazilian designers arrive in New York
— Married, freelancing, then becoming business partners
— Going independent three months before Covid
— Why the studio grew beyond its founders
— Growth as a consequence, never the objective
— Giving designers a seat at the table
— How PORTO ROCHA uses artificial intelligence
— How AI is reshaping the path for emerging designers
— Brazilian creativity and the culture of resourcefulness
— No Free Pitches: refusing to work for free
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PORTO ROCHA is one of the most closely watched design studios of its generation. Founded in New York by Brazilian designers Felipe Rocha and Leo Porto, the agency now works across the United States and London on identities designed to operate at a global scale.
In this episode, the two founders open up their process. They explain how a series of small projects built the trust required to rethink Nike Run, and how an almost obvious idea, replacing “Nike” with “Run,” became a system activated around the world. They also discuss the challenge of making Google Gemini instantly recognizable just as competition in artificial intelligence was exploding.
Their own journey is just as distinctive. Both originally from São Paulo, they meet in New York, become a couple, work together at night, then leave their jobs. Three months later, Covid brings their projects to an abrupt halt. The studio survives, grows, and now brings together people from different disciplines and cultures.
A conversation about the power of simplicity, the importance of creative disagreement, growth, independence, AI, and their No Free Pitches manifesto against unpaid speculative work.
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Nb: TheBoldWay ou The Bold Way, anciennement connu sous le nom de Entreprendre dans la mode ou EDLM , est un podcast produit et réalisé par Adrien Garcia.
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