The Scoop with Porto Rocha

Transform catches up with Felipe Rocha and Leo Porto, founders at New York-based design and branding agency Porto Rocha. The pair discuss the founding of their agency, growing up in Brazil and the biggest challenge of running an agency in the 2020s.

Transform: Tell me about how your design agency was founded and how your creative partnership has evolved over time.

Felipe: The reason why we started working together was because Leo or I would get a freelance request. We were then dating and living together, so we were like, 'Okay, let's work together!' It was something very organic.

Leo: Yeah, it was not really because we necessarily saw the potential of a creative partnership, but it was more about helping each other out so we could be done with work and then spend time together, otherwise we were never going to see each other as we were working so much! That was the beginning of our collaboration and things started to grow and grow. There was then a big shift; we decided to leave our jobs and make Porto Rocha official.

And then, after two years, we became too big to be so hands on. For the first two years of Porto Rocha, we had been very, very hands on. But it got to the point where our project managers basically staged an intervention and said, ‘Guys, you need to stop designing – this is not sustainable; you’re burning out!'

Felipe: Which is very counterintuitive! You learn how to do something, become an expert at doing that one thing, and then at some point if you want to keep growing you need to stop doing it.

Leo: But creatively, I would say that we're 80% alike. We think very similarly in how we approach problem solving and seeing the potential for brands. I would say one thing that Felipe brought to the table that I didn't have so strongly back then was this awareness of the relationship between brands and culture, and looking at branding way beyond graphic design. But I brought in a very sharp, precise approach to developing systems, so making sure everything's bullet-proof. I think that combination of those two things is kind of a great match.

Transform: You’re both from Brazil, a country known for its colours, vibrancy and natural beauty. How would you say growing up there impacted your creative mindset?

Felipe: I think that's how people perceive Brazil, but at the same time that's just the tip of the iceberg. I think Brazil is such a diverse country, there are so many ways we look at design. I think the thing that inspires us most is this idea of working with limited resources and finding solutions when you don't have everything you need. Actually, that's something we still try to keep as a mindset in our studio because sometimes, working in New York, it gets too comfortable! You have so many photographers, illustrators, 3D artists...

Leo: Sometimes the best work comes out of that, where you have to do the best you can with certain limitations. Also, I think Brazilian design is so underrated and understated. The contribution of Brazil to modernism in the ‘50s and ‘60s in brutalist architecture, furniture and art is enormous.

Transform: What is the biggest challenge you face running Porto Rocha?

Leo: I think pitching. Because the creative economy is not as strong, a lot of clients are taking advantage of that and pitting agencies against each other. They’re expected to do creative work for free as a means of evaluating who deserves the project. While this practice has been around for a while, we saw a huge increase over the last year or so that is totally driven by the fact that some clients take advantage of a fragile industry, which is why we started this initiative called No free Pitches.

Felipe: The goal of this project is not to put us in a position where we are the victims and the clients are the villains, I think the idea is to really open that conversation. We do think it's super important to win a client and for them to know the people they're going to work with, but we do believe there are other ways of getting to know each other.

Leo: We now have close to 7,000 signatures from really big people in the industry and have started a lot of conversations. We have definitely felt a shift, too, when clients reach out to us. They almost immediately clarify, 'This is not a pitch, don't worry.’

Felipe: I was so surprised when I started seeing a lot of people signing from different industries, like film, architecture, photography, which in a way is so frustrating because it means it's a problem everywhere. But it was nice to create a space to foster some solidarity where we could come together.