Portal

Founder, Portal Design, Boulder Active

Strategy:

The good people are already busy, so Portal doesn't hire them. It books them. Four makers assembled per job, a research bench behind them, and a format short enough to fit between their other lives: a half day, or five.

Design:

The site is black and white because the work is the color. A figure walks out of a door of light, a swirl chases the cursor, and Design what's next is the whole promise in three words.

Leadership:

Founder, and the one who runs the room. I pick the makers for the job, set the question and call the poll, with a bench of strategists and researchers behind us. Nobody on the invoice who isn't in the room.

The practice

A legal entity since 2013.

Portal has been the vehicle for the independent work since 2013: Logitech, Target, Innit and Kodak in the first years, then Somatic, Speakeasy, The Crowd, True Swing and Psychedelic Science. Between clients it starts and stops.

Three figures in chairs, seen from behind, facing a wall-sized black and white spiral

Inside a workshop

Four moves, half a day.

The room closes with two or three concepts ranked by the poll, and a clear yes or no on each. Nothing leaves as an opinion.

Discovery and immersionBrief stakeholder interviews, a rapid trend scan and a clear opportunity map before anyone picks up a pen.

Initial sketchingOur team and yours draw quick hand sketches and rough storyboards that set the direction.

Concept expansionThe sketches are multiplied with generative tools, then culled by the room.

Live user pollsConcepts go in front of a panel of target customers, and the votes come back in the room.

On the board

Sixty minutes, one board.

Every module runs on one shared board with the clock showing. References go up, wildcards and materials widen the field, prompt starters keep the sketch pads moving, and a quick showcase ends in dot votes, not debate.

The Wild Exploration board after a session: swipe references, materials, prompt starters and a wall of solo sketches

Inside a sprint

Five days to a tested prototype.

What leaves is a tested prototype and a ninety-day rollout plan, handed to engineering or the board.

Day 1

Align and mapDefine the objectives, the users and the success metrics, then outline the customer journey.

Days 2-3

Build the proofInteractive UX flows, packaging comps or retail mock-ups, developed at presentation quality.

Day 4

Prep for validationRefine the visuals, tighten the interactions and load the prototype into the testing platform.

Day 5

Live user testModerated sessions with real users, feedback captured, one more iteration, then the prototype locks.

Proof

Psychedelic Science 2025, as one unit.

For MAPS, in six months: identity, motion and social, the sponsor prospectus, the keynote wall, the convention halls and the paid media plan. One rule held it: a molecule only sits on its own gradient.

Governor Jared Polis opening Psychedelic Science 2025 under the keynote wall, the molecule on its gradient

The lesson

The room is the product.

A full calendar is a job of its own, and it eats the work. Portal runs the other way: the right four people, a board, an afternoon, and nothing to keep full.

From Portal

Position:

Founder

Programs:

Guided workshop, design sprint, advisory by the hour

Bench:

Strategy, research and generative tooling behind the room

Status:

Active. Boulder, Colorado