Brazilian Creatives We Love: Marcos Rodrigues

1) Hey, Marcos! How are you doing? Could you tell me a bit about your story? Where you were born, something from your youth that still has an impact on you... 

Hey everyone, I’m doing fine. Aside from everything happening in the world, I’m trying to live my life the best I can, taking it one day at a time and looking for opportunities to be with the people I love, in places that I love and that make me feel good.

Well, my name is Marcos Rodrigues Pereira, I was born in São Paulo in 1994 — the year Brazil won its fourth World Cup, Racionais released one of the most important rap albums in history, Ayrton Senna tragically passed away, and it was also the year when broadband internet connections started to appear.

Although I was born in the middle of so many events, with the turn of the century approaching and everything that came with it, I had a very simple childhood. I was a child from the periphery, spending most of my childhood in São Mateus, in the far east of São Paulo. That’s where I have my earliest emotional memories and the place that helped shape a large part of my worldview, how I see myself, and the sense of community and responsibility I try to apply in all aspects of my life.

It was this sense of togetherness that helped me form connections I still carry with me today. The idea that everything there was shared, that we built what we had together, made me understand that without one part, we didn’t have the whole — and that applied to everything: flying kites, playing soccer, skating, organizing a friend’s birthday party, sharing snacks, pooling money for tickets, etc.

We always helped each other. We shared our victories together.

Even though I was born in São Paulo and have a very strong connection to the place, I’ve always shared that connection with Rio de Janeiro. Nearly my entire family lives in Rio, except for two uncles, two cousins, my mom, and me — we moved there because of my dad’s job transfer, as he was a metalworker at the time.

I spent my childhood and early adolescence in São Paulo, and my adolescence and early adulthood in Rio, where I lived in Baixada Fluminense, specifically in São João de Meriti. It was in Rio that I first came across the term "design," enrolled in college, and began my professional career.

My experience in Rio gave me many things, but one thing that stands out is the ability to navigate different places and contexts, with people from different backgrounds. I remember a time in my life when I lived in one area of Rio, worked in another, and studied in a third. This gave me the chance to see and experience a lot, to understand how the world around me worked.

2) Could you tell me a bit about your path towards design?

I've always been an energetic and creative person, which connected me to the streets and to  my more aesthetic side, so to speak. 

Drawing played an important role in this. When I wasn’t out on the streets, where I was in touch with the culture of my neighborhood, I was at home drawing, trying to replicate visual styles from manga. I think this love for drawing was a big complement and later connected me to design.

As time went on, I had access to my first computer, which was a major turning point in my life. From that point on, I became a different person. The internet opened up so many perspectives for me, but it was a close friend (who I consider as my brother) of mine who introduced me to the term "design." He was taking a Photoshop course at the time, and through that course, he was introduced to the subject and, by consequence, introduced me to it as well.

From there on, I grew more and more fond of the idea of pursuing design. Choosing to follow design was a very practical decision for me. I wanted to find a profession that would give me a perspective on life, a career path, and a reasonably decent salary, but at the same time allow me to be "creative." And I found that potential path in design.

3) Could you share a bit about your experiences in design, leading up to the point when you discovered what you truly enjoy in the field?

I started my first internship in 2012 at a digital design agency called Huge Inc. This place was a great school where I got to meet and learn from amazing people and form friendships that I still carry with me today. It was during this experience that I had the opportunity to develop and build a solid foundation of skills around the creation and conception of digital products. The exercise of understanding and defining a problem, putting the user at the center of the equation, helped me build a much more empathetic view of design.

I worked there for 5 years, and during this time, I had the chance to experiment with a lot of things, and I ended up forming a stronger connection with the visual aspect of product design. I remember that as a team, we were all titled as designers, but each one had their specialty, and mine began to move towards this direction.

The projects we handled at the studio often leaned heavily toward functionality and complexity, which meant they were frequently developed in isolation from the core branding perspective. As a result, there was limited opportunity to translate the identity into its most expressive or visually integrated form.

As a way to keep practicing what I loved most, I got involved in some side projects with the main goal of exploring the visual aspect of design. One of the projects I’m most fond of is called Album Colors, which involves curating 150 music albums organized by color. The result is a super immersive palette and an interesting and engaging exploratory experience. The project was a huge success, with over 50k visits in one week and was featured on some design and music portals at the time.

But more importantly, what truly excited me about this project was the opportunity to build cohesive narrative languages. I realized that working on the functional vs. emotional side of a project—where storytelling and design intertwine—was what I found most fulfilling.

From that point on, my career moves have all been aimed at working in a place and with people who shared this common vision: creating visually iconic products, but without forgetting to address business needs and target audiences.

Since then, I’ve been specializing in translating tangible and intangible aspects of a visual identity into an interactive language, establishing a receptive and accessible dialogue with people, while also reflecting brand values to create a more unique and differentiated experience from the rest of the market.

Today, I work as Interactive Designer Director at PORTO ROCHA, a design studio based in Brooklyn, New York, where I have the opportunity to apply these skills on projects across various industries with clients such as Nike, Grau, Olympikus, Quinto Andar, MASP, Twitch, Kunsthalle Basel, and Robinhood.

4) To you, what is design?

I believe design is a practice of transformation. It’s a way to provoke new points of view on a given subject, situation, etc.

There is an aspect of design that really intrigues me, which is this tension of constantly making decisions, while at the same time provoking questions — including when "design" is necessary or not — which makes this practice both unpredictable and exciting at the same time.

On the other hand, design on its own, without a strong repertoire and critical thinking, can lose its meaning or purpose. I think, in the end, there are practical and tangible aspects that help identify design, and then there are others that really depend on how each person believes design should be.

5) Who is your biggest inspiration in the field?

Honestly, I find it difficult to point to a specific list of references — even one or two. The way I see myself today is the result of everything I've been exposed to: every book, every movie, every piece of music, every concert, every event, every trip, every place, and, most importantly, every person I've shared experiences with.

When it comes to design, my greatest references are the people I've had the privilege to work alongside. Sharing work practice environments, processes, and learnings with them has profoundly shaped who I am and what I believe in.

6) When did you realize that you wanted to work abroad, or how did it come about?

I think that early in my career, I was fortunate enough to start working in the area of design that I loved, and I found that opportunity at Huge. Huge is a multinational design agency with offices around the world. The possibility of a transfer alone intrigued me, but I have to confess that at the peak of my youthful innocence, I believed that only by working abroad could I really do relevant work in the industry and, consequently, for my career.

As I matured, I began to understand that there are other aspects and contexts that we are part of, which are also relevant for achieving satisfactory results in design. Not to mention, of course, the maturity to understand that everyone has their own parameters for success.

Once I realized this, living abroad just for the sake of working at an idealized place no longer seemed as important.

Ironically, I moved for professional reasons — not mine, but my wife’s. She applied for a master’s degree in Portugal and, fortunately, got accepted. The idea of living in Portugal and everything that came with it seemed very interesting and made sense to us, so we decided to go.

It was around that time that I met Leo and Felipe from PORTO ROCHA. I had already been following and admiring their work, and from our very first conversation, I deeply connected with their approach to design. Their remote-first model was also a crucial factor—it made it possible for me to collaborate with a U.S.-based studio while continuing to work from Portugal.

7) Does being a Brazilian working abroad have any particular meaning to you?

My move abroad meant a lot to me. It brought a whole new perspective on the world and gave me access to things I had always dreamed of.

Being in Portugal means being in Europe, and one very cool and positive aspect of that is having the ease of moving between the countries that are part of the continent. In the three years I’ve lived here, I’ve had the chance to visit six countries. Engaging with these cultures, whether through art, food, places, or even the dynamics of the streets, has been incredibly enriching.

Another aspect that I think is significant about living abroad, and that means a lot to me, is being able to be an example that it is possible, even for someone who came from where I did, to make it this far. I really like to think that I can be an example for other people like me, for my family, and for my friends.

8) Could you tell us what a typical work day looks like for you?

Before diving into the details, I’d like to highlight two aspects that are very relevant to the dynamics of my daily work routine:

I work remotely and have a room that I use as an office in my house. This means I don’t have to commute to work, which makes a huge difference in my quality of life and time management. 

I live in Portugal but work at a studio based in New York (US), with a time difference of up to 5 hours depending on the time of year. Despite the time difference, I follow Portugal’s working hours, not those of the US.

I generally start my day around 10 AM. I begin by understanding the main tasks and meetings for the day, checking my calendar, email, and messages.

My mornings are usually quieter because I don’t have many meetings due to the time zone differences, so I try to focus on more practical tasks in the morning to leave the afternoon "free" for meetings, alignments, checkpoints with the team, feedbacks, etc.

I usually take a break at 12:00 for lunch and try to have a 1-hour lunch break. When I get back from lunch, I begin to wrap up my tasks and focus on the second half of the day. When I don’t have meetings, I take the opportunity to explore more, get more done, or even get ahead on my work.

In the middle of the afternoon, around 4:00 PM, I take another break for coffee and a snack and then return to the final work hours of the day.

My day doesn’t always start and end exactly within Portuguese working hours, as sometimes I need to stay a bit later for client meetings or important internal meetings. In those cases, I make up for it by starting later the next day.

9) Is there any particular project in your portfolio that you really enjoyed working on and would like to talk about?

I think I can talk about two recent projects I participated in that I believe show how I’ve been approaching design lately.

Robinhood → Financial Services Institution

• The rebrand marked a pivotal shift, positioning the company as a more mature and consolidated institution. A key challenge was unifying its growing portfolio of products and services into a scalable, consistent system. Close collaboration between graphic and interactive design teams ensured adaptability across all touchpoints—from billboards to app screens. Rooted in the insight that “less is more” in a crowded fintech space, our solution refined the brand into a flexible, modular system spanning everything from stocks and crypto to Robinhood Gold.

Church → A Global Post House

• For its expressiveness and disruptive design. This was a project where the digital aspect was the most important part of the brand’s presence, and the website was a central piece in the client’s business dynamics. We needed to create something striking that represented the vision and creative capacity of the team.

10) What would you recommend to someone who is trying to transition into the field?

Technique, repertoire, and critical thinking.

I like to think of design as a practice of creating and thinking at the same time. If you have a good idea but it’s poorly executed, you can’t fully unlock the potential of that solution, and vice versa.

Practice a lot, test a lot, fail a lot, understand your creative process, break the rules, be intentional, understand who you are as a designer because in the end, that’s what makes you different.

Tools and processes are useful, especially in the market dynamics we face today, but at the same time, the tool you use today to create designs may no longer be the same tomorrow. What remains in the end is you.

11) You teach a course at the school, in Brazil. How has the experience been?

Incredible. I’ve always liked the idea of sharing vs. learning, and having this opportunity at the school has been one of the best things to happen in my professional career.

First, for the reflective exercise of what I believe as a designer and what I want to “pass on,” and then for the exchange with the people.

It has been extremely rewarding to meet these individuals and think that in some way I might be helping them as designers. Since then, I’ve been very proud of what we’ve built together and how far these people have come.

I’m truly grateful to the school for providing me with this enriching space for exchange.

See the final work by Alan de Sousa

12) Can you recommend a song and a book for us?

A song: YIN YANG - Brime

A book: Hunter x Hunter - Chimera Ant Arc

Follow Marcos Rodrigues on Instagram, LinkedIn and visit his website.

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