The Portal team had been developing their products in stealth mode and were ready to introduce their breakthrough technology to the public. They came to us to create an overarching brand, develop their messaging, and launch a website to attract consumers and investors for their new company - a rare Silicon Valley hardware startup.
We feel a special attachment to the Portal brand as we helped in the naming process. Internet access points are portals to the web, and we wanted the wordmark to express this. The green 'O' draws attention to the brand, like the center of any portal. The Portal team was so inspired by the brand that they incorporated it into the design of their router. The 'O' serves as the power and status button on the device, glowing green when everything's running well.
We wanted to keep it simple for the initial launch of the brand and the site. With the wordmark incorporating green and grey, we designed the website elements from these core colors.
Portal's products can easily span both consumer and enterprise markets. We chose Avenir as a modern font that works well in both segments.
Staying with a clean, simple aesthetic, our icons for this site use thin lines and two colors to keep is basic.
Our strategy for the website was to start with a broad, easy to understand overview of the problem that Portal solves. Sections on the Home page lead visitors deeper into the site.
We used a long scroll format so that visitors received information in a systematic, logical way. At the bottom of most pages we included a Call To Action that moves people through the entire site without having to return to the top of the page.
Each page includes a CTA to get more information and a dark footer to ground it.
As part of our branding process we demonstrate how the brand can be extended into the world. You can see how the Portal brand might look when fully rolled out.
For the photos assets on the site we turned our studio into multiple 'locations'. We also asked a family that we're friends with to be our models. It was the best possible scenario for working with kids and getting great shots.
The father has a theater background and gave us a great range of expressions.
