TEDx Portland is one of the Pacific Northwest's most enduring platforms for ideas worth spreading — an independently organized TED event that has, for over a decade, brought together thinkers, builders, and makers to wrestle with the questions shaping our city and our world.

For designers, it occupies a rare and meaningful space: a conference where Technology, Entertainment, and Design aren't just topics on a program but the actual connective tissue of everything on stage. Portland has always punched above its weight as a city of creative and civic ambition, and TEDx is the annual moment when that ambition gets a stage and an audience willing to listen. As a studio rooted in Oregon, This® entered that conversation not just as a professional opportunity — but a deeper responsibility to the community we work and live in.

Credits - A huge thanks and congratulations to David Rae, David and Jarod Paull for their fearless leadership. Creative and strategic leadership was provided by Denis Kegler and Toby Grubb. Tirelessly managed by Liv Halfen and designed by Keanu Narciso. Toby Grubb and Kevin Evans handled motion graphics. Mark Duszkiewicz provided the incredible book design. Phenomenal still and video assets provided by volunteer-of-the-year, Andrew Wallner, and Portland historical images provided by Rhett Acelar at Historic Prints.

This year marked TEDx Portland's 14th edition, and the theme — Homecoming — carried a double meaning that felt personal from the very first brief. The event's return to the historic Portland Armory after a stretch at the Keller Auditorium gave the theme its literal anchor: a beloved venue, reclaimed. But for our studio, it was a homecoming in its own right.

Our co-founder Toby Grubb helped to shape previous of TEDx Portland themes throughout years four through six, working alongside Event Director David Rae during his time at Instrument. Returning now, years later, with our own studio and a deeper relationship to the city, we worked closely with David and the TEDx Portland team to build a theme system that honored that history while feeling unmistakably present: warm, grounded, and alive with the particular energy of coming back to a place that matters.

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This® Studio is more than a creative partner to TEDx. They are the signal through the noise, the point of clarity that turns ambition into execution. Their work doesn't just guide our direction; it sharpens it, challenges it, and ultimately elevates everything we put into the world.

David Rae
TEDx Portland, Director

11 talks,
3 interviews,
4 performances.

The results reflected both the care put into the work and the enthusiasm of an audience ready to gather again. From the opening frames of the intro video to the graphics that filled the after-party screens, every touchpoint was designed to reinforce the Homecoming theme — a visual language that traveled across social support assets, stage banners, lanyards, and into the commemorative book and program that attendees took home as a keepsake.

While the audience was smaller and more intimate with 800 attendees, the qualitative signal was clear: the design landed. People felt the continuity and the craft. For our studio, few things are more satisfying than work that doesn't just decorate an event but genuinely deepens it.