Cortex
An AI sub-brand that feels new and still belongs to Agora.
- Role
- Led the creative direction and visual language
- Year
- 2026
- Scope
- Visual language, Interface tone, Launch website, Product visuals
Context
Cortex is the AI work surface Agora built for real estate investment management: assistants, agents and data tools grounded in a firm's own data. It launched in 2026 with a select group of design partners, for investor relations and finance teams.
Challenge
Bring AI into the real estate industry with a look that feels distinctive and innovative, while staying relatively close to Agora so 1,400+ existing customers recognise it as part of the family.
Decision
Same system, different temperature
- Problem
- How far should Cortex move away from the Agora look?
- Options
- A full new brand · An Agora page with a new name · A sub-brand on the same system
- Decision
- A sub-brand on the same typefaces and components, with warm light surfaces, an orange glow and Canela italics where Agora is navy and structured. The same tone carries into the Cortex interface.
- Why
- A new brand would have cut Cortex off from the trust Agora has built; a plain Agora page would have hidden that this is something new. A different temperature on the same system does both.
My role
I led the creative direction and execution: the visual language, the visual tone of the Cortex interface, and the launch site, directing the designers and motion designers who worked on it.
Outcome
Cortex launched in 2026 with a select group of design partners, with its site and visual language live on agorareal.com/cortex.
