Michelle PontesDecision designer · London

Decision design

I design the path throughcomplex decisions.

I create cognitive systems, frameworks and visual worlds that help people understand complexity and decide what to do next.

Explore the work What decision design means
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Decision design · Across disciplines

Decision design,
in plain English.

I find where thinking gets stuck, frame the real decision and design the steps people can follow.

01

Find where thinking gets stuck.

I look for the moment when knowledge exists but the person, team or community cannot yet turn it into a clear choice.

Cognitive systems

Give your thinking
somewhere to go.

My cognitive systems turn knowledge into a clear decision, direction or first step.

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01Guided assessment
01

AI Capability Assessment

See where you are with AI, recognise the human strengths you already bring, and leave with a clear four-week plan for what to do next.

Assessment design · Human advantage · Action pathway
02Economic pathway
02

Skill to Income

Turn what you already know and can do into a realistic income idea, with a first offer and practical next steps.

Context · Opportunity · First proof
03Creative decision system
03

LetterLab Studio

Turn an idea for a letter or word into a clear visual direction you can create, refine and make your own.

Direction · Material · Readability

Human-Driven AI · Framework

The Four Ds of
Human-Driven AI.

My Four Ds framework guides AI-enabled work from the first question to the final result, with human judgement directing every stage.

Stage 01 / 04

Discover

Begin with people, context and the real need. Gather what is already known before asking AI to add anything.

AskWhat is happening, for whom, and what do we already know?
Leave withA grounded brief: context, evidence, needs and constraints.

Use the stages in order. Return to an earlier stage whenever the work stops making sense.

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Marketing · B2B operating model

Marketing connects
an organisation
with its markets.

Signals grew from seeing small marketing teams buried in activity. The model organises work around the changes worth noticing and the decisions that follow.

Explore Signals
Incoming changeSignal01SenseCapture signal02InterpretFind meaning03DecideChoose response04MobiliseAssign work05LearnStrengthen what comes next

Visual intelligence · Authored portfolios

The system can be rigorous.
The work can still feel alive.

I create visual worlds through concept, art direction, styling, composition and narrative.

Laundry Money explores ageing and unseen labour. A New Vogue reimagines Star Wars through couture and editorial fashion.

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Immersive collectionEnter The Living Thread

A body of work

Built across different
rooms, for the same
reason.To make knowledge visible, preserve human judgement and turn possibility into something people can use.

Social enterprise / 2025 to present

Human-Driven AI

I founded Human-Driven AI to widen access to AI through practical tools, programmes and community work.

Explore HDAI Book by Michelle Pontes / 2024

The Marketing
Almanac

A year-round companion for noticing, reflecting and making stronger marketing decisions.

View the book Leadership / Experience

Strategy inside
complex organisations

Communications, engagement and transformation across regulated, public and technology environments.

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About

I’ve always been
a builder.

I’m down-to-earth by nature. I like to roll up my sleeves, understand what is really happening and make something useful from it. Ideas matter to me, but I am happiest when they begin to take shape, when thinking becomes a tool, a system, a piece of work or a new way forward.

My career has never followed a straight line, and I’m glad it hasn’t. I have worked across real estate, banking, oil and gas, technology and marketing. I have also lived and worked in different parts of Europe, from Funchal to Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Amsterdam, Brussels, Geneva and London. Each place and each industry taught me something different about people, organisations and how change happens.

I am also, undeniably, a serial note-taker. Notebooks, Post-its and loose pages have followed me everywhere. Taking notes is both a habit and a lifeline. It is how I capture an idea, notice a pattern and give unfinished thoughts somewhere to develop. Almost everything I build begins as a collection of fragments on paper.

Building is the thread that connects it all. I learn by making, questioning, testing and trying again. Some things work, some things fail, and both move the thinking forward. I keep exploring because there is always something else to understand and something new worth building.

Work with me

Bring me a
complex question.

I’m open to speaking, workshops, writing and selected collaborations in decision design, human-driven AI and visual intelligence.

What would you like to explore?

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Speaking & panels

Keynotes, panels, roundtables, podcasts and thoughtful public conversations.

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