BuildRogue

I shaped BuildRogue’s pitch narrative, created the graphics, and presented the venture at NextCycle’s 2026 Circular Accelerator Showcase. Along the way, explaining the cabin concept took me somewhere unexpected: working backward from photographs of a physical prototype to reconstruct the cabin’s unusual geometry and panel connection angles… in Figma.

An idea that needed a story

BuildRogue was exploring a modular cabin system intended to ship flat and incorporate reclaimed materials, with ambitions ranging from backyard studios to emergency shelter.

My co-founder, Dan Tracy, brought the concept and technical knowledge. I took ownership of making it understandable.

We had a full-scale prototype, affectionately dubbed Rogue Cabin V2 (RCV2), and a concept that was still evolving. I had to get my head around it before I could help someone else understand it.

That meant asking Dan a lot of questions and building a story I could stand behind without pretending we’d answered everything.

You can’t illustrate what you don’t understand

Working backward from photographs of the prototype, I reconstructed the cabin’s panel geometry in Figma. I wasn’t simply tracing what I saw. I needed to understand how the panels were intended to fit together, even where the assembled prototype might have differed from the intended design.

What started as an illustration exercise became an investigation of the structure itself.

I was just trying to draw it accurately enough to explain it. Turns out my obsession with The Details was useful in more ways than one.

Taking the story onstage

After weeks of developing the narrative, building the graphics, and practicing my talking points, I presented BuildRogue at NextCycle’s Circular Accelerator Showcase on May 4, 2026.

I’d love to tell you I remember every moment onstage. I don’t. I lost my bearings partway through and had to rush the ending. And I still can’t quite bring myself to watch the recording.

Thankfully, the audience had a rather different experience. The judges, fellow presenters, and attendees responded enthusiastically, particularly to my presentation style. I came away with some wonderful new connections and renewed excitement about the project.

The concept still had significant development ahead of it. We didn’t secure funding, and momentum later slowed. The next chapter of BuildRogue is still unwritten.

What I’m taking forward

BuildRogue reminded me how much of design happens before something looks finished. I had to understand the concept well enough to explain it, work through the geometry well enough to draw it, and take responsibility for the story well enough to stand up and tell it.

I’m proud of that work, even if I still can’t quite bring myself to watch the presentation.

My biggest takeaway?

Clear vision doesn’t necessarily imply vision maturity.

Clarity helps people engage with an idea and gives the next conversation somewhere to begin. But clearly communicating a nascent concept doesn’t make it any more developed than it actually is.

No amount of design can make mud… not muddy.