Exp. 01
Tolan
A friendly guide — embodied AI for millions
- Role
- Technical Artist & Art Director
- Year
- 2025—
- Stack
- Unity — character tech, shaders, motion
- Recognition
- Wired '25
Tolan is a friendly guide — a voice-first AI companion from Planet Portola, built to be a supportive friend rather than a love interest. Since launch it has passed millions of downloads, with over a hundred thousand people paying to talk to their Tolan, and the company behind it has raised $60M to bring embodied AI to life.
I joined as a technical artist — building shaders, particle systems, and the emotion systems that give the Tolans their feeling, across both shipped features and prototypes. A lot of it was visual design done through effects.
Over time I moved deeper into design and art direction, working closely with Lucas Zanotto and Eran Hilleli — designing new characters, redesigning our cosmetic look, and defining the art direction and colour palette.
The app's opening moment — I animated the Tolan and built the shaders, VFX, and camera framing behind it.
I led design on our second character, built for an older-women audience. Many revisions and a lot of user testing to land a humanoid that still feels Tolan — and stays out of the uncanny valley.
I led design and technical-art experiments to push our cosmetics — chunkier, rounder forms with a little more magic. A few of the designs and tests.
Experiments toward a possible third character — an abstract form driven by blend shapes and a procedural animation system in Unity.
A pulse that guides players toward places on the planet while still reading as part of the world itself.
Animation and FX for the Tolan's tool-call state — the moment it reaches for an action.
Early development of the Oracle — the god-like being who assigns your Tolan during onboarding. I led its design and creation: something mysterious, otherworldly.
The finished Oracle in onboarding — it asks you questions, then transforms into a planet to reveal your Tolan. I built all the FX for the sequence.