About — Mara Vance
The person behind the work.
I’m Mara Vance, a brand and identity designer based in Lisbon and working with people everywhere. I’ve spent the last decade helping studios, founders, publishers, and cultural institutions figure out who they are — and giving that a form they can stand behind.
My background is equal parts editorial design and brand strategy. That mix is deliberate: the most useful identities aren’t just logos, they’re systems — type, colour, voice, and the rules that keep everything coherent as a brand grows. I like the quiet, structural work as much as the hero moments.
I work with a small number of clients at a time, close to the people making the decisions. No account layers, no handoff theatre — just a direct, honest process that tends to produce work everyone is proud to ship. When I’m not designing, I’m usually reading, printing, or hunting down old type specimens.
10+
Years in practice
60+
Brands shaped
4
Design awards
How I work
Three things I believe.
01
Clarity
The best identities make a hundred future decisions easier. I design for the choices you can’t see yet.
02
Craft
Kerning, contrast, the weight of a line — the details carry the feeling. I sweat them so you don’t have to.
03
Candour
You’ll always know what I think and why. Good work needs honest conversation more than it needs a yes.
Recognition
Awwwards — Site of the Day (×3)
Type Directors Club — Certificate of Excellence
Brand New — Featured, 2024
It’s Nice That — Graphic Design, 2023
Selected clients
Juniper Press, Sonder Labs, Field & Form, Meridian, Format Foundry, Noir Atelier — and a handful of founders who’d rather stay off the record.