Independent designer · Lisbon
Brand and interface work for people who build things.
I'm Mara. For the past nine years I've helped small studios, founders and cultural organisations find a voice that holds up — on a screen, on a shelf, in a room.
Selected work
Six projects, 2021 — 2026Harbour & Rye
A bakery in a converted boathouse. Wordmark, paper stock and a set of stamps the bakers use by hand each morning.
Fieldnote
A research tool for field biologists. Dense data, quiet interface, built to be read on a phone in daylight.
Atelier Nord
Seasonal catalogue for a furniture workshop. Long margins, one typeface, photographs taken in the same room for a decade.
Saltmarsh Records
A small label with a big back catalogue. A flexible sleeve grid that lets every release look like itself.
Kestrel Health
Booking and records for a network of rural clinics. Built with the nurses who use it, tested on slow connections.
The Long Table
A quarterly food journal. Reading-first layout, generous type, no carousel anywhere on the site.
About
How I workSmall teams, long conversations, work that outlives the launch.
I started in a print shop in Porto, setting type for wine labels, and moved to screens because I liked that the work could keep changing after it shipped. These days I take on a handful of projects a year — usually identity and product design together, because they're the same argument told twice.
Most of my clients are between two and twenty people. I work directly with the founder or the person who'll live with the decisions, and I stay involved through build rather than handing over a file and leaving.
- BasedLisbon, working across Europe
- ExperienceNine years, independent since 2020
- Typical projectSix to twelve weeks
- LanguagesEnglish, Portuguese, Spanish
Rates
Guide prices — every project is quoted properlyIdentity
From €6,500
For a new brand or a rebuild that has to last.
- Positioning workshop
- Wordmark and type system
- Colour and print specification
- Short usage guide
Product design
From €4,800
Interface work for a product that already exists.
- Flows and wireframes
- High-fidelity screens
- Component library
- Handover sessions with your engineers
Day rate
€620 / day
For reviews, art direction and short engagements.
- Design critique
- Art direction on shoots
- Ongoing advisory
- Minimum two days
Prices are a starting point, not a quote. Tell me what you're making and I'll come back with a fixed scope and a real number.
Contact
Usually replies within two working daysTell me what you're building.
A few lines about the project, the timeline and who's involved is plenty to start. If it's not a fit, I'll say so and point you somewhere better.
Or write directly: hello@maravance.studio