[ Portfolio · Vol. XII · Updated April 2026 ]
Designed,
considered,
rarely rushed.
I’m Mara Vance — an independent designer working with publishers, banks, museums and research labs that prefer clarity over cleverness.
↳ Brand · Editorial · Product
↳ Lisbon · New York
↳ Booking projects from August 2026
[ 01 / Selected work ]
Three for the cabinet.
Identity · Wayfinding · 2024
North Light
Identity and wayfinding for a coastal museum.
Read the case study →
[ 02 / How I work ]
I work with one client at a time, on a slow clock. The first two weeks of any project are usually spent reading, walking the building, or shadowing the people who’ll have to live with the thing once it ships.
01
Read first
Before I open Figma I read the back catalogue, walk the floor, sit with the team. The brief is rarely the brief.
02
One opinion, held loudly
I make decisions and bring them. Every line, weight and margin is a choice I can defend.
03
Ship it slow
I take on no more than four projects a year. The work is better when nothing is rushed and nothing is hedged.
[ 03 / From the archive ]
Older work, still loved.
[ 04 / Said about ]
“Mara is the rare designer who can hold a brand identity and a database schema in the same head, on the same Tuesday. We trusted her with the entire platform and she gave us back something quieter and twice as useful.”