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MARA©copyright 2025 · lisbon, pt · +351

For inquirieshello@mara.studio

Working globally

LIS,

and

Born in 1994.

  • Sourdough starter keeper
  • Two cats call her mum
  • Runs on espresso and deadlines
  • Can't walk past a bookshop
  • Film camera hoarder
  • Sunday league goalkeeper
  • Learning the cello, badly

Making websites, products and identities with clarity, care and a little mischief, for studios, founders and teams that notice how things feel. Independent since 2017.

Awards & Recognitions

  • Loupe Designer of the Year Nominee (2)
  • Loupe Site of the Day (9)
  • Kern Awards Honoree (5)
  • Grid Prize Site of the Month (3)
  • Northern Design Awards Shortlist
  • Type Setters Annual, Selected Work
  • Small Studio Award, Lisbon

Talks, Interviews & Publications

Capabilities

  • Art direction
  • Website design
  • Product design
  • Identity & packaging
  • Motion & interaction
  • Design systems
  • Front-end prototyping
Process & approach

Trusted by

  • Sundial
  • Noon
  • Orbit Labs
  • Marrow
  • Halcyon
  • Two Palms
  • Lumen Health
  • Fieldnotes Co.
  • Brill
  • and many more

Selected work

Four projects, no templates.

All work (4) →
  1. 01

    Sundial

    Website · Sundial Watches

    2025
  2. 02

    Noon Coffee

    Identity, Website · Noon

    2025
  3. 03

    Orbit Labs

    Product · Orbit Labs

    2025
  4. 04

    Marrow

    Website · Marrow Magazine

    2024

What I do

Three kinds of work, one way of working.

Process & approach →
  • 01

    Websites

    Sites that read well, load fast and sell without shouting.

    • Art direction
    • Design in the browser
    • Motion & interaction
    • Front-end build
    • CMS setup
  • 02

    Products

    Tools people use all day, made calm enough to keep using.

    • Product design
    • Design systems
    • Prototyping in code
    • Working inside your engineering team
  • 03

    Identities

    Marks, type and colour that hold up on a bag, a site and a badge.

    • Naming support
    • Wordmarks & marks
    • Type systems
    • Packaging
    • Guidelines that get read

By the numbers

Years independent
08
Projects shipped
41
Projects a year, at most
04
Cats on the payroll
02

Kind words

  • “Mara asked better questions in the first week than our last agency asked in a year. The site still surprises me.”

    Tomás Reis
    Founder, Sundial Watches

  • “We wanted a shop that was comfortable being empty. She made the emptiness the brand.”

    Ana Duarte
    Co-founder, Noon

  • “Sixty-eight components and our engineers actually use them. Nobody has opened a design file in months.”

    Priya Raman
    Head of Product, Orbit Labs

Notes

Short posts, written between projects.

Occasionally. Never a newsletter.
  1. Why every site I make has one gridTwelve columns, twenty-pixel gutters, and the discipline to break it on purpose.
  2. On saying no to a fifth projectFour a year is the number where the work stays good and I stay pleasant.
  3. Drawing covers instead of shooting themIllustrated case-study covers cost a day and never go out of date.
  4. Prototyping in code, five years inWhat changed, what didn't, and the tools that quietly left.

Questions

Things people ask first.

Anything else, ask by email.

What does a project cost?

Websites start around 12k, identities around 8k, and products depend on scope. The contact form asks for a range so I can say yes or no quickly.

How long does it take?

A website is usually eight to twelve weeks from first call to launch. Identities take six. Products run in monthly blocks for as long as they need.

Do you work with agencies?

Yes, as a named collaborator rather than a white label. I like being in the room with the client.

Do you build what you design?

For websites, yes. I prototype in code and hand over a working front-end. For products, I work alongside your engineers on the system.

Where are you, and does it matter?

Lisbon, on Western European time. Most clients are one to nine hours away and it has never been a problem.

Booking for Q4 2025. Four or five projects a year, so early beats late.

Say hello