ABOUT
Mario Vaz is an independent creative director with a background in design and art direction. Working across fashion, music, entertainment and lifestyle (for the ones who get it).
Born in London, raised in Coventry, educated in Liverpool, adopted by Manchester. I've moved around a lot, and that matters. It's given me a real feel for different cultures and subcultures, the kind you only get from actually living in a place rather than passing through.
I started out in 2014 at an independent design studio. Over the years I gained experience across corporate, commercial, consumer and cultural facing brands. A jack of all trades and master of none. Branding, apparel, print, packaging, digital, social. You name it, I've probably done it.
In 2019 I fell into creative and art direction and ended up working with some of my dream clients across fashion, music and entertainment. Total blag at first. But working with great creative mentors I found a genuine love for conceptual thinking, and never looked back. Since then I've directed production teams, photographers, videographers, designers and artworkers, learning how to take an idea from a rough concept all the way through to a finished campaign.
Today I run my own creative practice creating the work I actually want, for the brands worth doing it for.
So long story short: I concept, I direct, I design. And I fucking love it mate.
CLIENT HISTORY
Adidas
Ab InBev
Apple
Arsenal FC
BBC 1Xtra
Beats by Dre
Berghaus
Booksy
Budweiser
Cosmic Music
Corona
Diary of a CEO
FIFA
Flight Story
Footasylum
Four40 Records
GDK
Genius
Karl Kani
KFC
Kiwi Rekords
Lenovo
Microsoft
Motorola
New Balance
Nike
Puma
Rappcatz
Record Store Day
Ruger
Samsung
Social Chain
Steven Bartlett
Stussy
TGI Fridays
The North Face
Wahl
Wray & Nephew
XL Recordings
Zavetti Canada
SERVICES
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The thinking before anything gets made. It starts with research and strategy. Understanding the brand, the audience and the culture it sits in, then turning that into a concept that everything else hangs off. Treatments, creative vision, the through-line that keeps a project coherent from first brief to final output. This is the part nobody sees but everybody feels. Get it right and the rest of the project has a spine. Get it wrong and no amount of nice execution saves it.
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How it looks, how it feels, how it moves. Taking the concept and making it real. Deciding the visual language, the references, the tone, then directing the people who bring it to life. Photographers, videographers, stylists and designers, briefed and directed on set and in the edit, making the hundred small calls that add up to something feeling considered rather than accidental. Built on real production experience. Knowing how an idea holds up once it leaves the deck, and how to protect it all the way to the final frame.
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Building a complete visual world from scratch. Not just a logo, but the full system. Logotype, colour, typography, art direction, tone and the guidelines that hold it together. It starts with understanding what the brand actually is before deciding what it looks like, working directly with founders and creators to get there. The result is something with enough range to live everywhere it needs to, and enough discipline to still feel like itself. For brands that want to mean something, not just exist.
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Concept through to execution. Launch campaigns, product drops, artist releases and the cultural moments in between. A single idea built out across every touchpoint it needs to live on. From initial concept and treatment through to directing the shoot, overseeing the edit and rolling the whole thing out with design teams. Built to be noticed, and built to actually say something, not just fill a content calendar.