Creative direction & brand design

Building worldsthat pull you in.

Embodie identity photographed on sunlit travertine
EmbodieIdentity & packaging ↗
Camp Discovery’s immersive green onboard environment
Camp DiscoveryCreative direction ↗
Rebel NinjaIdentity & digital ↗
Explore the work

21Years in design

2×GDUSA awards

360°Brand thinking

Brand identity & creative direction

Selected case studies.

Client perspectives

In their words.

From a napkin sketch to a refined logo, with thoughtful ideas that moved the work forward.

Founder / Schola Coffee

Thoughtful creative work across identity, collateral, and photo direction, delivered with care and consistency.

Brand Manager / Princess Cruises

Creative work that gave the brand the momentum it needed.

Creative Director / Princess Cruises

Intuitive design that evolved with the business while staying true to its vision.

Founder / Mezcla Designs

Leia and Jay were amazing to work with! They helped us with everything from our branding and logo to our packaging design, social media templates, and brand guidelines.

Embodie / Google review

Aside from their attention to detail and deep design expertise, they were professional every step of our engagement. Leia never gave up until we were pleased with our results at The Thinking Cap LLC.

Chris Yu / The Thinking Cap · Google review

They were instrumental in helping my business partners and I at Schola Coffee launch our brand.

PJ Abigania / Schola Coffee · Google review

We couldn’t be happier with the design created for our church’s Word of the Year! The final design exceeded our expectations and has been well received by our church family.

Phoebe Dial / Google review
About Leia

The mind behind the work.

I’m a creative director and brand designer with 21 years of experience across global organizations and founder-led brands. (Started in corporate design at 16!) I learned early how to give ambitious ideas both imagination and structure. Today, I look for the idea that feels true to the people behind a brand, then build a clear visual world around it.

I’m most drawn to the moment when a brand stops feeling like a collection of pieces and starts feeling like a world of its own.

I also founded Vera Creative Partners ↗, where I bring that approach to brand identity and creative direction.

Leia Mariano, creative directorLeia Mariano / Creative Director

Capabilities

  1. Brand Identity & Visual Systems
  2. Creative & Campaign Direction
  3. Digital, Print & Photoshoot Direction
  4. Social Media & Content Strategy
  5. AI-Powered Brand Growth Systems
  6. Scalable Design & Web Workflows
  7. Content Automation Frameworks
Graphic Design USA · American Graphic Design AwardsPrint Design · 2017Mailer Design · 2017
Experience / Areas of expertise

From first launch to global scale.

I’ve shaped brands before they launched and led creative work inside large organizations. Strategy, leadership, and hands-on design have been part of the work at every scale.

Vision & strategy

Shape the direction.

Give early-stage ideas a foundation and established brands a clear next move.

Creative leadership

Lead at scale.

Align stakeholders and teams across complex organizations, channels, and audiences.

Design & execution

Make it real.

Carry the work from first concept through identity, campaigns, digital, print, and production.