The Studio
A small studio with a long view of letterforms.
Ligature is the practice of Mara Vance, a type designer and brand identity lead working between Toronto and Lisbon. For fifteen years she has built wordmarks, typefaces, and editorial systems for publishers, museums, and independent presses.
The work begins with reading. Before a single glyph is drawn, the studio learns how an organisation speaks — its cadence, its history, the weight it wants its words to carry. The typography follows from there.
Recognition
- Type Directors Club — Certificate of Excellence, 2023
- D&AD Wood Pencil — Brand Identity, 2022
- Communication Arts Typography Annual, 2021 & 2024
- Guest critic — OCAD University Type Studio
Capabilities
- Brand identity & wordmark design
- Custom typeface & lettering
- Editorial & publication systems
- Type direction & consultation
How the work moves
Understand the voice before the letters.
Interviews, archive review, and a close read of how the organisation already writes. The brief is half-found, not invented.
Letterforms in proof, on paper, at size.
Wordmarks and type proofs printed and pinned. We judge the work where it will live — never only on screen.
A system the team can run without us.
Guidelines, kerning notes, and licensed type files — handed over so the identity holds long after the studio steps back.