(About)

Art director & designer, Lisbon

Chapter one

A designer who reads the small print.

Black-and-white portrait of Elias Moura, arms folded — Fig. 1
Elias in the studio, Lisbon.

(Biography)

I grew up above my grandfather’s print shop in Porto, which explains most things: the smell of ink, a weakness for good paper, and a stubborn belief that how something is made is part of what it says.

After studying communication design in Porto, I spent two years setting type for a regional daily and four in Paris at Atelier Lumen, working on identities for restaurants, hotels and small food brands. In 2014 I moved to Lisbon and started working on my own.

Today the studio is still one person, plus a small circle of people I trust: a developer, a photographer, a copywriter and a very patient type designer. I take on a handful of projects a year so I can stay close to each one, from the first conversation to the last proof.

Outside the studio I teach an evening typography class, swim in the Atlantic all year round (badly in January), and keep a slowly growing archive of hand-painted shop signs from around Portugal.

(Experience)

Twelve years, four rooms

2014 — Now

Independent art director & designer

Elias Moura Studio

Lisbon

A one-person practice with a small circle of collaborators. Identity, editorial and digital work for founders, publishers and cultural institutions across Europe.

2010 — 2014

Senior designer

Atelier Lumen

Paris

Led identity and packaging projects for food, hospitality and retail clients. Learned how to present an idea in one sentence, and how to defend it in ten.

2008 — 2010

Junior designer

Diário do Norte

Porto

Set type and built pages on deadline for a regional daily. There is always less room than you think, and every word has to earn its place.

2004 — 2008

Communication design

School of Fine Arts

Porto

Four years of drawing, letterpress and arguing about grids. Graduated with a thesis on the vernacular lettering of Porto’s shopfronts.

(Tools)

Type & layout

InDesign, Glyphs, a drawer of wood type

Interface & web

Figma, Framer, a lot of browser tabs

Image & print

Photoshop, a Risograph, a scanner older than some clients

(Awards & press)

2025

Packaging of the Year, shortlist

Folded Corner Annual

Maré Conservas

2024

Editorial Design, silver

Pressmark Paper Prize

Paper Harbour

2024

“The quiet ones”: studio profile

Gutter & Bleed Quarterly

Interview

2023

Best Hospitality Identity, finalist

Tagus Typeset Biennial

Solenne Hotels

2022

Exhibition Design, honourable mention

Wayfinder Exhibition Review

An Atlas of Small Rivers

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