I’m a senior creative leader with 19+ years of experience turning ideas into campaigns, brand experiences and visual stories.
My work brings together art direction, creative strategy and leadership, across advertising, digital, live marketing, experiential and branded content.
Today, I also integrate Generative AI into the creative process, expanding how ideas are imagined, visualized and brought to life.
Creative Leadership · Art Direction · Brand Experiences · Generative AI
19+ YEARS OF ART DIRECTION.
A selection across film, brand experience, campaign art direction, new business and AI-led visual development.
Working with the creative team and production designer Carol Ozzi, I developed visual worlds with Generative AI before physical production. The selected concepts became a creative blueprint for real sets, filmed with talent and completed in post-production.
AI CONCEPT → PHYSICAL SET → FILM
Director: Alaska · Production Company: Iconoclast · Production Designer: Carol Ozzi
The challenge was to create personality using only cardboard. I developed the products and visual direction with AI before production; the selected concepts were transformed into real prototypes and worn by actors in the film.
AI CONCEPT → PROTOTYPE → FILM
Agency: GUT · Director: Manu Mazzaro · Production: Landia · Production Designer: Carol Ozzi
At AKM, I developed the creative concept and visual direction for a Google Nest campaign created for a new-business pitch. The work became the creative foundation of the presentation and helped the agency win the account.
RESULT → WINNING PITCH
Agency: AKMI collaborated on the overall concept and developed the event’s visual language, scenography, graphic elements and activation ideas, translating YouTube culture into a cohesive live experience at Ibirapuera Auditorium.
CONCEPT → VISUAL SYSTEM → ACTIVATIONS → LIVE EXPERIENCE
Agency: Hands · Production: Na Base · Video Content: Asteroide.TVAs Head of Art at Agência EA, I led the creative concept and visual direction across campaign, photography and film, defining a consistent language from the original idea through execution.
CONCEPT → SHOOTING → FILM → CAMPAIGN SYSTEM
Agency: Agência EA
I led the concept and visual direction for a custom Negroni serving display, turning the serving ritual into a functional branded experience.
POPAI → GOLD 2023 · BRONZE 2024
Self-initiated spec ads created with Generative AI and Photoshop to explore image direction, visual storytelling and film outside client briefs.
Spec Ad · Generative AI + Photoshop
Spec Ad · Generative AI + Photoshop
Spec Ad · Generative AI + Photoshop
Creative Concept · Campaign Art Direction · Mutato
Creative Concept · Art Direction · Spatial Design · Hands
Creative Concept · Poster Campaign · Agência EA
Art Direction · UI Concept · Fictional Content Design
Creative Concept · Event Visual Identity · Bullet
I also work at the intersection of creativity, sports and brand partnerships, developing concepts and sponsorship platforms that connect brands with athletes and properties within the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB).
Independent fashion brand in development, a personal space for brand concept, creative direction, art direction and film.
I’m Paula Carro Maia, a Head of Art and Senior Art Director with 19+ years of experience in the creative industry.
My career has moved across advertising, digital, live marketing, branded content, film and brand experiences, always with art direction at the center.
Over the years, I’ve created for brands including Google, Adidas, YouTube, Pinterest, Mercado Livre, Heineken, Campari, Waze, Samsung, Unilever, Nestlé, iFood, Facebook (Meta) and Ambev.
I’ve developed creative concepts and visual languages, led multidisciplinary teams and taken ideas from the first sketch to campaigns, films, physical environments, products and brand experiences.
More recently, Generative AI became part of my creative toolkit, not as a replacement for craft, taste or creative thinking, but as a new medium.
Years of art direction give me the judgment to know not only how to generate an image, but why an image should exist in the first place.