Photographed in studio with the early plates for Catalogue No. 04. Mixed media on archival paper.
Sienna directs the visual language at Mitra. Her work moves between editorial restraint and the slow, deliberate rhythm of catalogue design — the kind of pages that ask to be turned, not scrolled.
Trained first as a printmaker, she carries the discipline of the press into digital surfaces: tight grids, generous margins, type that breathes. She joined Mitra in 2024 and has since shaped the studio's identity work, founder portraits, and long-form publications.
The plates that follow are arranged chronologically, with curatorial commentary. Three are presented struck through — works deliberately removed from completed projects, included here as a record of editorial decision.
Sienna D. · Selected WorksPG. 002
— Plate 02 — Method
Less, Held LongerWorking principle
Less, Held Longer
Studio principle · 2024 — ongoing
A working motto adopted across all Mitra projects. Fewer elements. Longer attention. The page must hold the eye without raising its voice.
Catalogue No. 04PG. 003
Plate 03 — Apparatus
Curator's Notes
Eight questions asked of every project before it leaves the studio. Reproduced here in their working form.
Is the page held by one image, or thinned by many?
A single anchor — a portrait, a still, a mark — outperforms a grid of secondary visuals. Carry the weight in one place.
Does the type breathe, or is it crowded against its neighbours?
Margins are not empty. They are the room the work stands in. Default to more.
Has anything been included only because it was made?
Sunk cost is the most common reason a layout fails. Cut it without ceremony.
Is the colour earning its place, or merely present?
Two inks, used with discipline, beat a palette of seven. We rarely exceed three.
Could the same intent be achieved with one less element?
Asked of every page, every spread, every interface. The answer is yes more often than the team would like.
Does the hierarchy survive when read at arm's length?
If the eye does not know where to land at one metre, the design has not yet decided what it is.
Has the work been seen in print, or only on a screen?
A page printed is a page judged. Mistakes hide in glow; paper exposes them.
Would I sign my name to this if it were the only thing seen?
The final test. If the answer is hesitation, the page returns to the desk.
Apparatus · Eight QuestionsPG. 004
— Plate 04 — Removed Work I
Hero BannerRemoved, Mar 2025
Untitled (Hero Banner)
Removed work · Client identity, March 2025
A full-bleed hero image carrying a six-word headline. Removed in final review: the page already held the founder's portrait three plates earlier, and the headline repeated language found in the colophon.
Removed Work · I of IIIPG. 005
— Plate 05 — Removed Work II
Stock ImageryRemoved, Aug 2025
Untitled (Stock Photography Set)
Removed work · Marketing site, August 2025
A set of nine stock photographs intended for a "team values" section. Removed without replacement. The section was also removed. Both improved the page.
Removed Work · II of IIIPG. 006
— Plate 06 — Removed Work III
CarouselRemoved, Jan 2026
Untitled (Auto-advancing Carousel)
Removed work · Product page, January 2026
A six-slide auto-advancing carousel of testimonials. Removed and replaced with a single quotation, set in display italic, occupying the full plate. Engagement rose; engagement was not the point.
Removed Work · III of IIIPG. 007
— Plate 07 — Statement
The studios that shape me are the ones that print their own catalogues. They sit with the page, weigh it, mark it, and reset the type when it is wrong. The medium is paper, but the discipline travels — to the screen, to the campaign, to the small interface a founder will look at every morning for ten years.
I direct the work at Mitra in that tradition. Not slowly for slowness' sake, but slowly enough that the page is allowed to become itself. A site, a deck, a wordmark — each is a plate, set in sequence, asked the same eight questions, and signed only when the answers hold.
What follows the apparatus, in any project, is silence. The page is left alone. If it survives the silence, it ships.
For new commissions, identity work, and long-form publications
CorrespondencePG. 009
— ❦ —
Catalogue No. 04. Selected Works of Sienna D., 2024 — 2026.
Set in Cormorant Garamond and Söhne, with plate numbers in JetBrains Mono.
Edited and arranged at Mitra Studio. Printed and bound in Singapore, MMXXVI.
Of an edition of one.