Art Director | Director | Visual Storyteller | Graphic Designer
Shaping feelings into visuals or at least trying to...
I'm Aya an art director based between London and Sofia, working at the intersection of image, movement, and feeling.
My foundation is in design. A BA in Visual Communication as part of Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) and an MA in Design for Art Direction at University of Arts London (UAL) taught me to think in structure, but it's emotional storytelling that gives that structure a pulse. I'm drawn to the moments where a visual stops being decorative and starts becoming a language: film, music, branding, fashion.
Music was where this really took hold. I realised early on how much a visual can carry what sound can't quite say — that translating a track into image is really about building a bridge between artist and audience, one that lets them understand each other a little better. That belief shaped my music video work, directing Forbidden Love and Carmine Love — two films that move through healing, vulnerability, and empowerment, told through choreography, set design, and narrative structure. I also assisted on a dance short, learning how movement and space can be choreographed just as carefully as a shot list.
Photography sits alongside this as its own kind of experimentation a way to keep discovering new ideas and new ways of seeing. Mainly, I work as a fashion photographer and art director, chasing the right moment for the right story.
Beyond the screen, I've also worked as a graphic designer and that's really the thread that runs through everything I do. My practice moves between direction, design, and concept, always working toward the same thing: turning emotion into something visual, layered, and felt.