Nelson Balaban

Nelson Balaban (born June 12, 1989) is a Brazilian graphic designer and art director for the advertising, entertainment and publishing industries.

Balaban was introduced to drawing and traditional art by his mother when he joined the Arts course at UFPR, Brazil's first major educational institution, when he was 12.

Four years later, at the age of 16, Balaban was featured on British magazine Computer Arts amongst another nine designers from other countries as one of the promising young talents for the next year, in the main article for the special anniversary edition.

In 2007 (at the age of 17), Balaban started to send samples of his personal work to magazine editors, which gave him international exposure and ended up starting his career as a graphic designer and illustrator. In 2008, Balaban was freelancing for motion graphics studios such as Lobo, Stardust, Nakd (founded by Nando Costa) and Tronic; Later on he worked for a short period at AlmapBBDO as Art Director and then worked amongst film directors and screenwriters Cisma, Heitor Dhalia and Luis Carone at Paranoid, an international holding that represents artists such as Friends With You, Gaspar Noé and Zeitguised. Today he works at CUBOCC (part of Interpublic Group) as Chief Brand Officer in São Paulo, Brazil.

Balaban is a senior member of the world's largest creative collective – the Keystone Design Union (KDU) – being part of group artwork exhibitions in New York, launching fragrance products by Diesel.

Balaban has worked with brands such as Coca-Cola, Nike, MTV and publications such as Computer Arts and The New York Times. He's also been a regular speaker at festivals and conferences such as OFFF Festival in Portugal and Pixelshow in São Paulo and Recife, Brazil.