Sirmione — brand identity for a floristry academy in Serbia

Sirmione is a floristry academy in Serbia founded by Elena, a florist with years of experience in event design. The academy runs small workshops and year-long courses for both beginners and professionals.

Sirmione's ambition was to grow beyond local classes into a fully-fledged academy with a strong brand, its own educational programme and broader recognition.

Sirmione had no unified visual identity or clear positioning.

The client wanted to build the image of a reputable and authoritative academy, attract a new audience in the Serbian market and prepare the brand for future growth and collaboration with European guest lecturers and floristry experts.

Create a visual identity that presents Sirmione as a modern floristry academy with deep expertise and a creative approach.

The challenge was to balance serious education with an inspiring atmosphere. The academy needed to feel professional while retaining a sense of creativity, lightness and genuine passion for the craft.

At the same time, the brand had to speak to two audiences: people pursuing floristry professionally and those looking for a new experience in a welcoming environment.

Position Sirmione as a brand. Create a clear image of the academy and a consistent visual language. Then build an identity system that works equally well across physical spaces, social media and the website.

We started with a stage that has become standard in our process: the brief and the adjective exercise.

These tools help us understand both the client's business goals and visual expectations. How should the brand be perceived? What impression should Sirmione create? Which qualities need to come through in the visual identity?

The key attributes were:

• creative;
• artistic;
• professional;
• light;
• contemporary.

The adjective method helps turn abstract wishes into clear design directions. Some qualities may seem contradictory at first, but the goal is to understand what the client means by each of them.

We ran a dedicated session focused on visual direction. The goal was to understand whether the client and the team shared the same idea of what looked right.

We discussed:

• shapes;
• colours;
• photography;
• other brands;
• different moods;
• sensory associations such as sounds and scents.

The client highlighted what resonated and what didn't. We documented those reactions and gradually built a map of visual preferences.

After the style alignment session, we already understood the client's preferences. That meant we didn't waste time exploring directions that were unlikely to fit.

We assembled a large collection of references and presented more concrete options: logos, typefaces, colour palettes and graphic elements. The client selected the ones that best reflected the qualities the brand needed to communicate. Which options felt creative? Which felt professional? Which felt light and approachable?

After every meeting, we gathered feedback, refined the selection and returned with new options. Eventually, we found the idea that became the foundation of the entire identity: Flowers as Art.

At that point, we shifted our focus from floristry schools to galleries, museums and exhibition spaces. We studied how they present artworks, shape environments and direct visitors' attention. Many elements of the final visual identity emerged during this stage.

Once the core idea became clear, we developed a complete identity concept.

We usually present one fully developed direction. This time, however, the process produced three strong concepts. We liked all of them, so we decided to share every option with the client.

The response was immediate:

"I like everything. The only problem now is choosing one."

Unexpectedly, that became the challenge. The client loved all three concepts, and the question shifted from finding the right direction to selecting a single one.

Photography became a separate stage of the project.

Sirmione already had photographs of its work, but they had been taken in different settings and lacked consistency.

Since flowers are the main character of the brand, photography plays a critical role in visual communication.

Once the Flowers as Art concept emerged, the key principles of the photography style followed naturally:

• neutral light backgrounds;
• a gallery-like atmosphere;
• generous negative space around the subject;
• flowers presented as artistic objects;
• minimal distractions.

Flowers are the heart of Sirmione. The identity needed to support them rather than compete for attention.

1. Create "branding without branding"

The identity had to be distinctive without dominating the experience.

Visible enough to be recognised. Subtle enough to let the product lead.

2. Balance creativity and professionalism

We needed to avoid two extremes: a rigid academic image on one side and an overly experimental design language on the other.

Our answer was what we called quiet creativity — a visual language that feels creative and contemporary while remaining professional and accessible.

3. Translate a feeling into design

One of the hardest parts of the project was capturing the exact feeling the client wanted.

The identity needed to combine all key brand attributes and balance ideas such as professionalism and creativity. The metaphors and associations collected during the style alignment stage proved especially valuable here.

4. Build an identity system with limited visual assets

The client did not have a large library of high-quality photography.

We needed a system that would work with a small amount of content and remain sustainable without constant investment in studios, props or professional shoots.

The Flowers as Art concept became the idea that brought the entire project together.

It helped solve every challenge: balancing professional education with a creative atmosphere, avoiding unnecessary visual noise and building a recognisable brand.

From that idea, we developed a complete system that united the visual identity, graphic language, photography style, branded materials and future website.