Sinfonietta Cracovia – a new logo and identity for an orchestra

A city orchestra since 1994, a mark since 2019

Sinfonietta Cracovia, the Orchestra of the Royal Capital City of Krakow, has played as a municipal cultural institution since 1994, and its roots go back to the Young Krakow Chamber Musicians ensemble founded in 1990. Since 2014, under director Jurek Dybał, it has grown into one of Europe's most interesting chamber orchestras, valued above all for contemporary music. The old mark no longer matched that energy.

In 2019 we designed the third mark in the orchestra’s history, along with a brand book, signage for its home and a system of printed materials.

A baton cuts through the circle

The orchestra's name is long, yet it has to work even as an avatar. So we broke it into syllables: SINFO, NIETTA, CRACO, VIA, and set them inside a circle that closes the composition like a stage embracing the musicians. A diagonal cut of a baton runs through the whole: a single conductor's gesture that gives the static circle movement and rhythm.

The mark is black and white, as uncompromising as the ensemble's repertoire. It works in positive and reversed, on light and dark backgrounds, in Polish and English: 10 versions in total, 5 variants per language. For the smallest sizes there is a shortened signet with the letters S and C.

Over 50 projects in one system

The identity has proven itself in practice: in an ongoing collaboration we've designed over 50 projects for the orchestra, from catalogues, through button badges, to print accompanying the concerts. Agnieszka Wróblewska and Jerzy Koenigshaus are responsible for the mark and the system.

A mark that plays along with the orchestra

After the logos of 1994–2014 and 2014–2019, the orchestra now has a mark that joins classical form with the energy of a contemporary repertoire. Black, white and a single cut of a baton are enough for the communication to speak with one voice, from an avatar to the facade of the orchestra's home.