In an industry that has built value for years on constant presence, the question increasingly arises whether a brand has the right, or even the obligation, to sometimes remain silent. More and more research points to audience fatigue from continuous communication, but also to a clear difference between messages that demand attention and those that truly deserve it. In such an environment, silence stops being an absence of communication and becomes a conscious strategic decision.
For agencies working with brand identity and packaging design, this shift is particularly visible. Packaging, identity and visual systems today do not only differentiate brands but articulate brand character and long-term business decisions. That implies a slower process, greater responsibility and fewer compromises, but also greater value for clients seeking clarity rather than another layer of noise.
In our conversation with the Effect Agency team, Nermin Nino Kasupović – CEO & Creative Director, Nervesa Kasupović – PM & Account Director, and Dino Kulaglić – Graphic/Motion Designer, this idea runs through almost every answer. From consciously choosing specialisation and rejecting operational hyperproduction, through redefining client relationships, to the belief that design today serves visibility less and clarity more. Their reflections on 2025 and expectations for 2026 do not offer grand declarations, but a practical perspective shaped by the belief that focus sometimes begins precisely with the decision to say – no.
Nermin Nino Kasupović, CEO & Creative Director
1. If you had to summarise 2025 in one strategic decision you would make again, and one you would approach completely differently today — what would those two “plot twists” be?
If we could turn back time, we would repeat the hardest thing: saying no. While the market was saying give us everything, give us more channels, we chose narrow specialisation. We chose brand and packaging design as the future of our work. That saved us from becoming a commodity and made us creators. That is something I would not change.
What would we change? Boundaries. Too often we allowed ourselves to be pulled into the vortex of operational work, forgetting that design is not the same as execution. We learned a difficult lesson: focus is not a state, it is discipline. If you do not defend it every day, someone else will spend it for you.
2. What made your agency grow up the most this year, and what made it play again like a child?
We grew up when we realised the weight of decisions design carries. A brand and/or packaging are not decoration but a decision that affects sales, trust and long-term direction. When you take responsibility for someone’s brand, you work differently: slower, calmer and with greater attention.
We played again where it was most needed, in exploration. Forms, materials and narratives brought us back to the genuine curiosity from the beginning. Packaging is one of the few places where design must be quiet, tactile and thoughtful.
3. If the Adriatic industry were a publicly traded company, what rating would you give it entering 2026? And why should investors keep (or not keep) their shares?
It has potential that is still not fully used. When we talk about design, branding and packaging, this industry has enormous creative capital. What it often lacks is the confidence to clearly position itself and say: this is who we are.
Those who have focus, an authorial narrative and a clear stance are worth holding onto. They know what they are doing and why. The others will naturally remain in the role of “suppliers.” That is not a market destiny, it is a systemic decision.
4. Dino Kulaglić, Graphic/Motion Designer
Which idea in 2025 made you stand up from the table and say “Okay, this is why I still do this job”?
Working on the rebranding of a small communications agency honestly reminded me why I entered this profession in the first place. The idea did not come from trends, visuals or form, but from the need for the brand to finally communicate clearly and honestly what it truly is.
In an environment where many brands are “safe” and predictable, this process required the courage to take a clear stance. That is where I felt again the real role of design — to articulate character, values and tone, not just to look nice.
Through simplification and thoughtful decisions, an identity emerged that is authentic, visually strong and sustainable in the long term. That was the moment I knew I was still doing meaningful work.
5. What was your biggest creative risk this year, and did it pay off as you expected — or in ways you couldn’t predict?
The biggest creative risk was changing my own approach to work, making decisions without constantly needing everyone to agree immediately. Accepting that design is not a safe space but a process requiring a clear stance and trust. It may not have paid off quickly, but long term it certainly did. I realised that clarity always brings more value than compromise, even when it is initially harder to accept.
6. Which creative weakness does the regional industry persistently conceal, and what would you do if someone appointed you to “expose” it during 2026?
One of the biggest weaknesses in the regional industry is avoiding a clear stance, often masked by attractive form and trend-following.
If I had the opportunity to expose it, I would focus on process and responsibility, so design becomes again a tool for thinking and communication, not just a visual effect. Form without meaning is short-lived.
Nermin Nino Kasupović, CEO & Creative Director
7. Which common assumption about consumers did you have to “break with a hammer” in 2025 because it was no longer true?
That people want us to talk to them constantly. For years we started from that assumption, and in 2025 we had to dismantle it completely. The truth is the opposite. People want to be left alone. Not because they are uninterested, but because they are overloaded. They are willing to listen only when we truly have something worth their time. In such an environment, silence is a luxury and attention the most expensive currency.
Nervesa Kasupović, PM & Account Director
8. If you had to predict one psychological shift in audiences in 2026 that will most change communication, what would it be and why is it invisible until it happens?
If I had to highlight one psychological shift in 2026, it would be growing distrust toward constant brand presence and a return of trust in clarity and meaning. Audiences are not withdrawing because brands are no longer interesting, but because they have become too aggressive. People increasingly recognise the difference between communication that demands attention and communication that deserves it.
From an account director perspective, this changes how we plan communication: it becomes more important when not to communicate than how often. Brands that learn the value of measured presence in 2026 will build trust. Others will remain omnipresent but without real impact.
9. Which new skill, habit or ritual in your team this year could be described as “born in the Adriatic industry,” something that exists nowhere else?
One skill truly born in the Adriatic industry is multifunctional resilience. Not as a buzzword, but as everyday practice. These are people who in a single day think strategically, make creative decisions and solve operational problems, not because it’s in their job description, but because the market (read: necessity) forced it. There is no luxury of narrow roles here.
That skill comes from the reality of the region: limited resources, high expectations and constant pressure to move things forward. That is why it is authentic and difficult to transfer elsewhere.
10. What is the most unexpected sentence you heard from a client this year, and how did it change your brief, campaign or relationship?
“We don’t need new packaging. We need to stop looking like everyone else.” That sentence completely shifted the direction of a project. What began as a redesign became a question of identity. Not what we will change, but who we truly are.
More and more, I see clients not asking for another trendy layer but for removing the unnecessary. They are looking for a truth they can recognise and defend long term. And it is precisely in that shift from aesthetics to authenticity that the most important communication decisions emerge.
11. If someone offered you to start 2026 with a single “act of courage,” professional, creative or human, that would completely push you out of your comfort zone and move the industry forward – which act would you choose and why?
Nermin Nino Kasupović, CEO & Creative Director
I would abolish “option A, B and C.” We would present clients with only one solution, the one we truly believe is correct. Presenting three options is a classic act of fear. It shifts responsibility to the client to choose what they like. Courage means doing the homework deeply enough, researching widely enough and synthesising precisely enough to stand in front of a client and say: This is the solution to your problem. That restores dignity to the profession and saves the world from compromise solutions born out of fear of rejection. In fact, at Effect Agency we already work this way, I would just communicate it more openly.
Nervesa Kasupović, PM & Account Director
A conscious choice to say no to projects that demand speed without meaning. Not as resistance, but as a professional decision. The industry has long rewarded adaptability and endurance. Courage today looks different: setting boundaries, working more slowly and taking responsibility for what we sign with our name. It is uncomfortable because it slows the pace and reduces volume, but it definitely increases value.
Such an act would push us out of our comfort zone because it requires trust, in our experience, in clients who understand long-term thinking and in the idea that the industry can move forward not by doing more, but by doing things more precisely.
Dino Kulaglić, Graphic/Motion Designer
My act of courage would be consciously changing the way we think, stopping the chase for fast, universal solutions and returning to design that carries meaning, emotion and a stance. Without that, we all become interchangeable regardless of technical skill. And design, at least for me, should leave a trace, not just a good impression.
