Identity
Logos, type systems, and brand guidelines built bilingual from day one — no afterthought translations.
Deep dive
Most identity work in the Saudi market starts with an English logo and bolts an Arabic version on at the end. The result is a wordmark that looks confident in Latin letters and orphaned in Arabic — disconnected proportions, mismatched stroke weights, and an Arabic typeface chosen because it 'pairs well' rather than because it leads.
We start the other way around. The Arabic mark is drawn first. We choose Arabic typography that actually carries the brand — modern Naskh, geometric Kufic, or a custom letterform — and only then design the Latin counterpart to match its rhythm, proportions, and contrast. The English version is the translation, not the source.
A complete identity engagement covers the wordmark, a full color and type system that works across every surface (web, print, packaging, motion), and a bilingual brand book that teams can actually use. Saudi-specific touches — Arabic numeral handling, Hijri date formatting, RTL spacing rules — are written into the guidelines, not left for the next agency to figure out.
We deliver in 4–8 weeks for most projects, longer for category-defining brands that need extensive naming and strategy work. Every direction is presented bilingual on day one, so there's no late-stage scramble to fix the Arabic.
Arabic-first
A wordmark drawn from the Arabic side first ages better. Latin letters are easier to retrofit; Arabic letterforms are not. Brands that make the Arabic the source language end up with assets that hold up across decades, not just launch year.
Deliverables
- Logo & wordmark
- Color & type system
- Brand guidelines (PDF)
- Stationery & social kit
What's not included
- Logo-only deliveries without a system around them — every engagement includes a full system or we don't take it.
- Stock-typeface "rebrands" — we draw, license, or commission custom letterforms when the project needs them.
- AI-generated marks. Final deliverables are vector-original, hand-drawn, and revisable for decades.
Process
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01 Discovery
Audience, voice, ambition. Two weeks of conversation before any pixels.
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02 Direction
Three distinct visual directions, presented and pressure-tested.
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03 Refinement
Chosen direction iterated through 15–25 rounds, in both Arabic and English.
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04 System
Full brand book, type system, color rules, social kit, stationery.
Typical timeline
4–8 weeks
Timelines flex with project scope, team availability, and response time on your side. We give a precise schedule after the discovery call.
Common questions
Do you do Arabic calligraphy or modern Arabic type?
Both, depending on the brand. Calligraphic forms suit heritage and lifestyle brands; modern geometric Arabic suits tech, finance, and operations. We let the strategy decide, not the trend.
How is your work different from a freelance designer?
We deliver a system, not a poster. A logo without a paired type system, color rules, layout grid, motion direction, and bilingual guidelines isn't an identity — it's a sketch. We also stay reachable for the questions that come up after launch, when most freelancers have moved on.
Will the brand book be in Arabic and English?
Yes. Every brand book we ship is fully bilingual — same content, same diagrams, side by side. Saudi-specific rules (Hijri date formatting, Arabic numeral handling, RTL spacing) are written in once, not translated as an afterthought.
Can you license existing Arabic fonts, or do you draw custom?
Both. For most brands a thoughtful license pairing — TPTQ, 29LT, ArbFonts, Boutros — is the right call. For category-defining brands we draw a custom letterform or commission a foundry. We tell you which path fits before signing.