Looking at logo design techniques and elements through the context of Arabic letters is intriguing. The typography of the Arabic language opens up many new doors for logo design in Arabic-speaking countries and entities. The harmonious placement of letters and their connectivity exude a sense of mystery that leaves room for the public to use their imagination and visualize Arabic logo design in their unique artistic outlooks. Finding a common ground between Arabic typography and logo design is a challenging yet rewarding experience that truly unravels the ability of design to unite between the two fields.
To ensure the effectiveness of using Arabic typography in logo design, the purpose and representation of the client must be accurate to avoid any misleading design outcomes. Since the Arabic language is beautifully intricate and complicated, designers must have a strong eye for detail. When the two scopes of art meet we attempt to combine elements of minimalistic straightforward logo design to the intricately embellished Arabic calligraphy, leading to a fascinating combination of aesthetics and branding identity. Translating already existing brand logos and names into Arabic is an outstanding task that truly challenges the fundamentals of logo design and pushes designers to utilize their valuable expertise on an international level. This allows the design world to further explore the depth and intensity of a brand logo translated into Arabic.
Below is a reference that helps with identifying the different pronunciations of Arabic letters and helps familiarize us with ways in which we can best translate English into Arabic logo typography.
The versatility of the Arabic language has the capabilities of playing with the human consciousness and assimilating the main concepts of logo design. Impactful logos include a sense of uniqueness that makes them stand out from other design identities, and this traditional art adds the intricacy and variety of expression needed in elevating logo designs by adding a special feature.
Below are six styles of main Islamic calligraphy scripts, and there are some detailed differences between each writing style that separates each script writing design from the other.
Interestingly, the art of branding existed in Islamic history in the form of tughras (meaning “Seal”), which are calligraphic emblems specialized for each Sultan during the ottoman empire. These signatures were used in all kinds of official documents approved by the Sultan and were also stamped on coins and many more objects across the empire during the Sultan’s ruling.
“All Ottoman tughras include three vertical shafts and two concentric oval loops at left. These undulating forms are calligraphic insignias that include the name of the reigning sultan, the name of his father, and the phrase ‘the eternally victorious (2016, Stewart).’” To ensure the uniqueness of each Sultan’s tughra, artists were specifically assigned to create a new design during the appointment of a new ruler.
In contrast, “The seal of Prophet Muhammad was made of agate, the same type of gemstone fitted on his ring. During the reign of Uthman bin Affan, the third caliph in Medina, the seal was lost and caused political chaos throughout Islamic society (2014, Ekinci).” This example shows the importance of the emblem or historical logo, as it represented the power of the leader and his status amongst society.
When looking at the tughras, we can see that they have been made for recognition since the calligraphy is difficult to read. Therefore, a higher emphasis was placed on the design aspects of placing the Arabic letters harmoniously to create memorable shapes. This historical example shows the variety in logo design that spanned later than what is usually expected to be a modern artistic skill.
Transferring into a modern perspective, the usage of Arabic calligraphy is crucial to effective branding in Arabic nations. Some words cannot be possibly translated directly from English to Arabic, and shifting the brand name from left to right could sound impossible and detrimental to the aesthetic and identity of the brand. However, it has been proven possible in many successful international brands.
A beautifully executed logo translation by coca-cola cleverly engages both languages under the same design concepts and manages to strengthen the brand identity on an international level. The curvature of Coca-Cola’s typography and how the letters are connected could have made it a smoother transition between the two languages.
I admire the Burj Al Arab logo, with its bilingual approach it has combined the minimalistic logo design with graphic symbolism created by Arabic calligraphy. The Arabic letters were combined in the shape of the building itself, as they have beautifully elongated the curve of the letter ج and cohesively united both words برج (Burj) and العرب (Al Arab) with a simple curved line on the left side, mimicking the shape of the ship’s sail architecture of the five-star hotel.
A more simplistic approach was taken by the logo designed for the city of Dubai. This logo was created to further promote the city of Dubai across all platforms in the tourism sector. The special feature of this logo design is the hidden Arabic word (دبي) in the English word (Dubai) itself. And the main differentiator would be the color schemes used, reading from left to right and vice versa depending on the language. The letter A includes the shape of the letter د (translates to the letter D), the letter B consists of ب (exact translation), and the letter U incorporates ي (pronounced as “yaa”). Placed on a car number plate, a billboard, or in a small corner of a brochure, the human eye will adapt to the constant repetition of the logo across the city and immediately recognize that it says Dubai in English or Arabic.
Learning about Arabic logo design and calligraphy through history and present day times, I am looking forward to implementing this research in future design projects. Connecting two languages and two expressions of logo design and typography serve a greater purpose of building bridges between nations, by embracing mixtures of design fundamentals that create masterpiece branding.
A helpful guide to creating logo design with Arabic calligraphy:
References:
Medlej, Joumana. “Creative Arabic Calligraphy for Beginners: Introduction.” Design & Illustration Envato Tuts+, Envato Tuts, 3 May 2021, https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/creative-arabic-calligraphy-for-beginners-introduction–cms-22116.
Stewart, Courtney A. Metmuseum.org, https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/ruminations/2016/tughra-in-ottoman-art.
Ekinci, Ekrem Buğra. “Discover the Seals of Ottoman Sultans.” Daily Sabah, Daily Sabah, 25 Dec. 2014, https://www.dailysabah.com/feature/2014/12/26/discover-the-seals-of-ottoman-sultans.
Dodhia, Zaheer. “How to Create an Arabic Calligraphy Logo Design.” How To Create An Arabic Calligraphy Logo Design, LogoDesign.net, 1 July 2020, https://www.logodesign.net/how-to-create-an-arabic-calligraphy-logo-design.
“English vs. Arabic: The Design Frontier: James Branding.” James Branding & Design, 14 Feb. 2021, https://www.jamesbranding.com/english-vs-arabic-design-frontier/.
Thank you very much Nouf for such an insightful post. It really fascinating to read about Arabic calligraphy and bilingual logo designs. I was wondering if you’ve come across logos that attempted to engage both languages in the same design concept at the expense of readability.
Thank you Marta for the feedback! Yes, there are bilingual logos that alter the Arabic readability for the sake of engaging both languages. I’ve noticed that the Arabic logo of H&M is quite difficult to read since they have tried to maintain the same aesthetic and design of the original English brand logo, with sharp lines and by illustrating how the two English letters are pronounced using Arabic words. Similarly, 2Xl’s Arabic logo is difficult to read but designed to harmoniously mirror the English version, through illustrating the pronunciation of the brand name instead of only including the letters. A prominent example that causes mistranslation would be Sony written as سونى (pronounced as “Sona”) instead of the correct translation سوني (pronounced as “Sony”). By simply not including the two dots at the bottom of the last Arabic letter, the word no longer reads the brand name properly.
Super interesting post. I actually really do not like the Burj Al Arab logo. I think it does a terrible service to the beauty of the Arab Script. It looked to me as butchered letters without any considerations of the rules behind any script. Similarly the video you shown does not exactly strike me as exemplary…