Does our logo have to work in Arabic to get a signboard approved in Dubai?

Yes. A commercial sign in Dubai gives Arabic no less than half the sign, set above the English or to its right, and the trade name shown has to match the licence exactly. A mark with no Arabic companion cannot be made into an approvable sign, and that tends to surface the week the fit-out was meant to finish. The Arabic is drawn as a companion to the Latin rather than typed in whichever face the sign-maker has installed, because the two have to read as one mark at two metres.

The name on our sign has to match the trade licence. What does that mean for the logo?

It means the mark is drawn around the licensed string, not around the name you use in conversation. Where the licence reads longer than the brand name, the sign carries the licensed version, and the wordmark has to hold its proportions at that length, which sometimes changes the form entirely. Settle the name before the drawing starts. How a name clears the registry in the first place, including how its Arabic form is judged, is argued at branding in Dubai.

What files does a UAE sign-maker actually ask for?

Outlined vector at scale, plus a colour reference they can match physically. In practice that is a vector file with the type converted to outlines so nothing reflows, a PDF at the fabrication size, a single-ink version for cut vinyl or a channel letter, a reversed version for a dark fascia, and a spot colour reference alongside the screen and print values. Send a raster export instead and the supplier will redraw the mark, and their redraw becomes the version on the building.

Our mark was drawn in another market. Does it have to be redrawn?

Usually not redrawn, but re-produced. Most marks that arrive here are drawn well enough and are simply short of the set this market needs: an Arabic companion, a single-ink version, an outline a fabricator can cut from, and a colour specified physically rather than as a hex value. We read what you own and quote for the gaps. Where the question is the identity behind the mark rather than the mark itself, that is argued at brand identity design.

What decides what a logo costs here?

The Arabic, more than anything else. Whether a companion has to be drawn from scratch or can be licensed from an existing family is the largest single variable, because drawing one is font work rather than logo work. After that: how many surfaces the mark has to be proved on, whether a fabricated sign is in scope, and whether a filing sheet is needed. Concept count decides very little. We scope against those four and give a fixed figure after a short call.

Do we own the mark, the typeface and the trademark at the end?

Those are three different things, and only the first is automatically yours. The drawing is: editable source and full rights, in your name. A typeface is a licence rather than a possession, so a face used in the lockup is licensed to your entity with the scope checked to cover the suppliers who will set it, while an Arabic companion drawn for you is yours outright. The trademark is a separate right that exists only once the mark is registered with the Ministry of Economy, which is why the filing sheet is produced whether or not you file this year.

How long does this take when a fit-out date is already booked?

Work back from the sign rather than from the launch. A fabricator needs artwork weeks before the handover date because cutting, painting and mounting all queue, and the signage approval sits ahead of that again. In that situation we settle the pair and release the fabrication set first, then finish the remaining versions while the sign is being made. If the Arabic companion has to be drawn from scratch, say so on the first call: it is the one part of this that cannot be compressed.

Logo design · UAE

Logo design that reads on a Dubai shopfront.

A commercial sign in Dubai gives Arabic at least half the sign, above the English or to its right, and carries the licensed name. Webzenia draws the pair and proves it can be fabricated.

Get a read on where your mark breaks

What logo design is here

What logo design delivers.

A logo here is drawn twice and made once. The deliverable is a Latin and Arabic pair, a set that reproduces at any size, and a sign version that matches the licensed name.

The drawn pair

The Latin and the Arabic drawn in one sitting, to one optical weight, so neither reads as a translation of the other. A transliteration set afterwards never balances.

The reproduction set

One ink for a stamp, a reversed version for a dark fascia, a 16px proof, and an outline a fabricator cannot reflow. The set is what makes the drawing usable.

The signboard version

The signboard version, with the Arabic band placed and proportioned to the sign rule and the name matched to the trade licence, so the proportions are fixed before technical review sees them.

What we draw

Six logo types.

The form follows the name, the script pair and the surface the mark has to be made on. Not every type survives being cut in metal.

The wordmark

The name drawn as the mark

Output

a Latin wordmark with an Arabic companion drawn to the same weight, which is the pairing a fascia sign needs

Name as markArabic companion

Lettermark and monogram

Initials bound into one shape

Output

the version that still reads on a company stamp, a profile avatar and a 16px browser tab

InitialsHolds at 16px

Pictorial mark and icon

A symbol that stands without the name

Output

the mark for surfaces where the licensed name is set separately, such as a stamp, an app tile or a fabricated letter

SymbolStands alone

Combination mark

A symbol locked to the name

Output

horizontal, stacked and Arabic lockups that split cleanly when a sign is wider than it is tall

LockupsSplits cleanly

Emblem mark

Name and symbol bound into one shape

Output

a single form for seals, stamps and die work, drawn so the Arabic sits inside the shape rather than beside it

SealDie work

Redraw and refresh

An existing mark rebuilt rather than replaced

Output

recognition kept, the geometry corrected, and the versions nobody ever drew added to it

Keep recognitionAdd the set

How the pair gets made

Three ways to draw a mark.

Almost every bilingual mark in this market was made one of these three ways. The difference shows up at the sign-maker, not at the presentation.

	Latin first, Arabic laterTwo drawings, months apart	Whatever the software offeredNobody drew the Arabic	Drawn as a pairOne mark, two scripts, one sitting
Who drew the Arabic	A second designer, working from the finished Latin.	A default face the layout program substituted.	The same hand, at the same time, to one optical weight.
At the sign-maker	The two halves get resized until they fit the board.	The fabricator picks a face and cuts it.	Artwork arrives at the proportion the permit requires.
Set small, or in one ink	The Arabic thins out and the pair separates.	Unpredictable, because nobody chose the face.	Both scripts hold, because both were proved at that size.
What gets filed	Two marks, and a question about which one is the mark.	A drawing you did not commission and cannot claim.	One artwork sheet, drawn for the application.
Cost of fixing it later	A second redraw, plus every surface already made.	A full redraw, and the sign comes down.	A version number.

Which route fits you.

Most companies here are in the first column and do not know it, because the Latin looks right and nobody in the room reads the Arabic. That is a redraw of one half rather than of the whole mark, and it costs least before the sign is cut. Whether the mark itself is the right one is argued at brand identity design, the naming decision underneath both sits at branding in Dubai, and what a full branding engagement covers is a separate read.

The UAE context

What a mark must clear.

Webzenia has worked with Gulf clients since 2018. Four things decide whether a mark can be used here, and none of them is taste.

01of 04
The sign is the first approvalDubai signage
Arabic gets half the sign.
The name shown is the trade name the licence carries, and the Arabic belongs in the artwork rather than in a later pass. A mark with no Arabic companion is not an unfinished brand, it is an unapprovable sign. A Bur Dubai jewellery retailer on a DET mainland licence finds out at the fascia.
Our methodThe sign version is drawn to the proportion rule before the mark is signed off.
02of 04
A picture cannot be fabricatedThe vendor redraw
Sign-makers redraw raster files.
That redraw is what goes on the building, and it becomes the version everyone copies afterwards. Fabrication needs outlined vector at scale, a single-ink form and a colour reference a supplier can match physically. A Dubai Silicon Oasis electronics maker on a free zone licence usually has none of the three.
Our methodEvery handover includes the outline set a fabricator can cut from.
03of 04
The filing is its own drawingFederal Decree-Law 36 of 2021
Trademarks are examined as artwork.
Protection is a federal filing with the Ministry of Economy under Federal Decree-Law No. 36 of 2021, classified under the Nice system, whose 13th edition took effect on 1 January 2026. A Masdar City cleantech company on a free zone licence files once and is covered in all seven emirates for 10 years.
Our methodThe filing sheet is drawn separately, with the class conversation named in writing.
04of 04
Two scripts, matched by eyeA drawing decision
Same size Arabic looks lighter.
Arabic has no capitals, a different baseline behaviour and connected forms, so matching is done by eye at the size the mark will be cut. An Al Barsha hospitality group on a DET mainland licence judges the pair on a fascia two metres wide, not on an artboard.
Our methodThe pair is proofed at fabrication size, never only on the artboard.

Our stack

The drawing tools.

The kit behind a mark that survives a fabricator, a stamp and a filing. Select one to see why it earns its place, and what we do with it that most do not.

Illustrator

Why Illustrator

Illustrator is where a mark is built on a construction grid, with the curves, the clearspace and the stroke weights held as measurements rather than as a look somebody approved.

How we excel

The sign-maker gets the outlines and the construction sheet together, so the proportions survive being scaled to a fascia by someone working from a printed drawing.

Construction accuracyFabrication outputArtwork

IllustratorCut-ready

Affinity DesignerVector

FigmaScreen

An online logo makerRaster

How the work runs

From sketch to final artwork.

The order is set by what has to be approved, not by the calendar. A mark is finished when it has been made, not when it has been liked.

01Before showingScoped

Both scripts are drawn together.

Routes are developed in both scripts from the first sketch, so nothing reaches a presentation that cannot be set in Arabic. The licensed name is checked against the mark here, while changing either still costs nothing.

Both scriptsfrom the first sketch
Licensed namechecked against the mark
Routeseliminated, not parked

02Before signingBuilt

The mark is proved at scale.

The chosen mark is proved on the surfaces it has to survive: a single-ink stamp, a reversed fascia, a 16px tab and a rendered sign at the height it will be mounted. Anything that fails here is corrected before the artwork is released, not after a supplier has quoted.

Proved atstamp, tab and fascia
The signrendered before it is quoted
Correctionsmade before release

03Before sendingRunning

Artwork ships named per vendor.

Three sets leave: the working files for your team, the outlined fabrication set for the sign-maker and the printer, and the filing sheet if the mark is going to be registered. Each is labelled for the vendor it is for, so nobody has to choose between six exports.

Working filesfor your own team
Fabrication setoutlined, at scale
Filing sheetdrawn for the application

Every set is labelled for the vendor it is for, with the sign version drawn to the proportion rule.

Released by vendor, not folder

Outlined artworkBoth scriptsFiling sheet

Our commitment

You get real artwork.

Logo work here fails at the fabricator and at the registry, months after the presentation. These four commitments are about that.

Routes must work in Arabic
Routes that only work in Latin are eliminated at the sketch stage, before anyone in the room falls for one. A mark you love and cannot pair is a more expensive problem than a shortlist of three.
The sign version is drawn
You receive the signboard artwork with the Arabic set to the proportion the rule requires and the name matched to the trade licence, so technical review is not the first time anyone checks it.
You receive real artwork
Outlined vector at scale, a single-ink version, a reversed version and a spot colour reference, each proved at the size it will be used. No supplier should ever need to redraw the mark to use it.
The filing sheet is produced
The version a trademark application needs is drawn as its own sheet and checked against the licensed name before handover. Which classes to file in is a conversation we name in writing and leave to your counsel.

Common questions

Answers on logo design.

Yes. A commercial sign in Dubai gives Arabic no less than half the sign, set above the English or to its right, and the trade name shown has to match the licence exactly. A mark with no Arabic companion cannot be made into an approvable sign, and that tends to surface the week the fit-out was meant to finish. The Arabic is drawn as a companion to the Latin rather than typed in whichever face the sign-maker has installed, because the two have to read as one mark at two metres.
FAQ · 01
It means the mark is drawn around the licensed string, not around the name you use in conversation. Where the licence reads longer than the brand name, the sign carries the licensed version, and the wordmark has to hold its proportions at that length, which sometimes changes the form entirely. Settle the name before the drawing starts. How a name clears the registry in the first place, including how its Arabic form is judged, is argued at branding in Dubai.
FAQ · 02
Outlined vector at scale, plus a colour reference they can match physically. In practice that is a vector file with the type converted to outlines so nothing reflows, a PDF at the fabrication size, a single-ink version for cut vinyl or a channel letter, a reversed version for a dark fascia, and a spot colour reference alongside the screen and print values. Send a raster export instead and the supplier will redraw the mark, and their redraw becomes the version on the building.
FAQ · 03
Usually not redrawn, but re-produced. Most marks that arrive here are drawn well enough and are simply short of the set this market needs: an Arabic companion, a single-ink version, an outline a fabricator can cut from, and a colour specified physically rather than as a hex value. We read what you own and quote for the gaps. Where the question is the identity behind the mark rather than the mark itself, that is argued at brand identity design.
FAQ · 04
The Arabic, more than anything else. Whether a companion has to be drawn from scratch or can be licensed from an existing family is the largest single variable, because drawing one is font work rather than logo work. After that: how many surfaces the mark has to be proved on, whether a fabricated sign is in scope, and whether a filing sheet is needed. Concept count decides very little. We scope against those four and give a fixed figure after a short call.
FAQ · 05
Those are three different things, and only the first is automatically yours. The drawing is: editable source and full rights, in your name. A typeface is a licence rather than a possession, so a face used in the lockup is licensed to your entity with the scope checked to cover the suppliers who will set it, while an Arabic companion drawn for you is yours outright. The trademark is a separate right that exists only once the mark is registered with the Ministry of Economy, which is why the filing sheet is produced whether or not you file this year.
FAQ · 06
Work back from the sign rather than from the launch. A fabricator needs artwork weeks before the handover date because cutting, painting and mounting all queue, and the signage approval sits ahead of that again. In that situation we settle the pair and release the fabrication set first, then finish the remaining versions while the sign is being made. If the Arabic companion has to be drawn from scratch, say so on the first call: it is the one part of this that cannot be compressed.
FAQ · 07

Keep exploring

Explore Branding

Part ofBranding

Brand Identity Design

Marks, a bilingual system, and the files your team can run.

Brand Strategy

A position your licence supports and a buyer can verify.

Pitch Deck Design

A deck built for the pocket of capital reading it.

Company Profile Design

The document a vendor registration checks before anyone reads it.

Presentation Design

One master that sets decks in both directions.

Social Media Design

A master set your own team can fill, in both scripts.

Explainer Video

Written twice, because a committee watches it twice.

Product Video Production

One permitted shoot, cut for every place it sells.

Product Photography

Shot to two marketplace specs, against the sellable pack.

Next step

Get your mark read.

Send the logo files you have and a photograph of the sign or surface it has to reach. We will say what is missing and what has to be redrawn.

Tell us what you need.

What logo design delivers.

The drawn pair

The reproduction set

The signboard version

Six logo types.

The wordmark

Lettermark and monogram

Pictorial mark and icon

Combination mark

Emblem mark

Redraw and refresh

Three ways to draw a mark.

What a mark must clear.

Arabic gets half the sign.

Sign-makers redraw raster files.

Trademarks are examined as artwork.

Same size Arabic looks lighter.

The drawing tools.

From sketch to final artwork.

Both scripts are drawn together.

The mark is proved at scale.

Artwork ships named per vendor.

You get real artwork.

Answers on logo design.

Explore Branding

Brand Identity Design

Brand Strategy

Pitch Deck Design

Company Profile Design

Presentation Design

Social Media Design

Explainer Video

Product Video Production

Product Photography

Get your mark read.