Does our pack have to carry Arabic, and what has to be on it?

Yes for consumer food sold in the UAE, and the Arabic is the text that governs if the two languages disagree. The panel carries the product name and description, the ingredients in descending order of weight, nutrition and allergen information, the country of origin and manufacturer details, production and expiry dates, storage instructions and net quantity. Labelling of prepackaged foodstuffs runs under GSO 9:2022, the current edition of the Gulf standard, administered nationally by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology. Non-food categories, an attar or bakhoor line among them, have their own requirements, so the first thing we establish is which set your product falls under.

Our product sells abroad already. Can we bring the artwork over and sticker it?

You can, and plenty of brands do, but it is a decision with a running cost rather than a shortcut. A sticker adds a labour step to every case, it covers artwork somebody paid to design, and the object in the box stops matching the artwork on file. It also tends to be the version a buyer photographs. For a Dubai Marina wellness brand on a DET mainland licence testing a first noon listing it is a reasonable opening move; where the product is going to stay, redrawing the pack once settles it and ends the per-case labour.

What is usually missing when a label is held up?

A required field, or Arabic that does not match the English beside it. The fields most often short are the production and expiry dates, the net quantity in the right unit, the country of origin and the manufacturer details, and the usual cause is a layout with nowhere to put them rather than an oversight. The second cause is a translated panel that has drifted from the English, which matters because the Arabic is what governs. We read artwork against the published requirements and list what is missing. That is a design read, not a regulatory approval, and we will say so on the call.

Can one artwork serve the UAE and the rest of the GCC?

One master can, with variants. The Gulf standards give the markets a great deal in common, so a single structure, a single front and a single panel layout will usually carry across them, while the fields inside that panel change per country. The mistake is treating each market as a fresh design, which is how a range ends up with six packs that do not look related. We build the master first and document what a variant is allowed to change, so the next market is an artwork job rather than a redraw. How far the brand itself should change across those markets is a different question, and it is argued at branding in the UAE.

Do you work with our converter, or do we hand them the files ourselves?

We work with them directly, and it changes the artwork. The die comes from the plant that will run the job, the preflight is set against that machine rather than a general standard, and questions get answered between us instead of arriving back through you a week later. If you would rather keep the relationship yourself, the files are built to the same standard and the preflight report goes with them, so your converter has everything they would have asked us for.

Who owns the dieline and the artwork at the end?

You do, and the dieline is the part most brands never think to ask about. You receive the print-ready artwork, the die geometry and the editable source in your own name, which is what lets a second converter quote the same job without redrawing anything. The physical cutting tool usually stays with the plant that made it, so the geometry file is the thing that keeps you able to move. Ownership of the wider identity, including the font licences behind it, is settled at brand identity design.

How long does it take when a listing date is already booked?

Work backwards from the press, not from the listing. The converter needs artwork before their own scheduling window, and where a product has to be registered the artwork has to be finished before that, so the real deadline usually sits several weeks earlier than the date in the launch plan. In that situation we settle the die and the regulated panel first and release those, then finish the front while the structure is already moving. The part that cannot be compressed is the Arabic, because it has to be read rather than run through a tool. Where the product is registered in Dubai, the licensed name it carries is settled first, and that is argued at branding in Dubai.

Packaging design · UAE

Packaging design that clears UAE labelling rules.

A pack sold here carries Arabic, and where the two languages disagree the Arabic is the text that governs. Webzenia designs on the dieline and around that panel at the same time.

Get your pack read against the label rules

What the pack has to satisfy

What packaging design must satisfy.

Three things decide whether a pack can be made and sold here, and only one of them is how it looks. The panel comes first, then the structure, then the file.

The panel of record

Arabic is mandatory on consumer food packs sold here, and where the two languages disagree the Arabic text governs. So it is the panel the layout is built around, not the one fitted into whatever space is left.

The structure

A dieline the converter who will run the job can actually accept, with every element on the face it belongs to. Art laid out flat lands across a fold, and that is found at the press.

The file that clears registration

In Dubai a food product is registered with the Municipality before it is sold, and the Arabic label forms part of the submission. The artwork the converter runs is the artwork that was submitted.

What we design

Six packaging formats.

Each format is a different production problem before it is a different design. The die, the substrate and the press decide what the artwork can be.

Folding cartons

A flat net with the cut, crease and glue lines drawn, and the panels allocated before the art goes on

Output

a carton that folds the way it was approved

DielineBoard spec

Pouches and flexible

Stand-up pouches and wrappers set up for roll printing, with the laminate structure and the seal areas kept clear

Output

artwork a flexible converter can run

LaminateRoll-fed

Labels and sleeves

One layout across a range, with only the colour band and the variant name changing

Output

a system that holds when the eleventh SKU arrives

One layoutRange

Cosmetic and premium

Finishes specified as production instructions rather than as a render: foil, blind emboss, soft-touch, spot varnish. An attar or bakhoor pack sits under its own labelling regime, not the food one, and that changes the panel before it changes the finish

Output

a pack a converter can quote from

FinishesSpecified

Food and beverage

The back of pack laid out first: the Arabic panel, net quantity, production and expiry dates and country of origin

Output

a pack that goes to registration complete

Arabic panelBack of pack

Marketplace and mailer

Outer packs built for a courier and for the thumbnail a listing shows before anyone holds it

Output

a pack that survives the journey and reads at that size

MailerThumbnail

How a pack gets here

Three ways to reach a shelf.

A Dubai Marina wellness brand selling on noon and a Jebel Ali processor shipping in bulk take one of these three routes. The route is usually chosen by a deadline.

	Imported artwork, stickeredThe Arabic added at the warehouse	Redrawn for the UAE aloneOne market, both scripts, one die	One master, market variantsThe panel space reserved before the die
In the hand	A label stuck over the design, crooked by the third case.	A pack that reads as though it was made for this market.	The same pack everywhere, with the panel set for the market it is in.
At registration	The artwork submitted and the object in the box are not the same thing.	One artwork, one submission, one answer.	Each variant is submitted from the same master, so nothing drifts between them.
Adding a market	Another sticker, and another line on the packing bench.	A redraw, because the layout was sized for one panel.	A variant, because the space was reserved before the die was cut.
What it costs	A labour cost on every unit, for as long as the product sells.	One origination now, and a second one the day you export.	One origination, then an artwork change per market and nothing structural.
Who holds the file	Whoever printed the stickers, usually as a flattened PDF.	You do, for one market.	You do, as a master with a documented variant rule.

Which route you are on.

If the product only ever sells in the UAE, redraw it once and stop there. If any of it leaves the country, and for a manufacturer in Sharjah it usually does, build the master first: reserving panel space for a market you have not entered yet costs a conversation, and adding it afterwards costs a die. The stickered column is the only one of the three we would argue you out of, and the rules that hold a range together across all three are set in brand identity design.

The UAE context

What decides a pack here.

Webzenia has worked with Gulf clients since 2018. Four things shape a pack in this market, and none of them is a design preference.

01of 04
The Arabic governsNot a translation
Arabic governs the pack text.
Consumer food sold here carries Arabic, and in a discrepancy the Arabic is what counts. That makes it a layout problem rather than a proofing one: the ingredient list, the dates and the origin all set right to left, and the space they need is reserved before the front is drawn.
Our methodThe Arabic panel is laid out before the front, not after it.
02of 04
Registration is a fileBefore the first case ships
Registration happens before sale.
An Al Qusais dates packer on a DET mainland licence files with the Municipality, and the label goes in the file. A fragrance or cosmetic pack carries its own labelling regime and its own route, so the wrong one is a real mistake. The artwork has to be finished earlier than launch plans assume.
Our methodThe submission artwork and the press artwork are the same file.
03of 04
The fixed fieldsSpace, reserved
Some fields cannot move.
They appear on every pack, they are printed or coded at the line rather than at the press, and they need clear board to land on. A layout that leaves them nowhere to go gets solved on the factory floor, by a machine operator, with a white box over your artwork.
Our methodCoding areas are allocated on the dieline, not found later.
04of 04
Made here, opened elsewhereThe export case
Most packs here are exported.
A SAIF Zone manufacturer on a free zone licence ships into markets nobody in the building sees. Sharjah holds around 40% of the UAE industrial base and exports to more than 120 markets, so the deliverable is a master artwork with a written variant rule.
Our methodOne master, with the variant rule written down rather than remembered.

What the engagement covers

Six steps to a producible pack.

Six parts, in the order the pack is actually decided. The rules come before the drawing, and the die comes before the artwork.

Category and label rules

We read the category the product competes in and the requirements it falls under at the same sitting, so the mandatory fields are known quantities before anyone draws a front.

Category
Requirements

Concept drawn on the net

Routes are developed on the real flat net rather than on a rectangle, so a front that only works as a picture is eliminated before it is presented to anyone.

On the net
Routes

Dieline and structure

The die is built or confirmed with the converter who will run it, including the panel the Arabic needs and the clear area the coder needs. The fold is a fact before the art is laid on it.

Die
Converter

Artwork and the Arabic panel

Every mandatory field is placed on the face it belongs to, and the Arabic is set by someone who reads it rather than pasted in from a translation file and trusted.

Placed
Read

Prepress and separations

Separations, overprint, trapping and the spot inks are set against the converter own spec sheet rather than against a general print standard, because the press is a specific machine.

Separations
Spot inks

Files handed over

Print-ready artwork, the dieline and the editable source, in your name, so a second converter can quote the same job without redrawing anything first.

Artwork
The die

Our stack

The prepress tools.

The kit behind a pack that prints, folds and clears its paperwork. Select one to see why it earns its place, and what we do with it that most do not.

Illustrator

Why Illustrator

A dieline is vector geometry with cut, crease and bleed on their own layers. Illustrator is where that geometry and the artwork sitting on it exist as one file rather than two.

How we excel

We build the panel allocation into the die itself, so the Arabic block, the coding area and the barcode each hold reserved space on the net before a single graphic is placed on it.

DielinePanel controlDie layers

IllustratorNative

Affinity DesignerYes

InDesignPlaced

CanvaNone

How the work runs

From dieline to the converter.

The order is set by what is expensive to change. A die is expensive, a panel requirement is not negotiable, and a front costs an afternoon.

01Before drawingScoped

The rules get set first.

We list the mandatory fields for the category and confirm the markets the pack has to sell in, because a product going to two Gulf countries is a different brief from one going to a Dubai supermarket. Where the route to registration matters, we name it here, while changing the plan still costs nothing.

Fieldslisted before the first sketch
Marketsconfirmed, not assumed
Routenamed while it is still free

02At sign-offBuilt

Both panels are drawn together.

The die is confirmed with the converter, then the front and the regulated back are laid out together rather than in sequence. The Arabic is set and read by someone who reads it. Anything that does not fit is a layout decision now, instead of a white sticker later.

The dieconfirmed with the converter
Both panelsdrawn together
Arabicread, never pasted

03At the pressRunning

Everything is checked and released.

Separations, overprint, trapping and the spot inks are checked against the spec of the machine that will run it, and the preflight report goes out with the files. What leaves is the print-ready artwork, the dieline and the editable source, in your name and usable by any converter.

Preflightto the converter spec
The reportsent with the files
Handoverartwork, die and source

Every release carries the preflight report beside the artwork, with the dieline in your name.

Released with the preflight

Print-readyThe dieEditable source

Our commitment

Nothing reaches the converter unchecked.

Packaging fails at the converter, at registration and at the second production run. These four commitments are about those three moments.

Every panel gets read first
Every panel is read by someone who reads Arabic before it leaves us. We also say plainly what the read covers: artwork against the published requirements, not an approval to sell. Where a regulatory consultant is needed, we say so.
The dieline is always confirmed
We take the die from the plant that will run the job, or we build one and have them accept it in writing first. A die found on a template site is how art ends up across a crease on a run of forty thousand.
Artwork and die are yours
A die is a physical tool, usually held by whoever cut it, which is how a brand quietly ends up unable to move suppliers. You receive the artwork, the die geometry and the editable source, so a second converter can quote.
Every file is preflighted first
Separations, overprint, bleed and the spot inks are checked against the specification of the machine that will print it, and the report is sent with the artwork. A generic profile passing is not the same as that press accepting it.

Common questions

Answers on packaging design.

Yes for consumer food sold in the UAE, and the Arabic is the text that governs if the two languages disagree. The panel carries the product name and description, the ingredients in descending order of weight, nutrition and allergen information, the country of origin and manufacturer details, production and expiry dates, storage instructions and net quantity. Labelling of prepackaged foodstuffs runs under GSO 9:2022, the current edition of the Gulf standard, administered nationally by the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology. Non-food categories, an attar or bakhoor line among them, have their own requirements, so the first thing we establish is which set your product falls under.
FAQ · 01
You can, and plenty of brands do, but it is a decision with a running cost rather than a shortcut. A sticker adds a labour step to every case, it covers artwork somebody paid to design, and the object in the box stops matching the artwork on file. It also tends to be the version a buyer photographs. For a Dubai Marina wellness brand on a DET mainland licence testing a first noon listing it is a reasonable opening move; where the product is going to stay, redrawing the pack once settles it and ends the per-case labour.
FAQ · 02
A required field, or Arabic that does not match the English beside it. The fields most often short are the production and expiry dates, the net quantity in the right unit, the country of origin and the manufacturer details, and the usual cause is a layout with nowhere to put them rather than an oversight. The second cause is a translated panel that has drifted from the English, which matters because the Arabic is what governs. We read artwork against the published requirements and list what is missing. That is a design read, not a regulatory approval, and we will say so on the call.
FAQ · 03
One master can, with variants. The Gulf standards give the markets a great deal in common, so a single structure, a single front and a single panel layout will usually carry across them, while the fields inside that panel change per country. The mistake is treating each market as a fresh design, which is how a range ends up with six packs that do not look related. We build the master first and document what a variant is allowed to change, so the next market is an artwork job rather than a redraw. How far the brand itself should change across those markets is a different question, and it is argued at branding in the UAE.
FAQ · 04
We work with them directly, and it changes the artwork. The die comes from the plant that will run the job, the preflight is set against that machine rather than a general standard, and questions get answered between us instead of arriving back through you a week later. If you would rather keep the relationship yourself, the files are built to the same standard and the preflight report goes with them, so your converter has everything they would have asked us for.
FAQ · 05
You do, and the dieline is the part most brands never think to ask about. You receive the print-ready artwork, the die geometry and the editable source in your own name, which is what lets a second converter quote the same job without redrawing anything. The physical cutting tool usually stays with the plant that made it, so the geometry file is the thing that keeps you able to move. Ownership of the wider identity, including the font licences behind it, is settled at brand identity design.
FAQ · 06
Work backwards from the press, not from the listing. The converter needs artwork before their own scheduling window, and where a product has to be registered the artwork has to be finished before that, so the real deadline usually sits several weeks earlier than the date in the launch plan. In that situation we settle the die and the regulated panel first and release those, then finish the front while the structure is already moving. The part that cannot be compressed is the Arabic, because it has to be read rather than run through a tool. Where the product is registered in Dubai, the licensed name it carries is settled first, and that is argued at branding in Dubai.
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.

Logo Design

A mark drawn in both scripts, and made to be fabricated.

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.

Next step

Get your label read.

Send the artwork you have and the markets it sells in. We will say what the pack is missing and what has to be redrawn, as a design read rather than an approval.

Tell us what you need.

What packaging design must satisfy.

The panel of record

The structure

The file that clears registration

Six packaging formats.

Folding cartons

Pouches and flexible

Labels and sleeves

Cosmetic and premium

Food and beverage

Marketplace and mailer

Three ways to reach a shelf.

What decides a pack here.

Arabic governs the pack text.

Registration happens before sale.

Some fields cannot move.

Most packs here are exported.

Six steps to a producible pack.

Category and label rules

Concept drawn on the net

Dieline and structure

Artwork and the Arabic panel

Prepress and separations

Files handed over

The prepress tools.

From dieline to the converter.

The rules get set first.

Both panels are drawn together.

Everything is checked and released.

Nothing reaches the converter unchecked.

Answers on packaging design.

Explore Branding

Brand Identity Design

Brand Strategy

Logo Design

Pitch Deck Design

Company Profile Design

Presentation Design

Social Media Design

Explainer Video

Product Video Production

Get your label read.