In this region a brand lives in two scripts at once: on the shop sign, the menu, the Instagram profile and the invoice. A logo that looks great in English and awkward in Arabic, or the other way round, tells customers the brand was only half thought through.
Two scripts, two different shapes
Latin letters sit on a line and mostly fit inside a neat box. Arabic flows, connects, and has strong shapes rising above and dropping below the line. Arabic words are often shorter or longer than their English equivalents, and the same name can look very different in each. A bilingual logo has to respect both behaviours instead of forcing one script to imitate the other.
What strong bilingual logos have in common
- A shared idea, not a copied shape. The best pairs share weight, rhythm and attitude. Bending Arabic letters into Latin forms, or the reverse, rarely works.
- Balanced visual weight. Placed together, neither version should shout over the other. That usually means adjusting sizes by eye, not by matching point sizes.
- A symbol that needs no language. A mark that works without words, such as an icon, monogram or shape, carries the brand where text won't fit: app icons, favicons, stamps, social avatars.
- Clear lockups. Decide in advance how the two versions combine: side by side, stacked, or used separately. Right-to-left layouts may need the order reversed.
- Legibility at small sizes. Arabic detail can disappear when the logo shrinks. Test it at the size of a phone notification, not only on a big screen.
Choosing the typefaces around it
The logo is only the start. Customers will see far more of your typefaces than your logo: on menus, signs, websites and posts. Choose an Arabic and a Latin family designed to sit together, with matching weights, and use them consistently. It makes everything you publish feel related, even when no logo is on the page.
Questions to ask before you approve a logo
- Does the Arabic read naturally to a native reader, not just look right to a designer?
- Does it still work in one colour, on a dark background, and embroidered or engraved?
- Is there a version for square spaces and one for wide spaces?
- Is the symbol recognisable without either name next to it?
- Do the brand guidelines show both scripts, with clear rules for when to use each?
A note on this studio's own mark
Ftoosh's logo, the Nuqta, is built from six diamond-shaped dots. Dots matter in Arabic writing, where they turn one letter into another, and a diamond dot is also a familiar mark in calligraphy. It reads in both scripts because it belongs to neither.
The short version
A logo works in both scripts when each version is designed for its own script, the two share a clear idea and weight, and a wordless symbol can stand in for both. Test it small, test it in Arabic with native readers, and write the rules down. More in Branding.