Trademark registration for your logo in the UAE
What UAE trademark law protects and refuses, how registration with the Ministry of Economy and Tourism works, and what it means for your logo.
Read the articleBilingual brand guidelines for a UAE business need to answer questions an English only guide never asks: which language leads on each surface, which Arabic typeface partners the Latin one, which digits appear in Arabic text, and what flips when a layout runs right to left. If those answers are not written down, every printer, developer and freelancer in Dubai decides for you, and each decides differently.
This checklist walks through the sections a working Arabic and English guide should contain, with the reasoning behind each rule, so you can audit the guide you have or brief a new one.
Key points
- Set a language priority rule per channel, not a single rule for the whole brand
- Specify Arabic and Latin type as a pair, with sizes, weights and line spacing for each script
- Choose one digit style for Arabic text and document how phone numbers, dates and prices behave
- List what mirrors in right to left layouts and what never does, such as logos and media controls
- Keep a bilingual glossary of names, product terms and approved transliterations
Why English only bilingual brand guidelines fall apart in the UAE
Most bilingual brand guidelines are written by designers who work in one script, then handed to teams who work in two. The Latin pages are detailed: margins, headline sizes, colour ratios. The Arabic pages, if they exist, say something like “use the Arabic font for Arabic text”. Everyone downstream then improvises. A common problem we see is a shop sign, an Instagram carousel and a sales presentation from the same company using three different Arabic typefaces, none of them chosen by the brand owner.
The fix is not a thicker PDF. It is treating Arabic as a first class part of every rule, so that each page of the guide shows the rule applied in both scripts. The rest of this article is organised as the sections you would add or rewrite to get there.
Bilingual brand guidelines: language priority rules for each channel
Start with the question people ask most often: which language goes first? There is rarely one answer for the whole brand. A government facing tender document, a mall kiosk and a LinkedIn post can each justify a different order.
There is also a legal backdrop to keep in mind. Federal Law No. 15 of 2020 on Consumer Protection, Article 26, states that data, advertisements and contracts related to the consumer shall be made in Arabic, and that other languages may be used in addition to Arabic. How that applies to a specific ad or document is a question for your adviser or licensing authority, and this article is not legal advice. For the guide, the practical consequence is simple: Arabic cannot be an optional extra in consumer facing templates, so the layouts must have room for it from the start.
| Surface | Rule to write down | Typical options |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer print and signage | Which script sits in the primary position and at what relative size | Arabic leading, or equal weight side by side |
| Website and app | Default language by market, and whether both share one URL structure | Separate Arabic and English versions with a visible switch |
| Social media | Separate posts per language or both in one caption | Separate posts for ads; combined captions for announcements |
| Contracts, quotations, invoices | Which version prevails and how the two columns align | Parallel columns on the same page |
| Internal documents | Whether Arabic is required at all | English only, with Arabic for staff notices |
Arabic and Latin typography as one system
Bilingual brand guidelines should specify type as a pair in their type section, not two unrelated choices. Name the Latin family and its Arabic companion, list the weights used for each role, and state sizes in both scripts. Equal point sizes rarely look equal. Arabic letterforms sit differently on the line, so the Arabic body size often needs adjusting until the two blocks carry the same visual weight on the page. Record the adjusted size rather than leaving each designer to guess.
Line spacing needs its own rule too. The W3C Arabic and Persian Layout Requirements note that Arabic ascenders and descenders extend much further than those of the Latin script, and that care is needed to align the two scripts when they appear together. In practice that means generous leading for Arabic paragraphs and a tested baseline alignment for bilingual headlines.
Write down what designers must not do to Arabic text as well:
- No letter spacing on Arabic. The W3C document explains that stretched Arabic is shown by extending the baseline between joined letters, and that this does not correspond to letter spacing in non cursive scripts.
- Kashida, the extension of the connection between joined letters, allowed only where the guide says so, for example in a display headline, and never as a way to force every line of body text to the same width.
- No software generated slanting or outlining that distorts letter joins; use the real weights the font provides.
- No Arabic set in a Latin only font that falls back to a system face, which produces a mismatched look nobody chose.
Include font licence notes in the same section: which licences cover web, app, print and PDF embedding, and where the purchased files are stored.
Numbers, dates and mixed direction text
This is the section most bilingual brand guidelines skip, and it causes the most visible errors. The W3C requirements describe three families of numerals used with Arabic script: European numerals (0 to 9), Arabic Indic numerals (٠ to ٩) used in eastern Arabic speaking countries, and Eastern Arabic Indic numerals used in Iran and Afghanistan. In every system, numbers are written with the most significant digit on the left, even though the surrounding Arabic runs right to left.
UAE brands use both European and Arabic Indic digits in Arabic text, so the guide must pick one and say where exceptions apply. Also note a technical detail the W3C document highlights: Arabic Indic digits and European digits belong to different bidirectional categories, so the same sentence can reorder differently on screen depending on which digits you type. Developers need to know which you chose.
- Digit style in Arabic body text, headlines and prices
- Phone numbers written in full international form, and how the plus sign sits in Arabic lines
- Date format in each language, including whether Hijri dates appear anywhere
- Decimal and thousands separators; the W3C lists dedicated Arabic decimal and thousands signs for use with Arabic Indic digits
- Currency wording in both languages, kept consistent across print and web
- Percentages, units and measurements, with an example line in each script
Show at least one worked example of a line mixing Arabic words, a Latin product name and a number, checked by eye after export. Bidirectional text that looks right in a design tool can reorder when pasted into an email client or a content management system.
Mirroring layouts: what flips and what never does
For bilingual brand guidelines, the W3C document notes that when Arabic is the dominant script, documents follow a right to left structure. For a brand, that turns into a list of elements that mirror and elements that keep their orientation. Without the list, developers either mirror everything, including the logo, or nothing, leaving back arrows pointing forward.
| Usually mirrors in Arabic layouts | Usually stays the same |
|---|---|
| Page grid, navigation order and text alignment | The logo and any lockup artwork |
| Back, forward and next arrows | Media play, pause and progress controls based on time |
| Progress steps and breadcrumbs | Charts with a time axis, unless the guide decides otherwise |
| Position of images relative to text blocks | Photographs, which should never be flipped because text and faces become wrong |
| Icons that imply reading direction, such as a list with bullets | Universal icons such as a search glass, clock or checkmark |
Settle debatable cases in the guide itself, with a small illustration, so the decision does not get made again on every project.
Logo lockups and names in two scripts
The logo chapter of bilingual brand guidelines needs more than clear space and minimum size. It should show which lockup to use in an Arabic led layout and which in an English led one, how the two wordmarks align when stacked, and the smallest size at which the Arabic wordmark stays legible, which may differ from the Latin one because of dots and fine joins.
Names deserve a page of their own. Write the official company name in Arabic exactly as it appears on the trade licence, then list the approved short forms. If the brand name is transliterated, fix the spelling once. Arabic readers notice when the same name is spelled two ways on a van and a website. If you are still deciding what to register as a mark, our guide to trademark registration for your logo in the UAE covers what the law allows and what it refuses.
Voice, glossary and transcreation rules
In bilingual brand guidelines, a tone of voice page that describes the English voice only leaves Arabic writers guessing. Describe the Arabic voice separately: formality, whether Gulf dialect words ever appear, and how directly the brand addresses the reader. Then add a bilingual glossary.
- Product and service names, marked as translate, transliterate or keep in Latin letters
- Terms the brand never uses in either language
- Standard phrases for calls to action, legal lines and customer service replies
- Examples of headlines adapted rather than translated word for word
- The name of the person who approves Arabic copy
Headlines and slogans rarely survive literal translation. Decide in the guide whether campaign lines are transcreated, meaning rewritten to carry the same idea, and who signs them off. For marketing copy, our Arabic and English translation service handles that adaptation; sworn legal translation in the UAE must be done by a translator licensed by the UAE Ministry of Justice.
The complete bilingual brand guidelines checklist
Use this bilingual brand guidelines checklist as an audit sheet against your current guide. Anything unticked is a decision someone outside your company is currently making for you.
| Section | Question it must answer | Who relies on it |
|---|---|---|
| Language priority | Which language leads on each channel, and at what size ratio | Designers, sign makers, marketing |
| Type pairing | Arabic and Latin families, weights, adjusted sizes, line spacing | Designers, developers |
| Arabic text rules | Letter spacing, kashida, fallback fonts, licences | Designers, developers, printers |
| Numerals and dates | Digit style, separators, phone and date formats | Developers, writers, finance |
| Mirroring | What flips in right to left layouts and what does not | UI designers, developers |
| Logo and names | Lockups for each reading direction, Arabic legal name, spellings | Everyone |
| Voice and glossary | Arabic tone, term list, transcreation and approval | Writers, agencies, customer service |
| Templates | Editable files for social posts, presentations and documents in both directions | Marketing, sales |
| File index | Where masters live, version number, change log | Everyone |
Rules on language use in consumer material come from Federal Law No. 15 of 2020 as published by the UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism, read on 14 September 2026. This is design guidance, not legal advice.
How Digital Marketing Dubai can help
If your bilingual brand guidelines are English first with Arabic added later, we can audit them against this checklist and rewrite the sections that are missing, or build a new system as part of brand identity design. Where only the mark needs work, logo design covers the Arabic wordmark and lockups. Templates that put the rules into daily use can follow through social media design and presentation design. Every visual service is listed on the design services hub. Send us your current guide and we will reply with a written fixed price proposal within 45 minutes during business hours, with no obligation.
