Design Services · Packaging
Boxes, pouches, labels and sleeves designed on your converter's dieline, with Arabic and English panels planned for UAE labelling rules and print ready files for the printer you choose.
Start with structure
Packaging design for brands selling in Dubai and across the UAE has three jobs at once: survive a warehouse and a delivery van in summer heat, stand out on a crowded shelf or a marketplace thumbnail, and carry the information the law requires in Arabic. Artwork that ignores any one of those gets reprinted, which is the expensive way to learn.
So every project starts from the dieline: the flat technical drawing your printer or converter uses to cut, crease and glue the pack. We design on that drawing, in position, from the first concept.
Formats and materials
Packaging design in Dubai starts with the material: it affects colour, finish and how much detail survives printing. We confirm the substrate with your converter before artwork starts, because the same design behaves very differently on each.
| Format | Typical use | Design implications |
|---|---|---|
| Folding carton | Cosmetics, supplements, boxed food, retail gifts | Six or more panels to plan; foil, spot varnish and embossing are possible and need their own separate artwork layers |
| Corrugated shipper or mailer | Ecommerce deliveries, subscription boxes, outer cases | Coarser print on brown or white board; bold shapes and fewer colours hold up best; the unboxing interior can be designed too |
| Flexible pouch or sachet | Coffee, snacks, spices, pet food | Printed in reverse on film; seals and zips eat into the artwork area; clear windows need planning |
| Label or sleeve on a bottle or jar | Beverages, sauces, oils, honey, personal care | Curvature distorts wide artwork; the label must fit the wrap without the key text disappearing round the back |
| Rigid box | Perfume, jewellery, premium dates and chocolates | Wrapped paper over board; the lid and base are designed separately, with a lot of attention on texture and finish |
Food packaging often goes through a delivery box too. If you run a restaurant or cloud kitchen, see our food box design page, which deals with that format specifically.
UAE labelling
Food labelling in the UAE is set out in the technical regulation UAE.S GSO 9, Labelling of Prepackaged Food Stuffs, which the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) references in its halal programme. The points below are summarised from the US Department of Agriculture’s 2022 country report on UAE import rules, which quotes the 2019 edition. Standards are revised, so your importer should confirm the current edition before you print.
Labels must be in Arabic, and where another language is also used, the information in that language must be identical to the Arabic. Designing the Arabic panel as an afterthought is the most common reason bilingual packs look cramped.
An approved Arabic sticker may translate an imported label, but it must not hide required information, contradict the original label or be easy to peel off. Production and expiry dates on a sticker alone are not accepted.
Production and expiry dates must be printed, embossed, engraved or stamped in indelible ink on the original label or primary packaging. We leave a clear, uncoated panel where the date coder can print legibly.
The report lists product name, ingredients in descending order, nutrition declaration, net quantity, manufacturer or packer details, country of origin, dates, storage conditions, instructions and a batch or lot code. That list sets the minimum panel area before any branding.
MoIAT explains that its Halal National Mark is granted after conformity is confirmed, and businesses wanting to show it on their labelling must hold that certification. We only place marks you are entitled to use.
According to the same report, importers apply for a label assessment before entry, through the federal ZAD portal or Dubai Municipality’s systems, and a changed label or pack size needs a new assessment. Final artwork should therefore match exactly what was assessed.
This is design guidance, not legal or regulatory advice. Cosmetics, electrical goods, toys and other categories fall under different conformity schemes administered by MoIAT, including the Emirates Conformity Assessment Scheme; your importer or conformity body confirms what applies to your product.
Bilingual layout
Bilingual packaging design for Dubai shelves does not look like an English design with Arabic squeezed underneath.
Some packs give each language its own side panel; others run both in parallel columns. The choice depends on the dieline and how the product sits on the shelf, so we decide it at concept stage.
The Arabic typeface is chosen to match the Latin one in weight and size on the page, so neither language looks like the secondary one.
Arabic ingredient lists and warnings are typeset and checked visually, because software can break letter joins when text is pasted from a spreadsheet.
Process
Packaging design projects for Dubai brands follow our six stages: Brief, Proposal, Create, Review, Deliver and Improve. On packaging, review includes a physical check wherever possible.
Product, retail channel, competitors on the same shelf, the dieline, material and all label text in both languages. You get a fixed written quote within 45 minutes during business hours.
Design routes are shown on the dieline and as simple 3D mockups, so you judge the pack as a customer would hold it.
Before sign off, print the flat on paper at full size, cut and fold it. A paper mock up catches a logo sitting on a glue flap long before a print run does.
Final files with separate layers for cutter, varnish or foil, colours set to your printer’s specification, fonts outlined, and a PDF proof sheet listing every panel.
Packaging is usually the most visible expression of a brand, so it relies on settled decisions from brand identity design and a logo that works at small sizes, covered on our logo design page. Fashion and gift brands often need hang tag design alongside the box. When the product goes online, product photography and product description writing carry the pack onto marketplace listings. See all visual work on the design services hub.
From the blog
What an Arabic and English brand guide must settle in writing so printers, developers and writers in the UAE apply it the same way.
Read the article
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 articleStraight answers
No. We design the artwork and supply print ready files for the printer or packaging converter you choose. We are happy to talk directly with your printer about the dieline, colour profile and proof process.
We lay out the mandatory information you supply so it is legible and in the right language, and we flag gaps we notice. Compliance sign off belongs to your importer, food safety consultant or the relevant authority, which in Dubai includes the label assessment described on this page.
Yes, this is common. We rebuild the artwork on the local dieline if the pack size changes, add or rework the Arabic panel, and keep the original design language so the product is recognisable in both markets.
The dieline or the printer's contact, the material and finish if already chosen, your logo and brand files, the full label text in both languages, barcode numbers and any certification marks you are entitled to use. We then send a fixed written quote, scoped to your brief.
We can supply flat front panel artwork and clean renders from the design files for marketplace listings and your website. Styled product photography is a separate service with its own brief.
Sources
Fixed price, in writing
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