Brand Identity
Arabian Publishing
Arabian Publishing has a long and distinguished history as one of the Arabian Pennisula’s main book publishers. After detailed brand comparison research into the business it showed that they were well placed in the field of Arabian scholarly literature, and were not in competition with many other publishers. As part of the rebranding it would be imperitive to retain this difference and build on it as an asset.
The consultation and brief
After discussions with the directors I was able to formulate a brief.
As the designer behind the Arabian brand, I was not just shaping visuals — I was helping define how the world sees and connects with Arabian Publishing.
Arabian Publishing is a brand built on heritage, elegance, knowledge and forward-thinking design. It’s a balance of authenticity and modernity, rooted in the richness of Arabian culture but created for a global audience.
The brand guidelines document, that would need to be prepared, will be a toolkit for building that vision with clarity and consistency.
My task was to prepare these guidelines in a way that brings the brand to life across every touchpoint—whether it’s in print, digital, packaging or beyond. From logo design and color palettes to typography and tone of voice, every detail mattered. It all needed to feel cohesive, intentional and unmistakably Arabian Publishing.
I needed to approach this brand in a way that did not hide its heritage — in fact they did not want to deviate too far away from their current logo. I needed work creatively, with precision and a strong sense of understanding the Arabian Publishing brand and the Arabian culture.
I did not want to just make things look good — I was building a brand experience that tells a story that leaves a lasting impression.
The finished Brand Guidelines v1.5
Arabian Publishing Brand:
Richard has worked with Arabian Publishing since early 2019 … Richard is multi-talented and has a broad range of experience and high-level skills in both print, digital design and layout work …amongst other responsibilities he has created the highly creative Arabian Publishing branding and initial website design, UX and UI as well as specialist professional photography of the companies’ key titles for promotional and website purposes, and the design and production of promotional materials.
Peter Harrian | Managing Director | Arabian Publishing
Brand Guidelines pages
About Arabian Publishing and brand criteria
Arabian Publishing are specialists in the culture and history of the Arabian Peninsula, sharing this knowledge to global audiences through beautifully crafted books. Arabian Publishing bridge cultures by combining deep local expertise with elegant design, creating authoritative works that enable you to both honour tradition and engage modern readers.
Clearly define the brand to:
- Remain relevant and attractive to the established customer base
- Build upon the strong reputation (position) in the market
- Protect Arabian Publishing (AP) from competitors moving into the their space
- Remain relevant as the market evolves
- Communicate effectively and consistently to all other stakeholders
- Share the AP purpose both internally and externally
- Provide a basis of a briefing template for agencies and suppliers e.g. web designers, thereby increasing the efficiency of their work and significantly reducing cost
Typography
As an integral starting point, which was used throughout the brand design and in the careful evolution of their logomark, I designed a typographic system for AP. The chosen fonts needed to compliment the Arabian Publishing brand and its brand values — The Trusted Gateway to Authentic History and Culture of the Arabian Peninsula.
The main criteria for selecting the font choices being:
- Suitability for the business
- Aesthetics: Font families that pleasingly pair well together
- Legibility at all sizes used
- Ease of reading especially online
- Clear differentiation between body copy, elucidation of figures, annotation and legal data
- Accommodating Arabic diacritics for transliterated words
- Strong families of weights, styles (italic, demi, bold etc.) and glyph collection.
Research Example 1
Research Example 2
Research Example 3
Website development stages
