Getting an Arabic Version of Your Logo in Lebanon: A Buyer's Guide

A great many Lebanese businesses have a name in Latin letters — English, French, Italian, invented — and a logo built around it. Then, one day, they need it in Arabic: for a shop sign, a delivery-app listing, packaging, an Arabic social media campaign, or a first client in the Gulf. Someone types the name in an Arabic font, puts it under the logo, and it looks wrong in a way nobody can quite explain.

It looks wrong because an Arabic logo is not a caption. It is a second wordmark that has to belong to the same identity while being built from a completely different writing system. Done well, the two versions feel like siblings. Done badly, one of them looks like a translation stuck on at the last minute — which is exactly what it was.

This guide is for the business owner commissioning that work: the decisions to make before a designer starts, how to judge the result even if you are not a designer, what files to demand, and what it costs.

First, decide what your name becomes in Arabic

This is a business decision, not a design one, and it has to be made before anyone opens a design file.

There are three options. You can transliterate — write the sound of your name in Arabic letters, so customers say it the same way in both languages. You can translate — use the meaning, if the name has one, so "Golden Oven" becomes the Arabic for golden oven. Or you can keep the Latin name only and use Arabic just for descriptive text, which some brands deliberately do.

Transliteration is the most common choice and has its own traps. Some sounds in French and English names have no single standard Arabic letter; the "v" and "p" sounds are the usual examples, and Lebanese brands handle them differently — some use letters adapted for those sounds, others use the nearest standard letter. Long vowels can be written or left implied. A name can end up with two or three plausible spellings.

Settle this the practical way. Say the name aloud and write down how your customers actually say it, including in Lebanese Arabic. Search for how your name is already written in Arabic online, on delivery apps, and in the way customers type it to you on WhatsApp — you may find a spelling has already chosen itself. Then ask a careful Arabic content writer or Arabic–English translator to confirm the spelling reads naturally and carries no unintended meaning. Write the final spelling down, and give it to the designer as a fixed input, not a question.

Match the feeling, not the shapes

The most common mistake in bilingual logos is forcing Arabic letters to imitate the Latin ones — squaring them off to match a geometric typeface, or stretching them to copy the width of an English word. Arabic has its own structure: letters connect, change shape depending on their position in the word, sit on a baseline in their own way, and carry dots whose placement matters. Bend them too far toward Latin shapes and the word becomes hard to read or simply wrong.

What the two versions should share is character. The same visual weight, so neither looks bolder than the other. A similar contrast between thick and thin strokes. Compatible proportions, so they can sit side by side on a sign. The same colours, and the same symbol if your logo has one. If your English wordmark is clean and geometric, the Arabic should feel clean and geometric in an Arabic way; if the English is warm and handwritten, the Arabic can be too.

A useful test when reviewing concepts: cover one version with your hand and look at the other alone. Each should work as a logo on its own. Then look at both together and ask whether they feel like the same business.

Choose the Arabic style on purpose

Arabic lettering has long traditions with distinct personalities, and a good designer will talk to you about which suits your brand. Naskh is the familiar, highly readable style of most printed Arabic. Kufi is angular and geometric, and its modern forms pair naturally with clean Latin typefaces. Thuluth and Diwani are ornate and ceremonial, beautiful on a wedding invitation and often too elaborate for a shop sign read from a moving car. Ruqʿa is the quick style of everyday handwriting.

You do not need to know these names to commission good work, but you should expect your designer to know them, to explain why they chose a direction, and to show it at the sizes you will actually use — on a phone screen as an app icon, on a receipt, and on a sign across the street.

There is also a practical decision: whether the Arabic is set from a typeface or custom lettered. Custom lettering can match your identity more closely and is harder to copy; it also takes longer and costs more. A carefully chosen and adjusted typeface can work very well for a small business. If a typeface is used, ask which one, and confirm that its licence allows use in a logo.

The lockups you will actually use

Before the designer starts, list where the logo will appear, because that decides which combinations you need. Typically:

• Arabic only, for Arabic-language materials.
• Latin only, as you have now.
• Stacked bilingual, one above the other, for square spaces such as social profile pictures.
• Side by side, for wide spaces such as shop signs and website headers.

For the bilingual lockups, decide which language leads. Arabic reads right to left and Latin left to right, so in a side-by-side version the natural reading order and the position of your symbol need thought. Ask to see each lockup on a real mockup of where it will go — your shopfront, your delivery bag, your Instagram grid — rather than floating on a white page.

Checking Arabic letters you cannot judge

If you do not read Arabic confidently, you can still protect yourself. Three checks catch most problems.

Get a native reader to read it aloud, cold, without being told what it says. If they hesitate, misread it, or say it "looks strange", take that seriously. Ask them specifically whether any letter is disconnected where it should join, whether the dots are all present and in the right place, and whether it reads naturally at a glance.

Watch for broken Arabic from software. Some design tools and settings do not handle Arabic text correctly, and the result can be letters shown separately instead of joined, or a word displayed in reverse order. It happens more often than it should in Arabic signage and packaging. If the Arabic in a concept looks like a row of separate letters, it is wrong.

Test it small and far. Print the logo at the size of a business card and look at it from arm's length; view it as a tiny icon on your phone; stand back from a printed A4 sheet on the wall. Arabic detail that looks elegant large can fill in and blur small.

Our guide to reviewing a logo before paying covers the wider checks — file quality, rights and the brand guide — that apply to both versions.

What to receive at the end

Ask for this in writing at the start, so it is part of the job rather than a favour at the end:

• Vector master files of every lockup, with text converted to outlines so the Arabic cannot break when opened on another computer.
• Colour, black and white-reversed versions of each.
• Ready-to-use files for screens and for print.
• The name and licence details of any typeface used, if the Arabic was set rather than lettered.
• A short usage sheet showing minimum sizes, clear space and which lockup goes where.
• The written Arabic spelling of your name, so every future supplier uses the same one.

That last item sounds trivial and prevents years of inconsistency on menus, invoices and signs.

What it costs

On Furrsati, a simple logo — one direction, limited revisions, final files where agreed — is typically priced $50 to $180. A mini brand identity, meaning a logo with colours, typography and a small set of applications, is typically $300 to $800.

An Arabic version of an existing logo is usually scoped like a logo project of its own, and sits toward the higher end of that range when it involves custom lettering, several lockups and mockups. If you are also refreshing the Latin version, or you have no colours and type rules written down yet, a mini identity project that designs both versions together is often better value than two separate jobs. Our guides to logo design costs and brand identity costs explain what moves the price.

Hiring and paying safely

Ask candidates for bilingual work they have actually delivered — Arabic and Latin versions of the same brand, not Arabic-only or English-only portfolios — and ask them to explain one of those projects: how they chose the Arabic style and how they matched it. Designers who work regularly in Arabic will have clear answers. Write the brief using our guide to briefing a graphic designer, including the fixed spelling of your name and the list of lockups.

This is where Furrsati removes the risk. You post your project, compare proposals from verified freelancers, fund a milestone, and release payment only once you've approved the work, with milestone funds held by Stripe until you release them. The service fee comes off the freelancer's side, so only standard card processing is added to your bill, and wallet-funded milestones carry none. Freelancers verify their identity before they can withdraw; as a client you need no verification. Payouts reach the freelancer inside Lebanon by OMT, Whish, bank transfer or USDT.

Your next step

Fix the Arabic spelling of your name this week, and have a native reader confirm it. List every place the logo will appear. Then hire a logo designer on Furrsati for the Arabic version and its lockups — or a brand identity designer if you want both versions designed together as one system.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get an Arabic version of my English or French logo?

Decide first whether your name will be transliterated, translated or kept in Latin letters, and fix the Arabic spelling with a native reader. Then brief a designer who has delivered bilingual identities to create an Arabic wordmark that shares the original's weight, contrast, proportions and colours without copying its letter shapes, in every lockup you will use.

Should the Arabic logo look exactly like the English one?

No. Forcing Arabic letters into Latin shapes usually makes them hard to read or incorrect. The two versions should share character — visual weight, stroke contrast, proportions, colours and any symbol — while each is built properly for its own script. Each should work as a logo on its own and feel like the same brand beside the other.

Should I transliterate or translate my business name into Arabic?

Most businesses transliterate, so the name sounds the same in both languages. Translate only if the name has a meaning you want Arabic speakers to understand. Check how customers already write and say your name, confirm the spelling with a native reader, and give it to the designer as a fixed input.

How much does an Arabic logo design cost in Lebanon?

On Furrsati, a simple logo is typically $50 to $180 and a mini brand identity, with colours, typography and a small set of applications, is typically $300 to $800. An Arabic version of an existing logo is usually scoped as its own logo project, toward the higher end when it involves custom lettering and several lockups.

How can I check an Arabic logo if I don't read Arabic well?

Ask a native reader to read it aloud without being told what it says, and to check that letters join correctly and the dots are all present and placed right. Watch for letters displayed separately or in reverse, a sign of software mishandling Arabic. Then test the logo at business-card size and as a small phone icon.

What files should I get for a bilingual logo?

Vector masters of every lockup with text outlined, colour and black-and-white versions, ready-to-use files for screen and print, the name and licence of any typeface used, a short usage sheet with minimum sizes and clear space, and the written Arabic spelling of your name so every supplier uses the same one.