5 creative challenges we solved designing for Arabic speakers

How we crafted a bilingual digital identity for a Gulf venture capital firm, and the lessons it taught us about designing with intention across cultures.

Understanding languages is a little like understanding clients. You somehow have to see beyond what you’re being asked for and solve a problem that isn’t immediately obvious at first glance. The first time I realised this was a few years ago when we worked on the website for engineering firm ORIS. We designed it in English as a starting point but with a focus on the German language in terms of marketing.

We quickly found smart workarounds for a DE/EN bilingual site with significantly differing sentence lengths. German words tend to form on a compound structure, so hyphenation was vital. The finished ORIS project looks great and the mental leap in working beyond the familiar brought a genuine creative thrill. So on to the next challenge: Arabic, a new alphabet entirely.

How it began

When we started work on the Outliers website, one of the most exciting challenges was designing for both English and Arabic. Working in this realm required a linguistic shift but also a creative one. This undertaking wasn’t just about translation, it was about reimagining the entire design experience to feel equally native, elegant and intentional in both directions.

The great fortune we had was our client. Outliers is a firm that celebrates original thinking, backing startup founders who ‘see patterns others miss’, as they put it. Embracing their ethos defined the entire relationship and shaped everything we did. It many ways it redefined how we think about financial services web design.

The Outliers project is such a unique piece of work and I wanted to remind myself of all the things we did in the hope that perhaps they’d be helpful to others. So, here are five specific design challenges we solved along the way, and why solving them mattered.

1. Creating twin visual languages (not just translations)

The challenge:
How do you make risograph-inspired animations feel equally magical in both reading directions?

Our solution:
We designed our animation particle movements that flowed naturally right to left (RTL) as well as left to right (LTR), maintaining the sense of dreamy motion and rhythm we’d created, in either direction. But we didn’t stop there: our animation even works vertically on the homepage mobile version.

Why it matters:
These abstract visual elements weren’t just Arabic words in a RTL layout, they were reflowed with intention, so the magic remained intact. We were determined that users shouldn’t sense they’re seeing ‘a translation’. Essentially, both language experiences needed to feel like the original.

2. Rethinking visual rhythm and flow

The challenge:
Making elegant typography work across two very different reading systems.

Our solution:
We created custom spacing and adjusted visual weight (as well as the way the page headers looked and investment filters worked), across both languages to ensure the layout felt cohesive, not like one version ‘had just been flipped.’

Why it matters:
Reading patterns shape how brand personality is perceived. We wanted both audiences to feel they were interacting with a considered, perfect experience. This difference is subtle and had to feel human, hand finished, not mechanical. We maintained a continued dialogue with the team in Riyadh guiding us on language, double checking the Arabic and at the end of the process giving them access to the content management system to refine the wording in-house.

3. Typography that speaks the same brand voice

The challenge:
Finding Arabic and English fonts that share the same creative DNA.

Our solution:
Working with the team in Riyadh, we chose an Arabic typeface called Tajawal. Its graceful curves felt like the perfect reflection of Basier, Outliers’ English language typeface, designed by the Atipo type foundry, echoing style and tone across the interface.

Why it matters:
Brand personality doesn’t just live in copy, it lives in the visual voice. We specifically chose Tajawal because it echoed the Outliers brand identity. The end result feels smooth, confident, and slightly unexpected.

4. Navigation that feels native, not adapted

The challenge:
Making the unusual navigation feel intuitive, structured, and elegant in both languages (and on mobile).

Our solution:
In the first place our navigation design for Outliers is unusual: a bottom-screen bar. The benefit? We never needed a different design. Tap your chosen language and the bar just adjusts without needing to involve the layout.

Why it matters:
A truly bilingual site makes neither language feel like an afterthought. Navigation should feel like it was built for you, whatever direction you read in. For sure the design is unusual, but we felt that it was time for a quiet revolution that suits everyone.

5. Seamless cultural intelligence

The challenge:
Making the site feel naturally local to each visitor, without forcing it.

Our solution:
Really thinking about the detail, so small adjustments to design functionality are everywhere but almost impossible to spot. In addition, Outliers has an even gender balance in the business, and our direction of the team photography ensures everyone appears confident and looks their best.

Why it matters:
Designing from London but delivering to Riyadh and Dubai meant thinking across language and culture wasn’t optional, it was our starting point. The benefit was that Arabic and cultural sensitivity was never some sort of add-on, it was part of the concept from day one. It was vital there was no stakeholder confusion or cultural missteps and their founders felt elevated, all of which we achieved here.

What we learned designing for Arabic speakers

Every new project involves listening, thinking about how the ways we work can best suit our client and their audience, then adapting. Our central takeaway from the linguistic aspect of the project is that designing for Arabic speakers isn’t just about accessibility, it’s ultimately about respect.

For me, one of the most exciting parts of the Outliers project was that we didn’t think of ourselves first, then ‘localise’ a western layout. Within our design work for firms in the Middle East, where vision, clarity and premium presentation matter, getting the bilingual brand experience right is often a key step in attracting international investment while retaining regional credibility.

The end result is a highly tailored bilingual brand experience that reflects the firm’s values and resonates with both global investors and regional founders. The endgame was thoughtful design to help Outliers win investor attention from both global and GCC markets. That’s what thoughtful design should do: serve, inform, and quietly delight whoever the end user is.

Just a month after launch, the website was shortlisted in the ‘Best Web’ category at the Creativepool Annual 2025, a wonderful postscript to the project.

Designing for Arabic speakers in the GCC and Saudi Arabia?

If you’re a GCC-based business looking to elevate your bilingual brand presence, we’d love to talk. From Riyadh to Dubai, we specialise in building digital experiences that work as fluently in Arabic as they do in English.

Get in touch to create a site that speaks to both global investors and regional partners.

Call +44 20 7351 4083 or email us direct to start the conversation.

More about the projects mentioned in this article

Visit the Outliers website

Visit the ORIS website

More of our website design work for financial services firms