We began working with the Saudi Tourism Authority in September 2019 during phase 1 of the project, when Saudi Arabia launched its international tourist e-visa, entering a new era of tourism. Opening Saudi Arabia to leisure tourists for the first time, our initial brief was to create an authentic brand identity that positioned this beautiful country in its best light, building a positive and welcoming image.
By 2023 the country, and its tourism offering had significantly developed and it was time for the brand to evolve in order to engage a cross-section of audience groups across diverse touch-points. Following an extensive brand audit and stakeholder interviews, we were briefed to develop a strategic brand evolution. The Heart of Arabia was developed as a unifying brand idea that positioned the Kingdom as the most authentic tourist destination in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia is a land of contrasts. A country where ancient traditions and modern advancements coexist in harmony. Its landscape is characterised by diversity, from vast deserts to lush, green mountain ranges.
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea provides a stunning marine counterpart with its vibrant coral reefs and clear blue waters. The cultural landscape is equally diverse, blending Islamic customs with global influences.
Our ambition for the brand identity from the outset was to challenge perceptions of the country by conveying a friendly and unexpected idea of what Saudi Arabia is.
Crafted with meticulous attention to detail, the resulting brand identity is an unexpected and harmonious marriage between traditional, intricate Saudi design and modern aesthetics. Starting with the colour palette, we drew inspiration from everyday life in the Kingdom.
The Kingdom has a long heritage of craft, art and design. Taking inspiration from the many patterns and shapes around the Kingdom, we developed a dynamic visual language system born out of authentic traditional patterns and cutting-edge contemporary architectural details.
The elegance of classical Thuluth calligraphy became the inspiration for a bespoke suite of typefaces developed in conjunction with leading type foundry F37.
‘Saudi Serif’ and ‘Saudi Sans’ feature extensive Arabic and Latin character sets and are truly global in every sense, ensuring the typefaces work clearly and effectively across more than 100 language systems worldwide.
This is a project that continues to grow, from strategy, architecture and identity to governance, marketing, guidelines and more. The result is a perfect balance between authenticity and modernity, respecting both the Kingdom’s storied past and embracing the potential of tomorrow.
The brand identity solution was designed to be flexible enough to work across different target audiences, from the global mainstream, to corporate trade partners and high-net worth individuals.
As the tourism proposition of the country continued to grow we saw the need to create a robust and clear endorsement system. The endorsement marque ‘Only in Saudi’ was developed to help foster a sense of a united tourism offering around the Kingdom.
An extensive suite of brand guidelines was created to help achieve brand coherence across all possible touchpoints.
