Nakheel

F37® were commissioned to develop a compact, but versatile type family for the Dubai-based real estate giants, Nakheel.

Bilingual logo

Background

Nakheel is a leading property developer based in Dubai. The company portfolio focuses on projects comprising master communities and residential, retail, hospitality, and leisure developments.

Nakheel is a fast-growing company, responsible for world-famous projects such as Palm Jerusalem and adding more than 300 kilometres to Dubai’s coastline. Nakheel keep pace with the ever-increasing population of residents and tourists in Dubai. They remain future focused and aim to create a community for all by adding a variety of developments.

Print

Delivery

The type family was created to support the overall rebrand of Nakheel and its upcoming new development announcements.

The starting point was to develop and refine the new logo. A semi-condensed sans serif with deep vertices and angular incisions. F37 Incise Latin and Arabic were chosen as a starting point.

The type family consists of 3 sub-families: Display, Text and Logo, all with Arabic and Latin language support. The Display sub-family was designed with two weights, Regular and Bold. The Display sub-family championed the Logo’s DNA, with the deep vertices and angular incisions highlighted in a way that respect each scripts individual history.

The Text sub-family was also designed with two weights, Regular and Bold. The Text sub-family was the no nonsense counterpart to the Display. Designed to omit or tone down the more striking features in the Display that would hinder legibility and accessibility at small sizes. Both Display and Text sub-families share a common skeleton and proportion making them complimentary even throughout their divergent intended uses.

The Logo sub-family was designed in a single weight. Like the name suggests, it is a direct expansion of the Logo itself into a fully functioning font. This was the inventive and time saving solution to the plethora of individual offerings that Nakheel provide, as well as any future offerings. This allowed Nakheel to set any existing or new development in the Logo font to create a new logo with the existing logo DNA.

Type detail

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We were eager to use typography to increase Nakheel’s visual presence and to create a visual link between their premium assets. The unique Logo cut of the font is crucial to Nakheel’s updated brand architecture, as it visually unites all the master developments and links them back to the corporate brand. Considering that the brand must stand the test of time and retain its appeal for the next 25+ years, it was clear that the typeface needed to strike a balance between being distinctive and suit the overall narrative, whilst not following any short-lived trend.