Stop 05 · WP-BRDLogo design, brand identity and guidelines
Branding Agency Haarlem
We design brand identities for businesses in Dubai and across the UAE: the logo, the colour palette and typefaces, the messaging, and the brand guidelines that keep all of it consistent. Everything is designed in-house, by the same team that later puts the brand on your website and your social media.
- You get
- Logo, brand identity and brand book
- Team
- In-house graphic designer
- Gevestigd in
- Dubai en Haarlem
- Actief sinds
- 2020
- Wat het is
A logo, a colour palette, typefaces and a tone of voice, plus the brand guidelines that keep them consistent.
- Voor wie het geschikt is
A new business that needs a brand before it opens, and an established one that has outgrown its logo and needs a rebrand.
- Hoe wij werken
Several logo directions first, one of them refined with you into the final design, and every decision set down in a brand book.
De basisprincipes
What branding is, and what a logo is not
A brand is what people recognise and remember about a business. Branding is the work of deciding what that should be and then designing it: the logo, the colour palette, the typefaces and the tone of every sentence the business writes.
A logo alone is not a brand. It becomes one when it is used the same way everywhere: on the shopfront, the website, the menu, the Instagram grid, the proposal and the invoice. That is why every project ends with brand guidelines, and why we prefer to design the first things the brand appears on ourselves, so the rules are tested before anyone else has to follow them.
| Deel | What you get | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Logo | The main logo, a compact version and an icon, in vector and image formats | Signage, the website header, profile pictures and print. |
| Colour | Main and supporting colours, with their codes for screen and print | Everything from packaging and signage to the buttons on your website. |
| Typography | Typefaces for headings and body text, and the rules for using them | Website, brochures, presentations and social media. |
| Messaging | The core message, the tone of voice and how the brand describes what it does | Website copy, Instagram captions, proposals and pitches. |
| Guidelines | A brand book that sets down the rules, with examples of each one in use | Anyone who makes anything for the brand, in-house or outside. |
De dienst
What our branding service includes
From the first conversation to a brand book and files you can hand straight to a printer or a web developer.
Discovery
Who the brand is for, what it stands for and which competitors it will sit next to. We ask the questions before we draw anything.
Logo design
Several logo directions, each a different idea, and the one you choose refined with you into the final mark.
Colour and typography
A colour palette and typefaces that hold up on screen and in print, delivered with their codes and the rules for using them.
Messaging
How the brand describes itself: the core message and the tone of voice, so the website, the captions and the proposals sound like one business.
Brand guidelines
A brand book that sets everything down, so the brand looks the same whether your own team, a printer or an outside agency works with it.
First applications
The first things the brand lives on, such as a brochure, social media templates or the website, designed by the same people who drew the logo.
Onze aanpak
How a branding project runs, in six steps
Most of the decisions are made in the first two steps, before anything is drawn. The design follows from them.
Brief
We agree the goal, the audience, the deliverables, the number of revision rounds and the timeline, and put it in writing.
Ontdekken
We get to know the business, its customers and its competitors, and write down what the brand should stand for and how it should sound.
Routebeschrijving
Several logo options are presented, each a direction of its own rather than a variation on one idea.
Refine
You choose a direction and we refine it with you, round by round, until it is right.
Build the system
The colour palette, the typefaces, the messaging and the rules for using them together.
Guidelines and handover
The brand book and every file, in the formats a web developer and a printer will ask for.
Project types
Six kinds of branding projects
The first four are projects we have delivered, for the clients named. The last two are smaller versions of the same work.
A new brand
A business that starts from nothing. For Content Collective, a fashion and lifestyle content agency in Dubai, that meant a logo built from the letter C, a palette of soft neutrals with muted gold and green, typography, messaging, guidelines and a brochure.
A rebrand after a name change
Kliniek Olivier, a medical cosmetic clinic, had a new name and a website still carrying the old Groh Clinic one. We designed a butterfly logo built on the golden ratio, refined from several options with the clinic, and rebuilt the website around it.
A brand that travels
One identity for many cities. For City Today we drew one mark, a black skyline on a green circle, with the skyline changing per city: a windmill for Haarlem, a row of towers for Dubai. It began in Haarlem and now covers Amsterdam, Utrecht, Leiden and Dubai.
Brand and website together
For Haarlem Agency we designed the logo, a palette of three blues and black with its hex codes, the typography and the brand book, and then designed and built the website on the same identity.
A brand refresh
The same brand, tightened rather than replaced: a cleaner logo, a clearer palette and written rules, without losing the recognition you have already built.
Guidelines only
The identity exists but nobody wrote it down, so every supplier interprets it differently. We document it in a brand book, and the drifting stops.
Lokale kennis
Branding in Dubai and the UAE
A brand here is read by people from many countries, often in two languages, and its name has to clear the licensing authority before the logo is drawn.
English and Arabic
Many UAE brands appear in both languages. If yours needs an Arabic version of the logo, it should be designed for both scripts from the first sketch, not adapted afterwards.
Check the name first
A trade name has to be approved by the authority that issues your licence, in Dubai the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) or a free zone authority. Get that approval before the logo is drawn, so you never redesign around a name you cannot use.
Trademark registration
Trademarks in the UAE are registered with the Ministry of Economy. It is a legal step, separate from the design, and worth taking once the logo is final. We supply the logo files the application needs.
Een internationaal publiek
Colours, symbols and words do not mean the same to everyone in a city this international. Every direction is checked against the people the brand has to speak to before it is presented.
Begroting
What branding costs in Dubai
A branding project has three separate costs, and a good quote shows you each one.
Identity
Discovery, the logo, the colour palette, the typefaces, the messaging and the brand book: the work of designing the brand itself.
Applications
What is designed with the brand afterwards: a brochure, social media templates, a website. Scoped separately, so you pay only for what you will use.
Third parties
Printing, signage and trademark fees, paid directly to the supplier or the authority, and named in the scope so they are not a surprise.
We do not publish a price list, because a logo for a new café and a full brand identity with guidelines and applications for a company with several locations are different jobs. On the free consultation call we scope the project with you, and you receive a written quote before anything is designed.
What you receive at the end
- Logo files
- Vector and image formats, in colour and in black and white, for screen, print and signage.
- Colour codes
- Every colour with its codes for screen and for print.
- Typefaces
- Which ones to use, where, and how to pair them.
- Brand book
- The rules and the examples in one document anyone can follow.
- Applications
- The designs agreed in the scope, such as a brochure or social media templates.
Met wie werk je samen?
An in-house design team
Sreehari Rajeev
Grafisch ontwerper
Melvin Visser
Medeoprichter en algemeen directeur
Katya Balashova
Social media specialist
Abdul Basit Ali
Fotograaf & Videograaf
- Bureau
- Social Sparrow is sinds 2020 actief in Nederland en sinds 2022 in de Verenigde Arabische Emiraten.
- Design
- Every brand is designed in-house, by the same team that builds the website and runs the social media afterwards.
- Kantoren
- Meydan Free Zone, Dubai · Spaarne 145, Haarlem. Contact
Ons werk
Brand identities we have designed
Logo, identity, guidelines, brochure
Een merk opbouwen voor Content Collective
Logo, brand book, website
Het ontwikkelen van een digitale identiteit voor een full-service marketingbureau.
Rebrand, logo, website, SEO
Het online gezicht van Kliniek Olivier transformeren
“Working with Social Sparrow has been an incredible experience. The new branding didn’t just create a visual identity, it really captures who we are and what we’re about. It tells our story in a way that resonates with clients and sets us apart in a crowded market.”
Veelgestelde vragen
Questions we hear before a branding project
How much does branding cost in Dubai?
It depends on what has to be made: a logo with a basic identity, or a full brand with messaging, guidelines and applications such as a brochure or a website. We do not publish a price list. We scope the project with you on a free call and send a written quote before anything is designed.
What is the difference between a logo and a brand identity?
The logo is one part of it. The brand identity is the whole system around the logo: the colour palette, the typefaces, the messaging and the brand guidelines that keep them consistent on every channel.
How long does a branding project take?
That depends on the scope, and on how quickly decisions are made on your side. A logo with a basic identity is quicker than a full brand with guidelines and applications. The timeline is agreed at the brief, before the work starts.
How many logo options do we get?
Several, and they are different directions, not variations of one idea. You choose one and we refine it with you until it is right. The number of revision rounds is agreed up front, so there are no surprises on the invoice.
Can you refresh our existing brand instead of starting over?
Yes. Often the brand is sound and only needs tightening: a cleaner logo, a clearer palette and written guidelines. A full rebrand is for when the name or the business itself has changed, as it had for Kliniek Olivier.
Which files do we receive?
The logo in vector and image formats, in colour and in black and white, the colour codes for screen and print, the typefaces and the brand book. Everything a printer, a sign maker or a web developer will ask you for.
Do you register trademarks?
No. Registration is a legal process with the UAE Ministry of Economy, handled by you or a trademark agent. We deliver the logo files an application needs, and we recommend checking the trade name with your licensing authority before the design starts.
Can you also build the website and run the social media?
Yes. The same team that designs the brand builds websites and manages social media, so the brand is used the way it was designed. For Haarlem Agency and Kliniek Olivier the website followed the logo. Webontwikkeling.