DIRIYAH

Branding a new city in Saudi Arabia, built around the national heritage site At-Turaif.

In 2019 alongside Domenic Lipa, I developed a winning bid for Pentagram to brand Diriyah City, dubbed ‘the most iconic mud city in the world.’


We started by looking at the strategy and positioning of this new site: Diriyah is a place that transcends time, where you can walk between past and future, immersed in the stories of legends, heroes & kings. Our defined brand purpose was to create a wordmark that inspires
unity for a stronger future.

Over one year, we designed, and developed 4 creative routes that delivered this strategy in different ways, each leaning heavily on one of the elements of brand identity: Motion, typography, colour, symbols and tone of voice. A summary of our work was later presented to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and consensus was reached on the solution that relied on the architecture of the Heritage site, and its surroundings.


The final design adopted in the city, referenced the small triangular windows, visible from a distance, making the site At-Turaif very unique. The colour scheme referenced the surroundings and environment, leading with an earth colour, and dark palm green, as well as a sunrise yellow, and a deep burgundy. 

Finally, we delivered an extensive bilingual brand package, covering typography, layout, social media and tone of voice.

Diriyah City  brand is a project by Pentagram

Partner and creative direction:
Domenic Lippa

Concepts and design directions:
Samar Maakaroun

Project management:
Edie Lippa, Kim Langham

Design team:
Samar Maakaroun, Mo Samad, Lily Smallwood

Animation:
Jonathan Nielsen

Strategy:
Simple Revolution – Adam Kaveney