Logo and brand identity design in Tunisia

Logo and brand identity design in Tunisia: what should you actually commission?

Many companies, in Sfax as in Tunis, have a logo but no identity. The same name appears in three different blues on the shop sign, the invoice and the LinkedIn page, set in whatever typeface each printer happened to choose. Taken one by one, these materials look acceptable. Together, they make the company look less solid than it is.

Commissioning a logo and brand identity therefore means commissioning a system: a logo and its versions, a palette in which every colour has a role, Latin and Arabic typefaces that work together, a few graphic elements, a direction for photography and written rules. The logo is only the signature. What makes a brand recognisable is the same decisions repeated on every medium, as we explain in a consistent visual identity across every medium.

Should you create a new identity or evolve the one you have?

The recognition you have already earned is an asset. Customers who spot your van or your packaging from a distance should not have to relearn your brand without good reason. Before drawing anything, we decide whether to tidy up, evolve or start again.

A wish for novelty does not, on its own, justify starting from scratch. Conversely, a logo that is illegible at small sizes or impossible to render in Arabic is a real obstacle: keeping it out of habit then costs more than reworking it.

How does the work run, from diagnosis to brand guidelines?

1. Diagnosis: interviews with management and sales, a review of your current materials, a reading of competing identities in each of your markets.
2. Brand platform: three to five ranked attributes, what the brand must convey and to whom. This becomes the yardstick for judging the routes.
3. Creative routes: two or three distinct directions, each argued and shown on your real materials, from business card to shop sign, from home page to packaging or social media avatar.
4. Refinement: the chosen route is refined, then tested small, in single colour, on dark backgrounds, in print and in both scripts.
5. Guidelines and tools: usage rules, templates and source files, presented to your team.

The pace depends mainly on approvals. One person who decides, consulting two or three colleagues at the right moments, moves a project forward more surely than a committee discovering the routes at every meeting. At kick-off, we agree together how many feedback rounds are included.

How do you design an identity in Arabic and Latin script at once?

Our three markets expect different things. In Tunisia, a brand often speaks French and Arabic on the same sign. In Europe, in France, Belgium or Switzerland, Latin script dominates, but an exporter may need an Arabic version for customers in North Africa or the Gulf. In the UAE, Saudi Arabia or Qatar, Arabic usually comes first, with English alongside.

The mistakes tend to repeat: a transliteration added at the end, an Arabic typeface picked by default, heights and weights that do not match, a layout simply flipped like a mirror. We draw both scripts at the same time and decide which one leads on each medium. Typefaces are chosen for their genuine coverage of Arabic characters and for legibility, and their licence is checked for print, web and apps. Online, the guidelines then feed into our work on multilingual and RTL websites.

What do you receive, and what do you own?

An identity only holds if your team can apply it without calling us. The handover includes:

• vector source files for the logo and its versions, with exports for screen and print;
• colour references: RGB and hex for screen, CMYK and, where needed, Pantone for print;
• the selected typefaces, with their licence status;
• brand guidelines, with correct and prohibited examples;
• editable templates for your most frequent documents and posts.

The rights to the logo we create are assigned to you in writing, with the scope of use set out in the contract. Typefaces and any stock images remain licensed: we state which ones, and on what terms. For the name and the logo, a clearance search with INNORPI in Tunisia, the EUIPO for the European Union or the relevant office in each Gulf country is essential before filing. We are not trademark attorneys: we flag visible similarities, and a specialist secures the filing.

Logo maker, freelancer or studio: which should you choose?

An online logo maker or an AI tool produces a logo in minutes. That is fine for testing an idea. But the shapes it produces look alike from one brand to the next, are hard to protect and arrive with no coherent Arabic version and no usage rules.

A good freelancer is well suited to a simple logo or a refresh. Just check what is delivered: sources, variations, guidelines, rights. A studio makes the most sense when the identity has to live on many media, in several languages and markets, and then be carried forward by the graphic design of your everyday visuals and the photography of your products and teams.

What depends on you, and where does an identity stop?

An identity does not fix a vague offer. If your positioning is not settled, the diagnosis will show it, and we will start there. Nor does it generate enquiries on its own: it lends credibility to the website, campaigns and sales meetings that do.

On your side, you need a settled name, time for interviews, access to your current materials and one person who decides. Diagnosis, routes and refinement all work remotely, with reviews scheduled within the working day: Tunisia is on the same time as Paris in winter, one hour behind in summer, and three hours behind Dubai.

How do you start your brand identity project?

The starting point is a free audit of your current identity: what is recognised and worth keeping, what blurs the image, what to produce first. Our engagement options are set out on the Offers page, and the exact scope is quoted after the audit. To see how the Creative studio works, browse our case studies.

Request a free audit