Built to
be run.
Brand strategy and identity for companies building something long-term in the Gulf.
I build identities as systems, with a rule and a number for every part, so the people who use your brand every day can apply it without calling a designer.
A logo is not a brand system.
In my view, many brand guides are filed away after launch.
A brand is touched by sales teams, agencies, contractors and printers for years. If each of them needs the designer to get it right, the brand is not a system yet. It is a dependency.
Design without strategy is decoration. Strategy without design is invisible.
Three steps. One test at the end.
Strategy first. We agree in writing who the brand is for, what it promises and what it refuses, before any logo.
A built identity. Every colour, shape and word has a reason I can say in one sentence, and every rule in the guide carries a number.
A test before handover. Before handover, someone who wasn’t on the project makes one correct piece from the guide alone.
Selected work
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Aliwan Cupping
A Qatari cupping-therapy brand. The logo is drawn from the cupping vessel and the letter A, and works in Arabic and English.
View the project -
Aliwan Cupping
A Qatari cupping-therapy brand. The logo is drawn from the cupping vessel and the letter A, and works in Arabic and English.
View the project -
Aliwan Cupping
A Qatari cupping-therapy brand. The logo is drawn from the cupping vessel and the letter A, and works in Arabic and English.
View the project
What I do
- Brand identity: strategy, identity, guidelines and handover.
- Partial services: one part of a brand, such as a logo refresh, a wordmark, a usage guide or a second language.
- Launch kit: the first pieces a new brand needs in the market.
- Social media: a monthly plan, posts and a report.
- Marketing campaigns: plan, content and reporting for one campaign.
- Brand care: checks, updates and new pieces after handover.
Basel Dalloul
- 8 years in design
- 5 years in brand identity
- 100+ freelance clients since 2018