Diriyah, the UNESCO-listed birthplace of the Saudi state and site of At-Turaif, required an identity capable of speaking across centuries and cultures simultaneously. The work began with a single, orienting idea: heritage gives meaning to the everyday. Every visual decision flows from that premise, positioning Diriyah not as a museum piece but as an active, living destination where history infuses the quotidian with purpose and wonder.
The wordmark is the conceptual centrepiece. The English letterform is set in Noe Display capitals, with the triangular motif of the Najdi window embedded directly into the letterform of the Y, a structural detail whose angular rhythm is then carried across every character. The Arabic wordmark mirrors this logic, embedding the same triangle into the letters Dal, Ra' and Ya', while softening the surrounding forms to complement the all-caps English. Together, the two scripts occupy identical optical space and weight, making bilingual lockups feel genuinely unified rather than merely co-existing.
The colour palette is derived entirely from the landscape of Diriyah itself: Sand from the mud-brick walls of Turaif, Earth from the valley floor, Palm from the green of the wadi, Dates from the deep burgundy of ripe fruit, and Sunset from the golden light over the desert. These five colours are mapped to three emotional registers (Reverent, Friendly, and Energetic) and further organised into five distinct sub-brand themes (Diriyah, Lifestyle, Samhan Residences, Bujairi, and Atturaif Museum), each with a calibrated proportional mix that controls mood without abandoning system coherence.
Typography pairs two complementary bilingual type families: Graphik Arabic (available in nine weights, four selected for brand use) for its grotesque clarity and structure, and Kermes Arabic for its cross-cultural personality and distinctive display presence. Detailed leading specifications (85–90% for English display, 110–120% for Arabic headings, 130% for Arabic body copy) ensure diacritical marks never conflict across layouts. The guidelines extend to a bespoke UI icon set, bilingual print layout systems, and a full sub-brand architecture covering the destination's portfolio of venues and sub-brands, producing a complete, deployment-ready identity system.
