The Emirates Nation Brand

"The UAE Nation Brand tells the story of our union, our unity, our future and of a country that is firmly making its mark across the world. Our goal for the new brand is to enhance the Emirates’ global reputation, in which we invested thousands of teams throughout 48 years of constant work."
Sh. Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Rolling out a national and global brand was an intriguing challenge. A brand that served as an emblem for unity required precision and accuracy with no deviation in the implementation process. It was pivotal for us to dive deep into the history, culture and vision of the UAE before creating the brand ecosystem. The success of the brand hinged on comprehending its significance on the global platform.

The winning 'seven lines' brand epitomized the bravado and vision of the seven founding fathers who valiantly stood shoulder-to-shoulder to protect and develop the nation to imprint the people's lives with positivity, optimism and possibilities. Whilst firmly holding to the deeply rooted traditions and future focus, the new identity manifested the dawn of a glorious era and stood on the pillars of care, progression, innovation and collaboration. We gracefully anchored the nation's historical past with its ambitious future.

The winning ‘seven lines’ brand epitomized the bravado and vision of the seven founding fathers who valiantly stood shoulder-to-shoulder to protect and develop the nation to imprint the lives of the people with positivity, optimism and possibilities. Whilst firmly holding to the deeply rooted traditions and future focus, the new identity manifested the dawn of a glorious era and stood on the pillars of care, progression, innovation and collaboration. Gracefully anchoring the nation’s historical past with an ambitious future.

Deeply-rooted to the cultural heritage while ambitiously soaring high to infinity, the seven bold diagonal strokes portray the heroic endeavours of the seven Emirates' fu-ture-focused leaders. They bravely stood side-by-side to develop the nation whilst making history and delineating the map of UAE. The seven lines subtly delineate the Emirates map with the flag colours and represent the seven emirates' leaders united towards the country's growth. These are not mere strokes but are an emblem that epitomises the bravado and vision of the leaders who fought to form a nation

With strong branding acumen and valuable insights, RUYA built the brand ecosystem and conducted the implementation process. The ‘Make it happen’ slogan paved the way for brand development.

Deeply engaging, the voting process cast over 10 million votes for the brand from 185 countries.

Deeply engaging, the voting process cast over 10 million votes for the brand from 185 countries.

The movement attracted over 500 million social media views. The new brand was also showcased on Nasdaq Tower’s digital wall in Times Square, New York.

The world stood together to cast their votes for the UAE brand which would lead to the humanitarian efforts of planting 10 million trees in areas affected by climate change like Nepal and Indonesia.

From the brand guidelines to the brand book, from the custom-designed typography to custom-iconography set, and from website to motion graphics for the reveal event hosted by HH Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan and HH Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid, all were developed by RUYA.

A national typeface created to embody the values of The Emirates

We custom-made the national typeface of The Emirates and iconography from the ground up. It was designed to capture the United Arab Emirates spirit, history, and forward-thinking while illustrating the unique relationship between the country's roots and technology. This resulted in a mechanical yet gestural Grotesque-style typeface, which included three weights and an italic style in Latin and Arabic. The typeface has excellent legibility in print, web, and mobile interfaces.

We built the brand ecosystem and implemented it across all communication channels, having the brand reflect the aspirations, gallantry and entrepreneurial spirit of the nation and impersonated the glorious past and visionary future of the UAE.

Other tasks also included the development of the brand elements, brand imagery and the brand launch announcement tasks, which included interactive videos, environment graphics, giveaways, and more.

Today a universal, harmonious and meaningful brand stands for the UAE.